From the course: Create a Go-to-Market Plan

Know when to build a go-to-market plan

From the course: Create a Go-to-Market Plan

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Know when to build a go-to-market plan

- [Instructor] When I worked with the Nutraceutical company, they had a sleep product used by Navy Seals. When Navy Seals are in active combat, they need sleep to perform at optimal levels. The product was a success. However, the company realized this sleep product could also help sleep-deprived moms with their busy lifestyles. This repositioning of the product called for the nutraceutical company to develop a GTM plan. A marketing plan is a roadmap outlining your company's marketing initiatives for the coming year. It's aligned to your organization's higher level goals and objectives, and it drives your business. A go-to-market plan or GTM is a marketing plan specifically for launching a new product, service, or brand in an existing market, an existing product into a new market, or a new product into a completely new market. A go-to market GTM plan requires time and resources to achieve an effective market launch. You'll learn all about the development of your GTM plan and what makes a launch successful. Creating a GTM plan will require a lot of time, resources, energy, and effort, so it's important to understand the benefits as you get started. One benefit is your team will save time. Because you're taking the time to learn more through research in the market, and then placing these insights into your product, marketing, channel performance, and evaluation strategies, you can reduce the time it takes to go-to-market. Zeroing in on a broader GTM timeline, the 30,000 foot view, here's an example of a company's timeline as they plan to launch three new products. You can see each product at different times goes through phases of packaging, web development, and messaging. Having a timeline set such as this will help you and your team stay focused on certain milestones. From here, you can get much more specific with your go-to-market planning, to detail your strategies and tactics for a successful launch. Now, this is the ideal scenario. Whenever I talk to LinkedIn Learning students, they ask me, "What if I only have a few short months?" Your timeline depends on your needs and resources. Also, a GTM plan can cut your costs. You can lower the costs that may be associated with failed launches. For example, knowing exactly who your customers are and what excites them about your new product will streamline how you reach these people in the market. A GTM plan will also help you offer a better experience for your customer. Your sales team and your channel partners will have the materials they need ready to inform, assist, and respond to customer needs as they experience your new product. Your GTM plan will ensure you're creating strategic direction and by creating strategic direction, your teams and sales partners will be on the same page, understanding your product vision, and the strategic objectives that drive the goals at product launch and beyond. Next, you might be wondering, what actually goes into your go-to-market plan? As I go through each of these five components, consider which of these areas you'll want to dedicate more time or the least amount? You might need to focus equally on all areas as you develop your plan. First is product strategy. Here, you'll lay out what's unique or differentiates your product offering from competitors, helping you build your positioning and value in the market. Second is channel strategy. What channels will you use not only to sell your products, but also to educate and/or support your partners and customers? A strong channel strategy will increase your channel performance. Third is marketing strategy, the area of your plan that includes your efforts to generate awareness, external and internally, with your own employees, especially those who interact with customers from product introduction and initial interest to purchase and support. Fourth is customer experience. You should always anticipate your customer's journey. This part of the plan details that journey from initial awareness to purchase, activation, renewal or repurchase, and sometimes cancellation. Evaluating the experience helps you to understand better interactions with customers moving forward. Fifth is measurement or evaluation. Having a feedback loop to measure and evaluate is a priority. You'll learn through measurement and evaluation will feed your insights and inform your strategies for future GTM planning. All of these building blocks will help you to launch a successful go-to-market plan that serves as your guide to success. Ready? Let's get started.

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