Guide: What is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy?

A go-to-market strategy, also known as a GTM strategy, is a plan for how a company enters a market or gains more of a market.

In this guide, we will discuss what a go-to-market strategy is and how to create and implement a GTM strategy in your business. Specifically, we look at:

• What is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy?
• Key elements of a go-to-market plan
• 6 tips for your go-to-market strategy
• Which GTM strategy should you go with?
• How to get started with your GTM strategy
• Optimize your product launch with Radiant

What is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy?

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a plan that guides the launch of a new product, service or brand in a market. The plan is crucial for introducing and positioning the product, service or brand and ensuring the company’s success in the chosen market.

When creating a go-to-market strategy, it’s essential to have a thorough knowledge of the market, the competition and what the customer journey looks like – in other words, you need to create a market analysis.

A GTM strategy is not just a marketing plan; it connects product development, sales, marketing and customer service in a cohesive approach that must be implemented with care and precision.

This strategy defines how you reach customers and communicate the value of the product and which sales and distribution channels to use. It must be tailored to reflect the product’s unique value proposition and the company’s overall business goals.

To the right is an example of a go-to-market strategy where you first do a market analysis, including competitor analysis and segmentation. Next, you put together your USPs and differentiate yourself from the competition. You then draft which channels to look into and then test everything and provide feedback on the strategy. In the end, you have your go-to-market strategy fully developed.

Key elements of a go-to-market plan

A new study from McKinsey shows that mastering the following 4 “dominoes”, as they call them, increases the return on your GTM strategy by 20%.

In the article they describe how to:

1. Centralize commercial processes to gain insights – you can do this with HubSpot, for example
2. Has an agile approach to its go-to-market strategy, including an omnichannel strategy
3. Improve processes with automations and AI for sales
4. Train colleagues in the new strategy

With these 4 “dominoes” you have a better chance of creating a successful GTM strategy.

The above is something you work with in any go-to-market strategy. Likewise, you should also always ensure that the following are met:

• A useful segmentation Who is the customer and what characterizes them?
• Understand the customer buying journey; which touchpoints influence the decision-making process and buying behavior?
• Defining the value proposition; how does your product differentiate itself from the competition and what unique value does it offer?
• Establishing sales and distribution channels; what are the most effective ways to reach the customer and deliver value?
• Setting KPIs and success measures; this is crucial to measure the effectiveness of your GTM strategy and make adjustments – here you can use a dashboard to keep track of these KPIs.

All elements are key. Of course, some will be weighted higher than others, but it’s all something you should consider internally.

6 tips for your go-to-market strategy

With experience in creating go-to-market strategies for a wide range of companies, we’ve gathered the best advice for you right here.

1. Analyze the new market

To be successful with your GTM strategy, it is crucial to analyze the market you are aiming to enter. In this analysis, you map out everything from the competition to the target audience and what regulatory rules might affect the launch of your product.

Read more about market analysis

2. Create a new segmentation of the new market

There’s no guarantee that you’ll be working with the same stakeholders in the new market that you’ve worked with before.

A concrete example is the difference between departments in different countries. For example, the US has different departments with different responsibilities than the EU – these differences can also be found between Eastern and Northern Europe.

Read more about segmentation

3. Maintain your unique advantages

You may have certain USPs in one market, but you may not have the same USPs in the new market.

There may be other things that are relevant in this market, but it could also be that your competitors have the same advantages as you. Therefore, you need to ensure that you maintain your unique advantages in the new market.

4. Get help from experts

When trying something new and as important as a go-to-market strategy, it’s essential to seek help.

You can benefit from seeking expert help:

• The embassy of the country in question
• Other Danish companies in the country in question
• Experts who specialize in go-to-market strategies

At Radiant, we can present you with the challenges and opportunities you need to be aware of based on experience and best practices.

5. Get a grip on the language

If you have a physical product or software with manuals, guides and templates, make sure the language is consistent with the language of the market you want to enter. Of course, it’s always a good idea to translate your website so that it’s ready for users from the new country.

When it comes to manuals, you need to pay extra attention to getting it 100% right so that the user experience is top notch from the start.

6. Warm up the market before sales begin

It’s a good idea to start advertising in the new market to get some feedback on messages before you start selling. After all, it’s cheaper to test with ads than it is with man hours.

By advertising to the new market, you can 1) see which messages appeal best to the target audience and 2) Warm up the market to make it easier for sales to start.

For example, you can use Audiences in HubSpot to advertise to exactly the right people or companies. That way you can be sure that the right people see your ads. You can see how to do this in this guide.

Which GTM strategy should you go with?

There are different GTM strategies, each with different advantages and disadvantages. Below are some of the strategies you should consider.

New product innovation

If you are an expert in a field and have innovated a new product, this can be a strong GTM strategy to build on.

Innovation leads to benefits and smarter solutions. However, innovation is expensive and if it’s a completely new technology, it also takes time to educate the market. That’s why it’s so important to spend time on your GTM strategy and seek help when you need it.

Prize competition

Are you cheaper than the alternative and can offer a good price without compromising on quality? Then you have a big advantage in your go-to-market strategy.

Being able to offer a cheaper solution is one of the strongest USPs you can have – especially if it doesn’t compromise on quality.

Digital marketing

If you have strong digital marketing resources, including SEO and paid ads, you can also use these resources to enter a new market. By capturing relevant keywords in the new market, you can quickly gather relevant traffic, which you slowly start to convert into customers or leads to sales.

These are three different go-to-market strategies that you can use if you are considering expanding into new markets.

Read more about digital marketing

How to get started with your GTM strategy

Implementing a go-to-market (GTM) strategy requires a lot of coordination across the organization. It’s important that everyone in the company is aware of what the goal is and how to communicate it.

The core elements of the implementation phase include rolling out marketing materials, training the sales team and setting up customer service structures. This means that sales, marketing and customer service need time to prepare for this.

Gathering customer feedback and market insights early in the process is essential for gathering customer feedback and market insights. These insights can then be used to improve your go-to-market strategy, adjust the marketing message and refine the sales process.

To ensure successful implementation, there must be a dedicated GTM management team that monitors progress against the set KPIs and goals. Ongoing reporting and evaluations should be done to identify any bottlenecks and ensure that the strategy remains aligned with the company’s overall goals and vision.

Optimize your product launch with Radiant

At Radiant, we are experts in B2B sales and in helping companies enter the Dach and Nordic markets. At the time of writing, we are helping more than 20 companies grow through sales execution or process optimization in their HubSpot.

We solve growth problems through sales execution – also known as sales as a service – or by optimizing processes through HubSpot as a Service.