Definition
Go-to-market (GTM) is the strategy used to bring new products or services to market. Its main goal is to identify a market problem and position a product or service as the solution. The GTM process includes outlining all the steps needed to minimize risk and maximize success to make the product or service marketable to customers.
How Marketers Use GTM
Marketers use a GTM strategy to plan, describe, and collaborate with stakeholders to illustrate how the brand will effectively introduce a new product to the market. When marketers sit down to create an effective GTM strategy, they do the following:
- Market research: Identify their brand’s ideal customer profile (ICP), and find out their customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviors.
- Determine product positioning: Identify the unique value propositions of the new product or service and how to position them within the existing market.
- Set a pricing strategy: Develop packaging and pricing that accounts for profit margin, customer and market demand, competition, and value of the specific product/service being taken to market..
- Strategize acquisition channels: Decide on and select the most appropriate channels to reach their ICP and create some buzz around the new offering. These may include paid search platforms, online marketplaces, social media, or email marketing—to name a few.
- Produce marketing materials: Develop messaging and marketing campaigns to create awareness, engage with potential customers, and ultimately drive sales.
- Test, optimize, repeat: A go-to-market strategy isn’t a one-and-done process. Once marketing messaging and collateral are out in the wild, they require a lot of testing, iterating, and optimizing to find the “secret sauce” that will bring in the most leads and customers for the value of the marketing spend and product or service value.
