What's up brand buildersStephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this
video you're going to learn what a go-to market strategy is with strategy types and critical
elements so you can understand the launch pad successful brands use to mobilize their message
and earn that critical brand awareness so you've got a product or a service that meets
a want or need right well that's great and it's the makings of a successful business
or successful brand but having a great solution is only one half of the pie finding a way to
craft a message to influence the people who need what you have and then mobilizing that message
is the more challenging task stemming from a clearly defined brand strategy an effective go
to market strategy zeros in on who you're targeting where they are and exactly how
you'll engage and in this video you'll discover a step-by-step guide to help you understand the
components of a successful go-to-market strategy and follow through the template
so you can really create one for your own product launch and your own brand so what exactly is a go
to market strategy well a go to market or a gtm strategy as it's also known is a detailed
action plan created to position your offering for market launch now it is created on the back
of a brand strategy and a clearly defined target market and then creating a message and a marketing
plan to outline your sales strategy so exactly how you're going to bring that product to market
how you're going to bring that brand to market and how you're going to connect with your audience to
convert them so your gtm strategy is the roadmap that details how you want to reach your target
market with your product or your service and that will highlight your competitive advantage
so your competitive advantage is all about your positioning strategy why are you different
why should your audience choose you of your competitors and then rolling that out across
your marketing channels so when exactly is the right time to create a go to market strategy well
the answer really is in the phrase itself go to market when you're ready to go to market that
is when you need to create your strategy now you could be ready to go to market with a new product
you could be ready to go to market with a new service or you could be ready to go to market
for the very first time with a new brand so it's really when you're ready to introduce something
new to the market to that target audience is when you need to create your go to market strategy so
that go to market strategy is all about providing clarity and meaning what exactly is being
introduced who's it being introduced to and what is the value of what is being introduced if you're
able to clearly articulate all of these and select the right channels to do that then your go to
market strategy has a chance of success and this helps the brand to leverage appropriate tactics by
adopting scalable marketing models that will help them achieve the right type of engagement with
the right type of customers to ultimately drive conversions drive sales and gain that market share
so let's talk about some of the benefits of the go to market strategy now markets don't respect
guesswork a product launch is simply an experiment if you don't go about it with an informed strategy
now as we know some companies rush to market based on this perceived need that is not really
subject to any validation they have this idea that they have a product or a service and that
obviously there is a market out there for that without really validating that the market exists
but gathering relevant information to inform your go to market strategy will really help
to prevent the mistakes in the oversights that are often common in new product launches thereby
limiting the chances of failure considerably now of course there are plenty of other benefits to an
effective go to market strategy it increases the chances of success for your product your service
or your brand it clearly sets a direction for all stakeholders and creates an established path
for market success and growth it also defines what success looks like and the timeline for that
success and apprehends any challenges that often comes up from product launches service launches or
brand launches so let's have a look at the different types of go to market strategies
now your go to market strategy can be product led or sales led but you can also direct your
strategy towards any of the models outlined below or a combination of all or some number one inbound
now you can create brand awareness and attract prospects organically at every stage of the buyers
journey using methods like content marketing blogs and search engine optimization or seo
inbound helps to attract people who are already looking for your solutions with the right content
and at the right time as well number two outbound now although inbound marketing is a very effective
long-term strategy quite often a go-to-market strategy aims to achieve short-term goals as
well now paid advertising including traditional channels such as television and radio as well as
digital channels such as facebook ads google ads or display networks offer a more direct response
though outbound activities are paid to play and they do require a budget it gets the right message
in front of the target market with certainty number three sales now the sales strategy is
about empowering the sales teams through training coaching and the creation of marketing content
and demonstrations as well to use during the sales process now this will enhance their
ability to convert customers and increase sales results and productivity as well
number four account based strategy now abm or account based marketing strategy is about
targeting high value accounts using valuable content comprehensive cross-channel campaigns and
one-on-one engagement as well in abm the marketing and sales people collaborate to locate and engage
top-rated b2b clients to close deals directly with them number five demand generation now this
strategy leverages sales centric marketing activities such as cold calling emails list
buying and tv commercials as well as sponsored webinars to name a few and they target customers
and convince them to buy their products and services through sales pitches or presentations
to give them some kind of value now of course not all of these are going to apply to every single
brand every single business or every single go-to-market strategy it's about identifying
which types of go-to-market strategies are right for you which types of go-to-market tactics
are right for you and which channels will best get you in front of the type of audience that you
are targeting now as they say any recipe is only as good as the ingredients within that
recipe and when it comes to your go to market strategy there are many different components
that you can choose from so let's have a look at those components number one product marker fit now
here you want to validate the need of your product or service or brand by identifying the specific
problems that your product or service solve for your target audience so before launching you need
to be convinced based on facts and figures as well why your product has a space in the current or
emerging market now recently a cb insights that showed that 38 of startups fail because there's
no validated market need so in other words 38 of these brands failed because they didn't go into
the market and test and see if there was a market out there prepared to buy what they had to sell
having a product or service that solves a problem is key here if there aren't enough people
with that problem who needed to be solved then you don't have a market to sell your product
or service to so test and validate your ideas with real people before building your product
number two questions to find your target audience now there are questions that you need to answer
in clear terms about your target market and how you'll create a strategy to reach them
so who is your perfect client where are they what's their budget what are their core challenges
what do they need what do they want why do they need it why do they want it what will happen
if they don't get it are there segments of the market that we can better resonate than others
you need to really get all of this information about the market and potential customers to
support your strategy now of course research like this will include the likes of demographics and
psychographics as well as geographical locations amongst other things and that will all help you to
narrow down your focus number three competition and demand now you don't get into a fight
until you're ready for the fight you need to get information about the competitors that are already
offering the product or the service that you're launching or at least a similar product or service
now obviously you don't want to operate in an oversaturated market so there has to be a real
unmet need within your market and a real demand for what you have to offer there's no point in
going into the market and offering the same thing you need to approach that market with
a point of difference for your product your service or your brand now your competitors
have already established themselves in the market so it's your job to identify the reasons
that they give their audience to choose them in order to find an offer that's more compelling
number four distribution model so how will you get your product or service to your customer
you need to define the channels or the paths that the product or service will take to
reach that end user your distribution model should include how your customers will
go about buying the product so will they shop directly on your e-commerce store or
will they buy from the retailers physical store or from their website will you need distributors or
a warehouse these are all questions that you need to ask when defining your distribution model now
for software products or software as a service would your customers download it or would they
have to install a plugin or will they have to log on to a web-based app your distribution
channels should provide a seamless customer shopping experience and product delivery as well
number five your messaging strategy now it gets to the point where you have to create a narrative
around your product or service or brand and present it in a way that appeals to your target
customers now to achieve this you need to create a clear description of your product and what it does
why it exists what problem it's going to solve and itemize every single problem it solves as well and
position it to stand out from the competitors by the unique way it solves those problems so
create a clear messaging strategy for market awareness and give your target audience a trail
of crumbs to follow in order to learn more about how your product or service can help their lives
now of course your messaging strategy should provide convincing answers on how your offer
addresses a specific need within the target market and why your customers can be assured that your
product or service will meet that need and it goes without saying that any product messaging needs to
be aligned with the overarching brand strategy and overarching messaging strategy number six an
effective pricing strategy now you need a pricing strategy that should align with your position
that you want to own in the market there's no point in going out there with a pricing strategy
discounting your products if you want to be known as a luxury brand now while the cost of production
is an important factor in pricing customers will only offer money that matches the value that they
hope to get from your product or service now the price point of your product you're bringing into
the market is influenced by the position that the brand takes in that market so again going back
to that idea if you want to be a luxury brand then you want to go into the market with a luxury brand
pricing strategy and number seven your marketing strategy now this is where the rubber meets the
road and your product or service or brand message meets the very people that your brand intends
to help now brands don't need to create traffic or create an audience these people already exist
they're already out there they're browsing they're searching they're reading commuting relaxing
they're researching an effective marketing strategy will determine exactly what their
audience is doing where they are and how they're doing what they're doing in order to meet them
in the right place at the right time with the right message that's been designed specifically
for that moment now look the possible combinations of media and channels is endless from direct
response ads to helpful articles to entertaining videos across social search display digital tv
radio print and beyond and the choice of media and channels is not the only challenge choosing the
right combination for the right audience is where the real challenge is now look every business in
the world has some kind of solution to some kind of want or need but that isn't a ticket to success
you can have an amazing product or an amazing service though its success relies heavily on
the method used to communicate the value of it to that intended audience now despite the
saying great products or services don't sell themselves behind every success is a story of
an effective go-to-market strategy to make that success possible now i'm going to leave another
video up here that will help you dive deeper into brand strategy but if you want to become a master
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