What is a Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy?
Definition: Go-to-market strategy is a structured plan used for launching new products, entering new markets, and doing massive rebranding campaigns. It helps you reduce risks with audience targeting, positioning, messaging, and timing.
Core elements of a go-to-market strategy
1. Your target audience – Clearly define your ICP with geographic, psychographic, demographic, and other identifying characteristics.
Good starting questions are:
- Who is my audience?
- Where do they work?
- What daily challenges do they face?
2. Product market fit – What problem does my product solve? Is there an unmet need? How is my product positioned to help my target market?
3. Competitor research and market demand – Who are my competitors, and what are my competitors offering? Is the market saturated already? Is there a big enough demand for what you plan to sell?
Start with these questions:
- Are my competitors selling a similar product? If so, how will I differentiate?
- Are my competitors targeting the same audience and geographic regions?
We recommend performing a SWOT and PESTLE analysis.
4. Marketing & messaging strategy – Pick the right marketing channels and suitable messaging based on learnings from the ICP research.
5. Sales and distribution – Through what mediums will you sell the product or service? A website, an app, or a third-party distributor? What sales model will you use? Self-service, field sales, through distributors?
6. Set goals – There are various ways to track progress:
- Cost of customer acquisition
- ROI (return on investment)
- Conversion rates
- LTV or customer lifetime value
- Continuously lowering the sales cycle