From a customer perspective, product launches seem like a pretty cut-and-dry process. But behind the scenes, there are usually millions of dollars invested into each initiative and possibly years of development behind it. Bringing a new product to market is a massive undertaking, and there's a lot on the line.
With so much at risk, companies must do everything possible to ensure a profitable launch. A big part of that process is developing a top-notch roadmap and strategy that engages customers while providing a competitive advantage. Cue your go-to-market (GTM) team.
What Is a Go-To-Market Strategy?
The definition of a go-to-market strategy is simple: It's in the name! It's a market strategy that details how companies plan to reach their target demographic and ensure a profitable launch. The goal is to find a way to convince potential buyers that this product is worth their time and money. Think of it as a framework for market intelligence and strategy that, when used wisely, can leave a lasting impression.
You can't expect to experience a successful unveiling without some form of sales strategy. Your product team can only do so much. Even the best innovations are nothing without proper marketing and the right approach to inform the masses. But don't take our word for it. There are many examples of big-name companies failing to make a splash. From the early days of Apple to fleeting companies that were gone in the blink of an eye, many failed launches directly result from poor GTM strategies.
Examples of Go-To-Market Team Responsibilities
Your GTM team will play a critical role in every product launch you have. But what exactly do these market teams do, and how do they contribute to your overall marketing strategy? Here is a glimpse of how your GTM team can help you launch a product successfully, with examples of what their work can achieve.
Assessing the Market and Competitors
Here is an essential function of an excellent go-to-market team. For your product to succeed, your team must do in-depth research about the market and what your competitors are doing.
Picture this:
You prepare a new product and believe in it so much that you immediately bring it to market without a strategy or competitor intelligence. After much fanfare, you realize too late that the market is already saturated with similar items at a lower price point. You have no way to shift your goals or chase a new market of target customers because you didn't assemble a go-to-market team to understand the landscape.
In that scenario, a failed launch could cost you millions.
Your GTM team is responsible for figuring out details that could help you avoid this nightmare example. They assess the market, determine your target demographic, find the right audience, and gather insight into your competitors to develop marketing actions that benefit your bottom line.
Ultimately, their work can also help with competitive enablement. What is competitive enablement? It's gathering intelligence about your competition and sharing it with sales teams to handle customer objections and gain the upper hand in an already fierce market. What your GTM learns during the research process will pay off in the end, allowing you to develop strategies to avoid utter failure.
Analyzing Audience and Developing Buyer Personas
Understanding your audience requires more than primary demographic data. It's about figuring out what they need and how to market your new product to them successfully.
Once again, the go-to-market team saves the day here. Your GTM team should develop detailed buyer personas that clarify your ideal customer. This information will ultimately become part of your sales enablement resources, helping your reps sell more strategically.
Buyer personas are descriptions of people who represent your target audience. It's not specific names or a call list. Think of it more as a fictional representation of the type of people you're trying to sell to the most. GTM professionals will create personas to help sales representatives learn more about who they should target, what customer experience they expect, and their unique needs. The team can separate personas by market segments, develop an action plan for each, and more.
Creating a Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
You can get all the intelligence in the world. But it's all pointless unless you have a killer marketing plan. The whole point of gathering that data and insight is to develop multi-channel strategies that engage potential buyers at every turn.
It's not enough to have a single channel of advertising. To be successful in the modern sales era, you need to reach out to your target demographic from all angles.
Your GTM team should develop everything from digital marketing campaigns to old-school media spots to ensure you leave an impact and drum up interest for your impending launch.
Building a Product-Specific Sales Team
You might have a pretty extensive collection of products available to customers. But it pays to have a dedicated sales team when you're launching something new. One crucial responsibility of your go-to-market team is to facilitate a sales team that understands the product front-to-back and can sell it with success.
Of course, GTM teams must do more than hand over a few marketing materials and send reps off on cold calls. There should be plenty of sales and competitive enablement resources available. That includes marketing insights, proper training, sales scripts, great enablement content, and more. With the right resources, product marketing teams can prepare sales teams to come out of the gate ready to close deals.
Building a Product-Specific Success Team
A product success team has a critical job beyond typical sales or marketing actions. While your sales teams will focus on guiding potential customers through the buyer's journey, product success teams prioritize the customer experience and overall retention.
Maintaining brand integrity and customer satisfaction is paramount after a new launch. Things can go south very quickly if customers aren't happy with the product you sell them. Success teams work to help buyers realize the total value of the product. They keep customers engaged and ensure they're using the product properly to achieve their unique goals. Plus, their work can help with product management and generate ideas for future releases.
Customer Acquisition and Retention
As a whole, your GTM team has one universal goal: Gain new customers and keep them coming back for more. That's a tall order, but go-to-market teams are the most equipped to do the job. They have the necessary intelligence to understand the buyer's needs better than anyone else in your company.
With their careful strategies, they work to acquire new clients and take steps to retain them in the long-term after this new launch. That could include optimizing the sales pipeline, adjusting your business plan to market changes, launching new campaigns to appeal to a broader audience, finding ways to tap into your existing customer base, and more.
Assessing GTM Performance KPIs
The final responsibility of a go-to-market professional is to monitor market strategy performance and make improvements over time. The initial launch is a big deal, and there's always a massive push to engage customers up to the product's release date. But marketing actions don't end after that. You must continue appealing to new and existing customers to boost your bottom dollar.
GTM strategies are perfect, but your team can use key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor techniques and make necessary improvements. There are many KPIs to track during and after a product release cycle. The most helpful include the number of demo bookings, newly acquired customers, qualified leads, monthly recurring revenue, your product's value matrix, and more.
Build and Equip Your Go-To-Market Team with Flockjay
When you're gearing up for the next phase of your company's success, turn to Flockjay. The Flockjay platform can help you build and empower your go-to-market teams. Equip them with the tools they need to succeed, and watch them pave a path to victory for your next product launch. With valuable features and a digital environment conducive to learning and sharing, Flockjay will become one of the most powerful tools in your company's arsenal.
