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How do you craft a successful Go to Market Strategy for Pre-teen/Teens product vs product targeted at Adults.

To successfully get your kids product off the shelve, I believe both parent and the kids buy-in is required. How do I craft my card strategy to include the parents or guidance being decision makers.
2 Answers
Dave Steer
Dave Steer
GitLab Vice President of Product MarketingJuly 28

This is such a brilliant question because it identifies the fact that, with teen products, there are multiple audiences, each with different concerns and needs. (B2B Marketers - the analogue here is envisioning the difference between the technical champion and the economic buyer).

I have no experience with pre-teen marketing, though I have worked on marketing efforts where teens use the product. The first and most important rule is simple and bold: do no harm. Even if they don’t think they need them, Teens need special protections from harm and your job as a marketer (and advocate for the customer) is to not cross the line.

We handled this challenge by developing segmented messaging aimed at parents/guardians, who were primarily concerned with safety risks, and teens who primarily want to connect and share with their friends. 

Authenticity with both audiences is key. If one audience feels like the message is disingenuous, your go-to-market won’t work. For the products I worked on, we accomplished this goal by encouraging parents and kids to engage with each other on the product (Insight: Teens don’t want to be lectured at, but some will readily take the driver’s seat to explain a product to their parents).

Finally, it's important to fully understand the wants and needs of all of the audiences, not just the teens. Gain a deep understanding of the 'jobs to be done' for all stakeholders and recognize there may be more influencers than you think.

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Amanda Groves
Amanda Groves
Crossbeam Senior Director Product MarketingJanuary 23

I agree you should focus on making it a shared experience where you get the buy-in (trust) from the parent to unlock the teen's accessibility. Potentially consider targeted advertisements that feature testimonials from fellow parents who have seen success from your product and surface their voices on third party review sites so they can form an objective opinion from sources like themselves.

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