When you are about to launch a product, a lot of things can come crashing down if you do not properly plan for all exigencies. Having a go-to-market strategy ensures that you have made your launch foolproof, well, at least to a large extent. When there is no go-to-market strategy in place, you will not be able to tell clearly if you are launching at the right time, might not realize that you do not have all the resources required for a launch, or you might even be targeting the wrong set of customers, and so on. All of this will lead to a disaster and have you end up with a product that will stay on the shelves for a long time.
You do not want that. No one does.
What is go-to marketing strategy?
A detailed plan created to launch a product to the market is called a go-to marketing strategy. In other words, it is the way in which a company brings a product to the market. A GTM strategy provides a roadmap for businesses to understand the relevancy and impact of their marketing and sales strategy. It will even go so far as to identify the right target audience for you.
Who is responsible for go-to marketing strategy?
It is the product manager who is usually responsible for the go-to marketing strategy. The product management team is the one that is responsible for how the product performs in the market, and therefore, they are the ones who have to work directly with the marketing team to create a GTM strategy and a market research survey that will have the highest chances of success.
What should be included in the go-to marketing strategy?
Here are the main things that should be included in a go-to marketing strategy:
#1 Product-market fit: Does the product satisfy the objectives of your target market? In other words, is there enough utility in your product that you will see long-term growth and profits?
#2 Target audience: Who are the people who have a problem which your product aims to solve? How much value does your product provide to them? Is your product the only one available in the market? How much would your target audience be willing to pay? What are the problems that you solve for the customer?
#3 Competition: Who are the other players in your niche offering the same product? How are they faring currently?
#4 Demand: Does your product or a similar one have a great demand? Are there a lot of people who are willing to pay you for it?
#5 Distribution channels: How are you planning to distribute the products? Will you be using a physical distribution center, or is there an app or a third-party distributor?
What are some examples of go-to marketing strategy?
Fitbit:
The American fitness band company launched a personal training app called Smart Coach, which was integrated with the user’s FitBit.
Here’s what they did:
Their GTM strategy was simple- increase subscription revenue, increase brand awareness and boost the subscription rate.
To achieve all the above, as a part of their go-to marketing strategy, they launched a campaign called “Get More with Fitbit” for people who were already users of the band. They used push notifications, newsletters, social media posts, and retargeted display ads to reach potential users.
Southwest Airlines:
Since Southwest Airlines was using the hub and spoke type of operating flights, a huge percentage of its passengers had to choose connecting flights. It was a headache for its passengers, so they introduced a point-to-point system where the passengers get dropped directly at their final destinations. Less than 20% of its travellers have to use connecting flights these days.
Why do you need a go-to marketing strategy?
A go-to marketing strategy could be for anything, right from launching a new product or service to moving a product into a different market or even re-launching your entire company. These are big steps that require a definitive plan of action so that you reduce the areas for errors as much as possible. This is where having a go-to marketing strategy comes into place.
The go-to marketing strategy is an all-encompassing tool that stakeholders from different departments will find beneficial as it will go into their scheme of things to be handled. It will outline why the product is being launched, who is going to be the benefactor of the product, how the company is going to make them engage with the product and buy the product eventually.
The go-to marketing strategy will also make you think of the problems that your customers will face when they get your product. By empathizing with them, you will be able to create a stellar product and an even better experience that will make them come to you for more. It will also build trust amongst the customers in such a way that it will create instant credibility.
How to build a go-to marketing strategy:
#1 Create buyer personas:
The first thing that any business should do before crafting any type of marketing strategy is to create buyer personas. A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your customer. It will include a lot of details, including demographics, firmographics, etc. Each product will have at least four to seven buyer personas.
With the help of buyer personas, you know how your marketing messages should be and what will attract their interest. Right from how you communicate to them to knowing the kind of offer that they would like, you will get to know all of them by understanding the buyer personas.
#2 Why are you launching this product?
In the beginning stages of creating your go-to marketing strategy, you need to have clarity on why you are launching this product and what it is that you hope to gain from it. There should also be an explanation for how the product aligns with your business’s future plans and strategy. The reasoning behind the launch of the product should be clear and described in succinct terms for even the non-technical folks to understand.
#3 Define your product’s value in the market:
The next part in your go-to marketing strategy is telling your customers that you plan to launch a product that will be of value to them. This section should also cover how you intend to engage with your customers, what your objectives are and how you plan to make all of this happen.
Here are some of the things that should be covered:
- How different are you from the competition?
- What is your USP?
- Where does your product fit in the market?
- How do you plan to explain the value to your customers?
- How do you want your target audience to view you in relation to your other products?
- What are the channels that you plan to use to share about your product value?
- What would your target audience require from you to completely solve the problem that they are facing?
- How are the competitors addressing the problem that you are solving?
- On a scale of 1-10, how important is the problem that you are addressing for your target market?
If your product is still in its initial stages, here are some questions that you can ask:
- Do you have the necessary technologies to build your product?
- If not, then should you start developing technology to build the product from scratch?
- How much is it going to cost you to build your product?
- What are the different resources that you would need to build the product?
- Describe the various issues that you might end up facing? Do you have solutions for each of the issues?
- Would your end product be useful for your prospective customers?
- Would the customers be willing to pay the price for your product?
#4 Define your pricing strategy:
The pricing strategy that you use is an important part of your go-to marketing strategy because your customers are going to want it at a price that they are willing to pay. You cannot depend on guesswork and hope that your pricing will be accepted by your prospective customers. Instead, you need to price it according to the value that you provide based on the perception of your customers.
Pricing is a reflection of every aspect of your go-to marketing strategy, right from how you involve sales and marketing to the way you present the product to prospective customers. If you are pricing too low, your customers might think that the product’s value is low. If you plan to sell it at a premium price, have you shown enough value to your potential customers that they will be ready to pay that amount?
#5 Validate your messaging:
Once you are able to chart the kind of value that you bring to the market, here’s what you should do as the next step. You need to test your messaging. With the help of the messaging that you have created for different personas, you should start advertising on different channels.
Before the above step, you need to ensure that you know where you can find your audience. Based on the frequency of your prospective customers appearing on a particular platform, you should be able to test and consider where your audiences are. Find out the results for the channels that you are advertising on, the segments of the audience that you are targeting, and the marketing communication that you have written. Validating your messaging is an important part of your go-to marketing strategy.
#6 Optimize your messaging and ads:
The next step is to ensure that your audience is optimized while sending them your ads. There are platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn that have highly targeted filtering options for advertisers. Manipulate the various options that are available for you so that you can find the ones that convert the most. If you see that industry A has a higher ROI than industry B in terms of a particular messaging, then keep using those settings and extrapolate them accordingly.
#7 ToFu, MoFu and BoFu:
Did you know that each of your customers go through different journeys before they become a customer of yours? According to the buyer, they are going through a pretty straightforward buying process. They think that their buying process goes like this- 1. They have a problem and are looking for a solution, 2. They use materials available to understand the various vendors who offer that particular solution, 3. They finally make a decision based on their discussions with the sales team, their budget, and so on.
If you look at the buying process from the POV of a business, then it happens in the form of a funnel. A lot of people are at the top of the sales funnel who are interested in your product, and many people fall out of the pipeline because of various reasons, it could be because of the budget, they don’t want the product anymore, or they are looking for other features that you don’t offer currently.
The buyer’s journey is divided into the following sections:
- Top of the funnel (ToFu)
- Middle of the funnel (MoFu)
- Bottom of the funnel (BoFu)
The customers in each of these funnels are at varying levels of knowledge about your product. The ones in ToFu should be attracted with the help of informational content like blog posts, white papers, etc. because they are trying to find more information about the products that are available in the market.
The ones in MoFu are those who are going through a phase where they are comparing products. Prospects like them should be given case studies, tutorials, webinars, demos, etc. Those in BoFu are looking for a final nudge so that they can complete the buying decision. You need to make the final sale with the help of proposals, quotes, free consulting calls, get them to talk with references, and so on.
#8 Create your marketing plan:
No matter which stage your customers are in, there should be no slackness in your marketing initiatives. Here are some of the things that you should do to get your marketing right.
Lead Generation: What are the current lead generation activities that you are doing? Are there different channels that you could use for lead generation?
Content Marketing: Content is king, queen and the whole army put together. Each piece of content that you write is to lure your audience in so that you could show them the value that your product will bring in. Content is an amazing way to get more customers closer to your brand. There are different types of content that you could create.
Branding: What is the perception that you want your customers to have about your brand? How would you describe yourself? How will your customers describe your product?
Paid ads: While there are a lot of social marketing websites that are free to use, you need to invest in paid ads if you want the reach. Using display ads is one of the best ways to attract the right audience to your site.
#9 Have a clear sales strategy:
Sales is a difficult terrain, especially if you are selling high-ticket products. If you are selling low-ticket products, you can expect most of the sales to happen with the help of content and paid ads. Otherwise, you need well-trained sales personnel who can get things done with the help of a variety of resources. Your sales team should have the necessary wherewithal and training support to sell the product with ease.
#10 Choose your metrics wisely:
The effectiveness of your go-to marketing strategy can only be understood if you keep measuring the impact it brings. Ensure that you have a meaningful goal that is measurable, and you can see the changes that they bring to your organization. Some of the best customer satisfaction metrics that you could use to measure the effectiveness of your go-to marketing strategy are: customer acquisition cost, revenue per dollar of sales expense, lead conversion rates, CSAT, NPS, CES, CLV, and so on.
Winding up..
When you are bringing a new product to the public, there is a lot that goes in the background to make it a success. It might even seem that if the exercise doesn’t go according to plan, then all will be lost. Thankfully, that’s not the case usually, and you can easily make sure that most of the things go right as planned.
If you invest the right amount of time and resources to get a solid go-to marketing strategy in place, you will find that launching a new product can be a simple affair. By having a framework in place, you will be able to pull off all the things correctly.
For businesses that want to pick the mind of the various stakeholders as a part of the go-to marketing strategy, sending survey forms is a brilliant way to get all the information needed. You can use the services of an online survey tool like SurveySparrow to collect feedback and optimize your go-to marketing strategy.
With attractive options like sending anonymous surveys to leveraging a rich dashboard that sends attractive insights, SurveySparrow is the kind of tool that will make your product launch a whirlwind success.
