Once you have a go to market strategy in place, how do you "convince" everyone on the marketing team, and get the ball rolling around the strategy you've built?

I know this isn't tactical, but I would make sure to include them in the product launch kick off meeting (which happens ever before you have your entire plan built) because it helps them understand WHY you are launching what you are launching and enables them to feel part of the journey - part of the team - that will make this launch a success. Because ultimately, it is a team that makes launches happen. It can't be done alone.

I know this isn't a tactic (quite yet) but I mention this step because it will help you get buy-in so you don't have to 'convince' anyone in marketing to launch this. They will be excited about the opportunity and feel empowered to share their POV on what acitivities/content they can create to support the launch (respsective to their function. So demand gen team comes up with their strategy and shares it with you to discuss, same ad content etc).

Tactics

-Set goals for the launch tied to quantitatve KPIs that impact the entire business and every function

-Create a gantt chart (or Asana board) to track the key milestones (and every deliverable / to-do) of the launch

-Schedule your weekly/biweekly meeting cadence

-Hold each member accountable to getting their work done. And make sure you've empowered them to 'own' their workstream for the launch so they feel (and are) bought in. 

-Celebrate their success! And celebrate little wins along the way. Make the launch process fun - and make sure to give credit to your teammates (at the exec and peer level) along the way. 

Here are a few considerations and actions you can take to build support across the team:

1. Tie your launch goals to the greater Marketing team goals. It’s important to connect the dots on how your launch can help your marketing teammates accomplish their goals as well. For major initiatives, make sure your marketing leadership team is bought in and understand the potential impact. You have to PMM your product internally first :)
2. Make folks feel like thought partners. I love holding brainstorm sessions and pre-kick offs with content and channel owners. Not only does this get them bought in, but you get a bunch of creative ideas out of it. People are much more compelled to execute a plan if they've been brought in throughout the process. 
3. Be organized and make folks feel recognized. As PMMs we often quarterback huge multi-channel launches, but we rely on others to execute much of the plan. Come to your kick off prepared with a clear GTM strategy, workback schedule, and customer journey & bill of materials (that you’ve already co-created with folks ahead of the meeting!). Create a great culture around launches, and folks will be more excited to work with you in the future.

I typically back up departmental asks with customer sentiment (qual) and data (quant). This makes it easier to rally team members around our why and cultivate influence towards a new GTM initiative. For example, recently we decided to issue a new survey that required cross-functional and leadership support. We created a charter for the initiative and documented why the program was necessary, then built a RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, informed) to clearly outline responsibilities among stakeholders. The RACI framework helped to build trust, buy-in and accountability across teams while the charter rallied the group around one clear north star.

Get buy in EARLY, and share "excitement" around WHY the strategy was decided on and the potential value/opportunity it brings for the company and that specific marketing team! Once I have my messaging, positioning, and overall vision, I like doing a "kickoff call" with the marketing team to go through the "Why, What, and How"--I find that explaining how each person plays a critical role in the success of the strategy is key to getting buy in.

When I deliver a market strategy to the marketing team, I think about it through the lens of "What's In It For Me" (WIIFM)--speak their language and personalize the market strategy to what they care about and how it will improve their area of marketing. For example, if you are working with the Demand Gen team, how is this new market strategy going to improve their MQLs? For the content team, what might be some topics they can think about writing for related to this new strategy?

And to continue driving success of the market strategy, I follow these steps:

1. Listen--reguarly check in with your marketing team. What do they feel like is working/what working? Set up regular check ins! I really enjoy using Slido as a way to collect feedback live during a meeting and even after. The questions in Slido can be upvoted and asked anonymously, so it's a great way to do effective and productive Q&A.

2. Stay organized--I use Asana to keep track of what initiatives are being done to support the market strategy and results. If you are looking to do a GTM plan, you can get more tactical for roles and responsibilties. 

3. Course correct as needed--determine goals and KPIs up front (that are realistic and achievable), and make adjustments as needed. Do you need to add campaigns, or a webinar? Does messaging need to be tweaked? Do you need to find a customer story? For me, win rates is a massive focus for Product Marketing, so I keep a Salesforce dashboard that looks at win rates by sales teams, regions, and verticals.

4. Share wins--what new logos have been obtained as a result of the market strategy? What are website visitors looking like? How is the industry responding? I like doing QBRs focused on what market strategy, as well as sharing weekly/monthly wins in our Marketing All Hands Meeting related to that market strategy. I also like to share Gong calls to marketing and sales team for where that market strategy is working well. 

Using a consistent and standiardized process and templates can really help teams stay streamlined, focused, and empowered to all move to the beat of the same drum!

This question is a great one. First, you don't build the GTM strategy in a vacuum. It's not an exercise of a product marketer where she goes into a dark room for ten days and comes out with a brilliant strategy. You must co-build this with your stakeholders—marketing, and sales. Otherwise, you will have a more challenging time convincing people. 

In the past, I've set up checkpoints and collaboration time with key contributors and stakeholders. This approach allowed me to evolve and build my strategy with them, and when the so-called final product is done, most stakeholders are on board. 

However, if you have already built it, then position your strategy as the solution each marketing department or the team would care about. For example, if the brand team has an initiative they care about, how can your strategy help them, or how does their initiative support your strategy? It's about understanding their goals and strategy and scaffold and aligning over. 

Usually lack of alignment is due to lack of information. To drive forward a GTM strategy a lot of pre-work needs to occur so that when you are ready to broadly share your plan to the marketing team it shouldn't be new information. For example, when you're creating your messaging matrix you should be consulting with your marketing stakeholders to get their feedback on how this launch intertwines with your overall company positioning. Presenting the plan also shouldn't be the first time a marketing team member heres they are signed up for an action item. All of your pre-GTM planning should be vetted with your marketing stakeholders as they are also responsible for executing on various different tactics (email comms, press announcements, content strategy, etc.)

Here are some steps I'd recommend for getting buy-in and driving execution of a go-to-market strategy within your marketing team:

1. Clearly connect goals to business outcomes. Tie the strategy back to hard revenue targets, customer acquisition costs, or brand KPIs to ground it in tangible objectives.

2. Socialize strategy early for feedback vs. presenting fully baked. Getting input and ideas from key marketing leaders helps drive greater ownership.

3. Establish clear accountability across teams. Assign ownership for each program area driven by the strategy.

4. Have a full-team launch kick-off meeting. Here's where you can define interconnected programs of work cross-functionally.

5. Conduct regular check-ins to assess progress, risks, blockers across implementation plans. Course correct quickly if needed.

6. Convey urgency around competitive dynamics. Leverage real examples of competitors executing aggressively. It is hard to disagree with a plan that is based on data and customer feedback.

I want to answer this one because I think it’s important to take note of the framing :)

The marketing team shouldn’t have to be “convinced” after you’ve already created a plan. They should be aware of/excited about your launches well ahead of that. Sit down with the team and do quarterly or monthly campaign planning centered on expansive stories where your launch can be a key pillar holding up a lot of their own efforts. If the launch isn’t big enough to influence their plans, that’s okay! It might be a tier 2 or 3. But anything that you deem a company trajectory-changing launch should be central to the entire company’s OKRs.

You need to get buy-in to the GTM strategy before you build it that includes:

• involving the team in the strategy development process, as this can increase their ownership and commitment to the GTM plan
• providing clear goals and objectives to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals for the launch 

Involving stakeholders early on can help to ensure that the GTM strategy aligns with the overall goals and objectives of the company and that it takes into account the needs and perspectives of all relevant parties.

Once you have developed a go-to-market strategy, it is important to effectively communicate it to the marketing team the process of GTM execution via go-to-market project management, kick-off meetings, alignment docs (project briefs), etc.

I've found in my career that when I create the strategy on my own, it's much harder to convince everyone else to buy into it. However, suppose I include those other marketing teams much earlier in the strategy, getting their input and setting goals/strategy/plans together. In that case, they're much more vested in the plan's success, and it takes little convincing. 

In the absence of being able to do that, the next best option is to understand the goals of everyone else on the marketing team and how your market strategy helps them achieve their goals. When other people can picture executing your strategy and achieving their team's goals, it's easier to "convince" them. 

Getting everyone on board after you're done is a lot harder if they haven't been involved from the start. Give the GTM plan an iterative process treatment. Start with a rough draft and shop it around. Get people to buy in on it. Ask for feedback and ask questions so they feel involved. Make suggested changes if it makes sense—and if it doesn't, work to reach a consensus. 

Once you've gone through a couple of rounds with the primary stakeholders, the GTM plan should be fairly polished. Everyone will believe they had a hand in it and it's easier to work out minor kinks before implementation.