Go-To-Market Strategy

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. 

This question is essentially "how to lead effectively without authority" - or in other words, how to lead your peers and others who aren't necessarily in your organization and/or who don't report to you directly.  Start early - before you plan on rolling out your new launch approach.  Talk with leaders and get their buy-in and then set up recurring meetings with different stakeholders on the Marketing teams, and come prepared to present your plans as well as to ask questions that spark contributions & brainstorming. Share the goals of your new strategy in advance so that stakeholders ...

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 t...

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, ...

GTM strategy, for me, comes back to the audience, the value offered and the outcomes you seek. I like to start with the end, regardless of whether it's a feature or a new product and map back to the customer need being solved. That informs your messaging, positioning and strategy. For example, if upsell is your goal, you might want to create anticipation with a wait list and email nuture for existing customers who are your target. 

B2B   - The foundation of any successful launch is a compelling insight. This is especially true in B2B. To get to that golden nugget, even if you have a research group and/or an awesome, collaborative sales team - meet the customers. There is nothing like first-hand experience when it comes to truly understanding customer. That's where your aha moment is most likely to happen.   - On the creative delivery front, remember that in B2B your LTV is typically extremely high, especially if you're at the enterprise/10,000 employee level. Instead of a "campaign" or broad approach to marketing ...

1. Have a clearly defined launch goal. A metric, a quantity, and a timeframe. "Sell as much as we can" is not a goal. 2. Have a launch leader. Succesful launches to launch by themselves.  3. Good product/market fit 4. Identify a good target market segment 5. Prepare your team 6. Prepare your market 7. Build alliances 8. Measure and adjust More on my blog - https://www.brainkraft.com/7-tips-to-prevent-product-launch-catastrophes  

I personally feel like too much is made of the distinction between B2B and B2C. Heads of IT are people too! In either case, the messaging is paramount. As I said above, commit to “Know the user. Know the magic. Connect the two.” And be able to express that in short / shorter / shortest lines of messaging As for placement, I have found B2B a bit easier than B2C. There are many more digital channels to reach people when they are staring at a screen from 9-5. That said, one of our most successful mediums for Vanta has, surprisingly, been out of home! We developed a tagline that captured the...

Product one sheets/handouts/leave behinds, strategy/copy for sales outreach email campaigns, internal one-sheets for sales calls/scripts, a demo video, buyer's guide, case studies or testimonials if possible, website page that describes product.

I agree with everything Courtney wrote and would add that the sales materials need to train the sales team on a compelling event that will drive interest in the product. This could be externally driven or something you define yourself; you need to articulate how you are creating demand. I don't produce all the assets Courtney lists at launch and instead reserve some time in the weeks following the launch to evaluate how it's doing and hear sales feedback. If I need more materials, I will produce them then.

INTERNAL TRAINING MATERIALS/DECK Education should always be a big part of launching the product. The first thing you need to accomplish is getting the sales team to actually care about whatever it is that you're launching. Try not to make this overly academic, make sure you're getting the point across as to what the opportunity is for the sales person to make money.    BETA/EARLY ADOPTER CASE STUDIES I always try to avoid launching products without a couple of well produced case studies from early adopters/beta users.    LEAVE BEHIND MATERIALS Could be a deck, a one pager, somethin...

First the failure mode (for contrast): PMM does a kick ass job with product decks and slicks. There is a training session where some people seem to be paying attention, but most people are distracted by their day-to-day job of sales. Then when a sales person gets an opportunity, they ask the PMM or PM to come in and help. Or worse, the sales lead complains at the company QBR that her team is not enabled properly.    What I think is better: Start with what's in it for the sales person... Is it higher deal value to satisfy quota? Higher win rate? Then, think through how your sales people...

The ones that compel a buyer to act. Unless you are a customer of your own product, you can't determine what those things are. You have to learn them from buyers in your target market. 

That is best answered by buyers and not by sales people. Go talk to potential buyers and find out what they need to help them make a buying decision. If you don't have time to do that, make sure you ask that question in your Win/Loss interviews.

You need to have a slide on the new product and how it fits to your overall story. In cases where the product is a huge release, I would include a one pager. Included in all of the assets are talking points, training, and proof points TO SALES (i.e. a top sales person has used this asset and it worked and why it worked) 

This will vary depending on how important a given product is as well as its degree of complexity, but for a decently robust feature/product I think you'd want some of the following as a minimum. [Internal] Product one-pager: Succinct asset that explains what customer pain points we're solving for, what the product does/how it solves them, the value prop and top benefits of the product, how it's different from what competitors have, the pricing and packaging guidelines, and any other product-specific reference information your sales team would find helpful. Proof points and testimonial...

Every GTM strategy starts with positioning and messaging.  A detailed and well-aligned positioning document is essential. This should include personas, the problem you're solving, how the solution is defined, what the competition is, the positioning statement, and use cases (it can include more or less depending on the size of the launch and your specific scenario). From there, the messaging should be defined. And only after this should the GTM channel strategy be created.  At minimum, these three documents must be created. Hope this helps!

We have a defined set of documents that we create based on the launch tier: PMM <> PM together prepare * Product overview (how it works) * Key features & benefits * Personas & use cases PMM on their side * Product value prop * Positioning and messaging doc * GTM channels plan * GTM brief with all info above + objectives + measurements plan * Post-GTM retro with reports  In smaller startups, I also was doing much more documents but that's a life of solo PMM 😃

Personally, I like to look at insights not just from competitive products but also from the SaaS industry in general on how to best position and message our product or premium customer solution.  There are 15 odd examples in this doc below on some great positioning/messaging. https://coda.io/d/_d-HTSgcQEqK/B2B-PMM-Playbook-Sample_suu2d/ For example - There is a great example of how Algolia combines their ROI calculator with a Case study and tech docs to link to help a prospect understand the potential value from the product, social proof of that value, and also answer how easy it is ...

The most important thing to dig into here is why the existing GTM strategy is not working. Without deeply understanding this, you're just guessing blindly when doing GTM planning. Focus on really understanding your points of failure, speak with customers, speak with analysts, understand the market, and try again. 

It's critical to stay aligned with how Sales is messaging and selling your product. Even more critical to see how customers react, engage, and ask questions. If you have a service like Gong, it can help you watch recordings and get deeper insights. If you don't have a call recording solution, ask your sales team if you can join calls as an observer so that you can better support them. 

Leverage the channels that you own and the ones you can earn. What does your marketing team and sales team currently own? Email marketing, one-pagers, ADR outreach, website copy, content, blogs. What can you earn? PR, analyst highlights, podcasts, etc. Get creative! Not every launch has to cost a lot.

GTM for the first product is quite different than the other. At startups, while launching the very first product into the market, there is a high risk of customer dissatisfaction, lack of trust and high expectation of value out of it.  Hence, It is extremely important to get fundamentals right for your GTM strategy, which include: 1) Interviewing and connecting with potential customers 2) Identify the problem in the market, connect with people and feel the market vibes. 3) Validate your product by pre selling/giving free trials 4) Identify your target group and understand their pain ...

Across B2B and B2C companies, one of the biggest influencers in a buying decision is a happy customer. Think about it, when you go to buy something that matters to you, how often do you ask a friend who's used the product how they like it, or look for peer reviews online from trusted sources?  Peer feedback, case studies, and references can make or break a purchase decision . Buyers want to know that they can trust you as a company and that your product will deliver what you say you will provide. Without having an existing customer or user base, the challenge of setting up a successful l...