The Cost of Ignoring Early-Stage Strategic Marketing: Why a Solid Go-To-Market Strategy is Crucial for Business Success

The Cost of Ignoring Early-Stage Strategic Marketing: Why a Solid Go-To-Market Strategy is Crucial for Business Success

In today's fast-paced business world, having a solid Go-To-Market (G2M) strategy is crucial for the success of any business. Having recently conversed with various individuals on the topic, I have realized its critical importance and the fact that companies don’t understand.

Over the years, I have created and developed G2M strategies, which were not referred to as such when I first started my career in business. However, the concept has always been a constant in supporting a business's success.

One critical aspect of G2M strategy remains the same is the importance of conducting and working through the early-stage strategic marketing work. It is the foundation of every sales, marketing, product, and operational strategy.

Understanding the market dynamics and conducting educational outreach is crucial. It is also essential to set the tempo for marketing engagement and determine the timing and duration of the strategy.

Duration is a crucial consideration that many businesses underestimate. It is critical to pay attention to the time it takes to create brand and technology acceptance before implementing a "hard" sales engagement strategy. It is like making bread, where the dough needs to be proofed before it can be baked.

Many technology businesses, particularly in construction technology, implement a G2M strategy that hits the market with a hard sales strategy from day one, wondering why the sales team isn't closing business. They need to pay more attention to the time it takes for customers and the market to become aware and comfortable with a new technology or solution before being ready for a full-blown sales pitch.

If a market needs priming, then it needs priming, and businesses will know when customers and the market are ready to move into sales mode because they will tell you. Only then can businesses start turning up the sales engagement's heat and intensity. Doing it too early and with a heavy hand can do more harm than good to a brand and dent its business potential, limiting the success of the business.

Ignoring the first 19 chapters of the 20-chapter sales and marketing manual is one of the biggest and highly regrettable strategies for failure. It is also one of the reasons for business failures among technology startups, which is high at 90%.

Understanding the customer and marketing engagement strategy for G2M is essential to get it right. Sometimes, businesses only get one shot at it, so let's ensure we do it right from the beginning.

In conclusion, having a solid G2M strategy is crucial for the success of any business. Conducting early-stage strategic marketing work, understanding market dynamics, and timing and duration are important considerations. Businesses should avoid implementing a hard sales engagement strategy too early, as it can harm their brand and limit their success. Understanding the customer and marketing engagement strategy is also crucial for getting it right.

I urge businesses to take the time to develop a solid G2M strategy and take their time with sales.

I offer a free 60-minute 1:2:1 session to discuss G2M strategy and how it can benefit your business. https://lnkd.in/emMjKSt5

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Author

Andy Hamer

BA (Hons) Marketing Engineering FCIM

Building a business based on disruptive technologies can be a challenging task; I'm passionate about helping customers find solutions to improve their businesses and increase profitability while minimizing risk.

With a proven track record of delivering disruptive technologies to market in the UK and globally, my diverse portfolio of experience in commercial, sales, marketing, and operations allows me to offer consultancy services that align businesses for success.

Think of me as your personal “Google Maps” for business, processing and making sense of the overwhelming amount of information and variables in the business world to help you navigate your journey. I've worked with various medium-sized businesses and start-ups, including CodeBook, Xinaps, Invicara, XYZ Reality, and Archdesk, helping them to grow and scale.

I've also worked with major technology companies such as IBM, DEC, Apple, Toshiba, Panasonic, and global services businesses like ATT, BT, CSC, NTT, KDD, and Deutsche Telecom to understand the opportunities for new product and services based on new technologies.

My consultancy services are founded on commercially aligning businesses for success, and I offer them in-person, remotely, and in a hybrid format to clients in the UK and internationally.

Your business is my business, and I'm committed to working with you to help your business scale and grow by developing an aligned commercial-operational strategy.

Don't just take my word for it - let my clients speak to my expertise and approach:

"We discussed our business opportunities with him. He is among the few knowledgeable people about the AEC industry and its needs and is a great guy for marketing questions and processes."

"Andy brought great insight to my business with ideas on improving processes and using technology. We've also had several strategy sessions to examine how we can approach the market more dynamically by offering better”

Accreditations

BA (Hons) Marketing Engineering

Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing FCIM