How to implement a go-to-market strategy in your business

Creating a company and placing it in the market so that it stands out in this increasingly competitive scenario is the dream of any entrepreneur that is starting out. And in order to do that, you need a good market penetration plan.

We’re talking about Go-to-Market (GMT), a strategy to place your product or service in the market in a more precise and efficient manner.

It focuses on short and medium-term results in order to achieve specific goals and guide the initial development of your business.

The go-to-market strategy is usually associated with the business plan.

Although the two concepts are related, they are different and should be implemented at different times.

In this post, we’ll explain the main differences between them and the steps you need to take to use the go-to-market strategy in your business.

Getting to know the go-to-market strategy

As we mentioned above, go to market is a strategy designed for companies to insert their products or services so as to achieve faster results.

It prevents entrepreneurs from barking up the wrong tree, staying focused on their audience de facto and thus increasing the possibility of successful sales.

Unlike the business plan, which is a broader study focused on gradual and long-term development, go to market relies on targeted actions towards short-term responses.

It contains concise and optimized stages to exploit the maximum potential of a group of actions quickly in order to reach customers.

It’s ideal for companies that are launching new products or services, and that are restructuring or wish to expand their business.

They consist of specific actions focused on pillars, and keeping their goals in mind and which customers you will reach from the outset.

Do you wish to learn more about these pillars? Continue below.

Strategic Pillars

In order to be effective, this method must be based on three pillars:

1. Product
2. Public
3. Promotion

Thus, you need to be clear about what you wish to sell, to whom, and what the best distribution channels are.

All of this must be thought out by adding value to the products, to your company and to your actions.

Once the main pillars are established, it is easier to define the actions to be taken in pursuit of your initial goals.

How to implement the go-to-market strategy

Before you get to the next steps, think about how you want your company to be seen, in other words, how your customers should recognize it.

Then, be prepared for possible changes that might represent even more possibilities for your business’ operation.

Sometimes, your expectations aren’t always aligned with your customers’ wishes. But your concepts and principles should ideally be established so that you can improve them.

Always keep your values in mind and also the responses you want when the time comes to take action.

With this in mind, you can follow these 5 general tips to kick off a go-to-market strategy:

1. Know your market

Knowing your niche is a key point for any successful entrepreneur.

By means of good market research, you can obtain valuable information for your business, such as:

• Your competition;
• The audience’s acceptance of your product;
• The gaps that you can fill.

In addition, it helps you to have a real view of what works and what doesn’t, avoiding unnecessary strain.

Another point is understanding your customers’ needs.

If you focus on pleasing a broad audience, you might end up not winning over any audience at all.

It’s very important to know the audience you wish to reach, their priorities, how they respond to certain incentives and what they are looking for in your products or services.

Creating a persona, i.e., an ideal customer profile ensures that the application of the actions will speak directly to the desired and representative segmentation for your company.

These characteristics should be considered not only within this method, but emphasized in all of your business’ actions or decisions.

This is the key point in order to continue with the other steps.

2. Have a well-defined value proposal

By knowing the market and your audience, you can assign the values your company wishes to convey.

This is an excellent way to make your business stand out, build a connection between customers and your brand and consequently, extend your growth.

It is also one of the secrets of the go-to-market strategy: the inversion of what is sold and how it’s sold.

The product isn’t always innovative, but the forms of offering it can and should be.

For example:

If someone creates an online course that teaches customers to build their own furniture, not only selling the course is being sold, but also the happiness of carrying out their own projects.

And how is this sold? Through the courses.

Adding value shows that you understand your customers’ real needs, which will be achieved by purchasing your products or services. And this is how your business becomes more noticeable and more competitive.

Assigning the proper meanings only tends to increase the possibilities of initial success.

3. Establish your goal

Like any good strategy, the go-to-market strategy needs to have well-defined purposes.

What is the main goal that you’d like to achieve after this action?

The main goal isn’t always the most obvious one.

Sometimes an ad for a product doesn’t simply want to sell more, but also bring a new concept to be adopted by the company or even promote more interaction with the customers.

Someone who wishes to promote their brand needs to focus on customer service and relationship before thinking about sales, for example.

The suggestion here is to outline a very specific goal from your overall goal, something that can be effective and measured at the end of the campaign.

Remember to record everything to ensure that the steps are always aligned with the purposes.

This way, it’s much easier to optimize the work and the satisfaction with the results obtained.

4. Choose your sales channels

In this step, you must list all the possible channels to promote and sell your products.

Social media is an important ally in connecting with the audience, whether to promote interactions and direct purchases, to storing and sharing relevant content to boost your company.

Other channels to consider are blogs, websites, chat apps, and sales platforms.

Of course, the chosen channels must always take into account your intentions and the study of the target audience.

You can conduct surveys and even measure your customers’ responses in each chosen channel.

It is also important not to forget about your analyses and personal affinities so that you can explore these forms of interaction or sales to the max.

Only by doing so can you determine the best and most popular media used by you and by your audience.

5. Analyze your results

The go-to-market strategy is used to obtain fast and objective results, with a well-defined focus.

Therefore, a final analysis is indicated in order to confirm the effectiveness of the actions, and if the decisions made follow the right path.

A successful digital business requires constant performance and results assessment.

Metrics and assessments are important tools that demonstrate the results of your actions.

In specific strategies such as go-to-market, the points to be evaluated must be in accordance with the goals, being as specific as possible.

There are many tools that you can use to measure the performance of your chosen campaigns.

You should opt for those that will provide the most accurate data in relation to the points being evaluated and also those that you master, in order to interpret your performance more precisely.

Also, it’s important to observe all the steps, so that you can understand exactly which points were favorable and which ones need to be improved for the next actions.

Simply record everything and you’ll have an excellent view of the performance obtained with this method.

Remember that being an entrepreneur is a constant learning process

Setting goals and defining strategies is an excellent way for you to succeed in your endeavor.

The go-to-market strategy is a functional action. With a well-outlined structure, it is capable of guaranteeing fast results.

Exploring this method’s potential, you can work optimally and enthusiastically, focusing on small goals to be achieved and gradually guaranteeing the growth of your business.

But also, by presenting short-term responses, the results won’t always correspond to expectations. And this generates indicators for your growth.

Actions serve as learning stages, differentiating what works and what doesn’t work, always contributing to the decision-making process.

Entrepreneurship involves constant learning and this is exactly how you’ll achieve long-term evolution.

When thinking about future results, having a well-defined business plan is a good idea, after all, it provides a comprehensive account of your business.

If you still don’t know how to do this, we’ve prepared a guide so you can create a business plan efficiently.