AMA: Epic Games Senior Director, Marketing, Stacie Colendich on Go-To-Market Strategy

First things first, I like to define a good GTM strategy as one that clearly outlines: Business goals with measurable KPIs Target audience and the best channels to reach them Product positioning and messaging Pricing and sales/distribution plans Strategy to drive awareness and/or onboarding and engagement Comms/PR collaboration is critical in nearly every GTM. I have always found most success bring my comms peers in early to help them understand what we are trying to accomplish and to brainstorm ...Read More

This seems like a trick question - working independently without information, insights, or advice from key stakeholders is a huge mistake. PMMs must operate as the hub in the hub and spoke model. You must deeply understand: the customer problem (Customers direct and/or via Sales and CS) the product (PM) your differentiation (Research) how to sell (Sales and Enablement) timing (PM and Release Management) how to reach the customer (Marketing and Comms) If you are not collaborating cross functional ...Read More

There are a variety of ways to get buy-in - from large meetings with presentation and Q&A to 1-1s with all key stakeholders. I have had success in both strategies, but it really depends on your company culture. In large meetings, you have an opportunity to lead the conversation and provide the same story to all stakeholders at the same time. And often, the Q&A is really valuable to hash out key points across teams and make sure that everyone is aligned. The downside is that you can get s ...Read More

It may take some time, but ultimately, as a PMM, you want to become the owner of the GTM plans. But, to get yourself into the sphere of influence, you will have to prove that you have valuable insights about the customer, their problem, the product, it's differentiation, and the best way to reach and convert customers. Some ways that you can gather this information are: Win/loss analysis with sales ops Customer ride-alongs with sales or customer success Hands on keyboard usage of the product on ...Read More

Focusing only on what PMs say instead of what customers wantThis is a common mistake - inside out vs. outside in thinking. It's easier to talk to someone internal, it's easier to take their statement as ground truth, it's easier to believe the story we have told ourselves. It's important to remind ourselves that ultimately we need customers to buy and use our product and if our GTM strategy and messaging doesn't reflect their problems, motivations, reasons to buy, then your GTM is flawed. Not ma ...Read More