A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a comprehensive plan outlining how a company will reach its target customers, position a new product or service for launch, and achieve competitive advantage in its chosen market. It is the process of bringing a product or service to market and creating messaging that effectively communicates your value proposition to potential customers.
A GTM strategy is necessary if you are looking to:
- Launch a new product in an existing market
- Launch an existing product in a new market
- Test a new product's market for growth
Why is this relevant for companies in the healthcare and financial space?
Launches of new products or services usually fail when they assume a market need for a product instead of gathering the relevant information that a GTM strategy provides.
How to build an effective go-to-market strategy
1. Define your target market: The first step is to clearly define your target market. Who are your ideal customers? What are their needs, pain points, and desires? This should be added to your Ideal Customer Profile or ICP, a comprehensive description of your perfect customer. Conduct market research and gather data to inform your decision-making, such as who your ideal customer is, where they work and what unique challenges they face.
2. Determine your value proposition: What unique value does your product or service offer to your target market which sets it apart from the competition? Research your competitors and what they offer since it is key to understand where your product or service fits within the existing landscape. This helps position your product and iterate on a compelling message that resonates with your audience.
3. Choose your distribution channels: Consider the most effective distribution channels to reach your target audience. Will you sell through retail stores, e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, or via outbound or inbound models? Make sure to choose channels that target the right people.
4. Determine pricing: Consider factors such as production costs, competitive pricing, and perceived value by your target market. A carefully considered pricing strategy can help maximize profits and maintain competitiveness.
5. Create a marketing strategy: Develop a comprehensive marketing plan that leverages multiple channels to reach your target audience. This may include social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing, and other tactics. Try looking at retargeting audiences on social media channels such as LinkedIn, Youtube, and building ABM campaigns on Google that target keywords with a high search volume. Using an ABM or Account-based marketing approach can be highly effective for B2B companies with a small target market and a high-value product or service. For example, a software company that sells enterprise-level security solutions might use ABM to target specific industries or companies with high security risks, such as financial services or healthcare providers.
6. Build a sales team: If you plan to sell through a sales team, invest in building a talented and effective sales team. Hire individuals with relevant experience and skills, provide training and resources to help them succeed. Start by shadowing sales reps in real time, or listen to their recordings via software such as Gong, so you can tailor their messaging and language as needed when relating to the client's pain points.
7. Collect the right data: After you have defined your ICP, you need high-quality B2B data providers that help you target the right individuals. Platforms such as ZoomInfo, Lusha and LeadIQ give you the correct data to help your sales team reach out to prospects who are most likely to buy your product or service.
8. Track results and get feedback: Finally, track and analyze the results of your go-to-market strategy. By also getting feedback from clients or through feedback forms, you can measure the effectiveness of your marketing and sales efforts, identify areas for improvement, and adjust your approach as needed.
By following these steps, you can build an effective go-to-market strategy that maximizes your chances of success in introducing your product or service to the market.
Here are examples of go-to-market strategies:
1. Direct Sales: This means selling products directly to customers. Direct sales typically involve a team of sales representatives who reach out to potential customers through phone calls, emails, or in-person meetings. For example, enterprise software companies such as Salesforce use a direct sales approach to sell their products to large corporations. Within B2B go-to-market strategies, there are sales-led and product-led strategies — the latter refers to using the product itself to garner interest with the goal of acquiring and retaining users, while in a sales-led strategy uses marketing and outbound sales to draw interest, such as content, demo forms and cold calls.
2. Digital Marketing: This involves using social media, email, and search engine optimization to reach potential customers. This GTM strategy is particularly effective for reaching a younger, digitally-savvy audience. For example, e-commerce companies such as Warby Parker and Glossier use digital marketing to promote their products to millennial and Gen Z consumers.
3. Thought leadership content: B2B companies can build trust and establish themselves as experts in their field by creating and sharing thought leadership content. This can be blog posts, whitepapers, webinars, and other content that provides insights and guidance to their target audience. For example, a cloud computing company might publish a whitepaper on best practices for migrating to the cloud, or host a webinar on the latest trends in cloud computing.
4. Freemium: This is a popular GTM strategy for software products, where a basic version of the product is offered for free, and customers can pay for additional features. This approach is designed to attract a large user base and convert a small percentage of users to paying customers. Dropbox is a good example of a company that uses this strategy.
5. Online Marketplaces: Marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy provide a platform for multiple sellers to offer their products to a large customer base. This GTM strategy is particularly effective for small businesses that do not have their own e-commerce platform or brick-and-mortar stores.
6. Partnerships: This GTM strategy involves partnering with other companies that have a similar ICP or customer base to sell their products or services. For example, Adobe partners with retailers such as Best Buy to sell its creative software products. B2B companies can leverage partnerships with other companies to reach new customers and expand their market reach. This usually involves co-marketing campaigns, joint events, or referral programs. For example, a marketing agency might partner with a web development company to offer a full suite of marketing services to clients.
7. Sales enablement: Sales enablement is a strategy that focuses on providing sales teams with the tools and resources they need to effectively sell a product or service, such as training, sales collateral, and sales automation tools. For example, a software company might provide their sales team with a comprehensive sales playbook that outlines customer personas, objection handling tips, and product demos.
In summary, there are many different GTM strategies that companies can use to bring their products or services to market. The key is to understand having the right data about your target audience, their needs, and to choose the approach that will be most effective in reaching and converting them into customers.