Hi, everyone. This is Alejandro Cremades, and today we’re going to be talking about
how to define your go-to-market strategy. Before we get started, make sure that you
hit that Subscribe button, and this way, you will never miss out on any of the videos that
we roll out every week. When you’re building a business, besides
the team, besides defining the business model, understanding how you’re going to go out
to market and make it happen is everything. In today’s video, we’re going to be breaking
it down for you and giving you the step-by-step guide in order to make it happen.
In terms of go-to-market strategy, what it means is the channels that you’re going
to be using to get to the market for the first time. It is, essentially, the marketing plan,
but more importantly, the marketing plan that you’re planning to use in order to get there
and to get in front of your customers so that you generate that excitement to get them involved.
A really good marketing strategy or go-to-market strategy is the one that gives you an edge
over your competitors. The best ones are the ones that are giving you the best return on
the investment. You need to understand who your players are out there that are competing
against you, either directly or indirectly, and what they’re doing and what’s working
for them, and what can you do in order to make it better in a more effective and efficient
way that is less costly? At that point, you will be able to really nail it and be in a
position to wow investors and anyone else that wants to get involved with your business.
A successful go-to-market strategy is one that allows you to get in front of your customers.
You need to understand where those live, how you can target them, and what are the channels
that you’re going to be using to target them? If it’s men, then maybe you want to
go to magazines that have to do with men or to hubs online or to groups online where those
are actually engaging. If it’s for women, maybe you can use channels like Pinterest
where you can get in front of them, in front of the stuff that they use and they like to
use. And you need to understand where your potential customers are going to live and
what are going to be those channels that are going to cause you the least amount of money?
That is ultimately what is going to define a really successful go-to-market strategy.
For the go-to-market strategy, there are different channels that you can use. Some of them are
going to be working best, and some of them are not going to work as well for you. The
top channels that typically you may want to look into are the following:
Blogs Website design
Search engine optimization, SEO Social media
Search engine marketing Email marketing
Analytics and reporting Paid advertising
A successful go-to-market strategy is going to prove product/market fit. Product/market
fit is essentially when people would be extremely disappointed if they could no longer use your
product or service. That’s how you know if you have product/market fit. If you actually
survey your own customers and if 60-65% don’t say that they would be extremely disappointed,
then that means that you need to go back to the drawing board. But ultimately, you want
to go to marketing channels and to hubs where you can get in front of those customers that
are going to be the most engaged with your product and your service.
In a successful go-to-market strategy, you are going to find that the unit economics
work. So that means if you put $1 in, you take $2 or $3 out, or whatever that is, but
you need to know that whatever money that you’re putting in is coming out with money
on top of that. Otherwise, it makes absolutely no sense. So you want to make sure that whatever
you’re putting in is going to give you a nice return on investment.
What are the most important items in a successful go-to-market strategy? Ultimately, it’s
affordable, so it’s a channel that is easy for you; it fits with the budget that you
have, and it is also relatable so that your potential customers can relate with it. That’s
ultimately what is going to define the success of the strategy and how you’re executing.
So, again, you need to make sure that whatever you’re doing matches with your budget and
with the channels and how you’re thinking about spending money to get more money and
to get those customers in the door in a way that they’re fully retained.
Before knowing which channel you are going to use and where you’re going to be marketing,
you need to define your customer. Where do they live? What is their geographic location?
What’s their gender? What’s their age? What kind of studies do they have, whether
it’s just high school, grad school, college? All of those metrics and those data points
are going to allow you to understand where those could live and how you can have more
of a targeted campaign in order to get in front of those people and close it.
Then you want to define your brand positioning. Is it going to be a luxury type of brand?
Is it going to be more toward discounts? What kind of look and feel do you want to give
to it? Once you understand your customer, you need to create something: a packaging
or a positioning that will resonate with them because that’s going to increase your chances
of closing them and onboarding them as customers. Then you want to understand what is your unique
selling proposition? This is something that you’re going to be using when you’re getting
out there, whether it’s on the copy, whether it’s on the images. For this, one thing
that you could do is to have a ton of calls, a ton of meetings, and to survey customers
and potential customers so that you understand what’s missing in the market and what will
get them excited to sign up right away for a service that is covering those pain points.
Again, that is going to be something that allows you to understand a solution, service,
or product that you’re bringing to market that is better, more effective, and that covers
a clear gap that the direct and indirect competitors are leaving in the market.
Then you want to create your marketing budget. The marketing budget is going to be part of
the exercise of putting together your financial model. In your financial model, you’re going
to come up with your valuation, the projections, the amount to raise, and all of that good
stuff. But in that financial model, you’re going to come up, as well, with the marketing
budget. That marketing budget is what you are intending to allocate on your initiative
in your venture every month or perhaps every year, but you need to have that set in stone
and have it also in a way that you are clearly aligned with your other team members.
Then it’s all about putting your go-to-market strategy into action. Some of the things that
you can do to kick it into high gear are the following:
Create a countdown timeline to ensure everything is ready for the launch.
Decide who you need to hire or dedicate to this plan.
Identify what materials you need to create to execute on this strategy.
Take action and start crossing things off of your to-do list.
Hopefully, this gave you a really good idea on how to get out there with a bang and define
that marketing strategy that is going to get those customers to come on board and to also
be retained and super-thrilled about what you’re doing.
If you like this video, shoot a Like. Also, Subscribe to the channel so that you don’t
miss out on all the videos that we’re rolling out every week. Then, also, leave a comment
and let me know what kinds of channels or strategies you’re actually implementing
that are working out. And if you are raising money, send me an email at alejandro@pantheraadvisors.com.
I would love to help you out with your capital-raising efforts. Thank you so much for watching.