What is Go-to-Market?

Go-to-Market means different things to different people. For us Go-to-Market fits really well with this definition that Gartner provides:

‘A Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy is a plan that details how an organization can engage with customers to convince them to buy their product or service and to gain a competitive advantage.’ *

For us, defining Go-to-Market is simple. It bridges the gap between strategy and action. It maps everything together in an actionable plan, a road map, of how and when you will take your product or service to your market.

What Go-to-Market is not:

Perhaps it’s easier to explain what Go-to-Market is not.

Go-to-Market is not a campaign. It’s more fundamental than that. Go-to-Market is not content creation. It is not a bundle of videos, social media posts, emails and ads. That said, Go-to-Market can help indicate the kind of content that you’ll need to create.

Go-to-Market is not your overall strategy. You must be clear on your direction before you can plan how you’ll take it to market. Without a solid direction in place, you’d be taking a huge shot in the dark with every step of Go-to-Market planning.

Think about it this way. GTM is not ‘why’ you are operating, and it is not ‘what’ you do. Rather, it is ‘how’ you are going to deliver, coupled with ‘when’ you are going to deliver it.
 
Why is Go-to-Market planning so important:
 
- Provides clear direction and a plan of action for all stakeholders
- Helps to cascade the strategic objectives downwards
- Ties together sales and marketing activities
- Increases the likelihood of a successful product or service launch

Final Thoughts

If you want to reach the right people for your product or service, then developing a Go-to-Market plan is essential. You won’t get very far without doing this vital piece of thinking and planning.

Over the years we’ve helped organisations develop powerful Go-to-Market strategies and plans and helped them execute them too. We use our 7 steps model to help guide our thinking. Click here to see our 7 step guide to building an effective Go-to-Market plan.

 

Reference: *https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/glossary/go-to-market-gtm-strategy