Source: Nitin Kumar
Product managers build great features & products but usually miss giving attention to GTM assuming great features will work automatically.
So sharing some thoughts on how to build your Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy.
What GTM is NOT?
Identifying customer pain points, figuring out target market/segment, competitive analysis, or building Product Strategy - This should have been done much earlier before building the product.
Growth strategy comes later on when a product has become somewhat successful.
Just marketing/PR campaigns.
Product/feature roadmap.
What actually the GTM strategy is?
An action plan to create awareness and acquire an initial set of users
Validation of initial hypothesis or insights.
A baby step towards Product/Feature Market Fit
Marketing and storytelling along with product experience - hence close working with marketing
The early stage of a full-fledged acquisition & retention strategy
Can work along AB Test
When to build GTM Strategy?
This is where maximum PMs and even Product Leaders make mistakes. It is built along with PRD/Design and NOT when the feature is about to be released.
Reason - Most of the time GTM strategy will have multiple dependencies and inputs for other teams like marketing, business, finance, operations, and even PMs/Designers on how the customer journey or user flow of the Product/Feature works.
E.g. if your feature is dependent on a lot of compliance and validation steps like in the case of Fintech, or in an eCommerce product/feature you want users to learn a new way of browsing or engagement, in such cases you need essential education/guidance for the users. That education and guidance should resonate with GTM strategy to achieve the outcome.
Finally, how would you like to build a GTM strategy?
Identify one or two subsets out of your target base.
Prepare a crisp value proposition.
Identify metrics & decide on success targets. Estimate backward how your funnel should look. You want to make sure you are able to get a sizable outcome to make any meaningful assessment.
Build action items with a schedule/timeline for the whole funnel for GTM - Awareness -> Discovery -> Education/Guidance -> Adoption/Usage -> Feedback.
Don’t forget to estimate the cost involved in execution for budgeting, approvals, and viability/extensibility of your strategy. It will save time when you actually start executing your GTM strategy.
Make sure the essence of the Value Proposition is consistent across all campaigns and communication whether ATL/BTL/Social Media/PR/Push/SMS/Emails/In-App Banners etc.
Close the loop by collating user feedback through reviews, complaints, social media posts, user interviews, and data analysis.
Finally use insights/learnings for managing Product Roadmap and Future Growth Strategies.