Go To Who?

Recently a good friend approached me and shared this amazing idea they had to take a new product to market. They had built the concept, tested it and literally perfected the product to a point that it was time to go and share it with the masses. Easy right? Wrong…

I see this often, and whilst not wanting to dampen their enthusiasm because their product truly is remarkable my first question was, what’s your go to market strategy? Their response was reflective of something I’ve witnessed and heard so many times throughout my career, ‘Go to who?’

I have seen great products and ideas that are truly brilliant that only lack one small ingredient, a go to market plan.

Here’s a simple approach and more importantly thoughts and questions I would typically ask at the moment you are ready to go-to-market.

What is a go to market plan?

A go to market plan is a more of an immediate delivery plan. It’s a short term roadmap that is focused on taking the product, service or idea to the target audience in the most effective way.  

WHY DO I NEED A GO TO MARKET PLAN WHEN I HAVE A MARKETING PLAN?

A marketing plan typically has more of a long term focus compared to a go to market plan which is very short term orientated. So much success in any business in the long term is driven by the foundations and the approach to the very first steps hence it goes without saying that this part of the planning process is one of the most critical.

Typically creating something new generates so much excitement and enthusiasm and this positive energy can often lead us to miss some of the important elements and requirements that are needed when we think we are ready to go.  This is the point of the go to market plan; it  helps you create a short term check-list that will drive execution and delivery and give you a guide on what step comes next for your launch.  

The framework that a go to market plan creates will ensure you have specific goals and milestones that you can track in the early days to ensure you are on track and more importantly will help you to understand and address issues and challenges as they arise early in the journey before they set in and create challenges for the business down the line. 

A go to market strategy is as important to a start-up business as what it is to a mature seasoned company as the principles and pitfalls of delivery are exactly the same for whatever the maturity of the company.

How do I build a go to market plan? 

The process of building a go to market plan does not need to be complex and needs to be simple enough so that you can alter it as you learn more as you start learning and delivery.

ASSEMBLE THE DATA YOU NEED.

A great starting point for any go to market plan is to assemble as much data as is practical so as you can use this to validate the idea, service, product etc. with the appropriate facts.  This data can be obtained by research, industry reports, talking to experts in the appropriate area you are working in, competitors and by generally asking as many questions as possible prior to writing your go to market plan.

By using data to answer questions you will eliminate the temptation of answering all the questions yourself and this can be a risk as your ability to remain objective may be challenged because of your emotional attachment.

ASSESS THE FEASIBILITY.

It’s imperative to establish as early as possible whether your initiative is feasible and is something that will create enough value in market to potential customers as well as delivering the commercial outcomes you require commercially.

Doing this will give you confidence that has been validated by fact (data) and more importantly will start to give you a broader perspective on some of the key success factors your plan will require. 

Asking questions throughout this phase are critical as they will help you to start validating the ‘value’ that is going to underpin the idea you are putting forward, this will continue to build confidence for you, your organisation and very importantly your investors.

Questions could be clustered by categories or themes:

What is the problem my idea/product is solving?

• What problem does the idea/product solve?
• Why is this problem so important to solve?
• What impact would solving this problem have?
• How does my idea/product help solve this product?
• How does solving the problem help the community more broadly?

Who specifically is your target audience?

• Who are you targeting, specifically?
• What are the characteristics of these targets? Are there similarities?
• Who will make the final decision in purchasing your offering? Are you aiming at targeting a specific level of decision maker (i.e. CFO), or are there multiple points of engagement?
• What pain could you resolve specifically to the potential decision maker b approaching them with your idea/product?
• Is there a broader community or industry body that could benefit from solving this problem and could potentially help you educate your target market to solve this problem? 

What is the demand for your idea/product? 

• Who is already in market trying to solve the same problem that you’ve identified?
• What do your target market think of these alternatives? These alternatives are going to be your competitors so understanding their strengths and weaknesses will be critical to articulating how you are different.
• What would your target market need from your idea/product so as to have their problem completely resolved?
• What barriers exist that would stop your idea/product being used by your target market?

Does your idea/product need any technology for it to work?

If the answer is yes then you’ll need to:

• Establish whether you need to build the technology to drive the product? How much will it cost in both time and finances?
• Once you’ve built the technology how much will  it cost you ongoing?
• Is there an alternative to use someone else’s platform to build your idea/product/ If so what the cost? Is it more or less?

In addition to the above is there any other potential issues, legal obstacles or roadblocks that might need to be factored.

DEVELOP A GTM BLUEPRINT. 

Now that you have established through data and common sense that your idea/product is feasible it’s time to start building your actual plan. The blueprint is aimed at being step by step guide on how you are going to deliver your idea/product to market or to your target audience. You will leverage some of the learnings and insights you gained in the first few steps, however this is now the opportunity to get more detailed as you are now getting ready to launch.

What is your marketing strategy?

• Recap on who is your target market?
• How are your competitors reaching this market (i.e. Social media, search marketing, sales force etc)?
• Who are the customers you are going to target specifically?
• What are their personal goals, their issues and or pains?
• What are their beliefs, personal values, social status, digital competence, income levels, budgets etc?
• Are there any groups and or clusters that become apparent as a result of investigating your customers?
• What are your competitors doing to right now to serve these groups? What is and isn’t working with these competitor strategies?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses that your competitors have?
• How are your competitors communicating with customers through marketing, selling etc?

If you establish that you will have more than one type of customer it will be beneficial for you to create some simple customer personas so that your customer story/value proposition isn’t limiting your potential for reach and growth. Give these persona’s a name so that you can refine them and continue to be focused on understanding them when you are in market.

MAP YOUR CUSTOMER JOURNEY.

This is the time to walk in the shoes of your customer from the moment they are exposed to your idea/product  right through all the steps ending in you actually purchasing and then continuing to engage with the company ongoing.

In this phase you are thinking about process, it needs to be as simple as possible. Consider this in the context of your customers and be sure that you can clearly answer the following questions in establishing this process:

• Is your customer aware that they have a problem? If they’re not how will you make them aware?
• Where will the customer need to look to find your product? Are there multiple places that they might look and how can you be sure your product is found?
• How can you stand out from your competitors when they find you?
• Once your customer has made the purchase how can you keep engaging them? Is there an opportunity to use your customer to become an advocate for your idea or product in the future?

Given the different channels and technologies available to customers there will be so many different ways in which they can engage and buy your idea or product.  Mapping every possible touchpoint in as many channels as possible will be critical in understanding the customer journey but will also be important at ensuring there are consistencies and synergies across the entire value stream.

ESTABLISH YOUR PRICING STRATEGY.

This is typically a great time to engage your financial advisors as the key to long term success will depend on your idea/product being profitable.

Understanding the price point of your competitors, your customer personas, the different pricing strategies that may apply to different types of customer journeys will be essential when you are considering how to process your offering.

You will need to consider the following questions in establishing your pricing framework:

• Is there a one-time cost for your idea/product?
• Is there a cost associated with every time your customer engages your product?
• Is the service ongoing and will you charge a subscription fee?
• Are there multiple variations of your product that mean you might offer the basic elements for free or at a lower cost so as to grow sales?
• Will you offer discounts or promotions to help fund sales?

THE VALUE STORY AND HOW TO COMMUNICATE IT.

• What problem are you solving for your customers? How?
• How can you leverage the customers biggest problems to create a gravitation towards your offering? What makes your product stand out from all the others? What language or tone will you use to help you stand out?
• What channels do you ideally to use for communicating this message? (Note: you will need to include this in your commercial and pricing modelling)
• Check that your channels reach as many personas and prospects across the customer journey you mapped out in the earlier phase.

ACQUIRING CUSTOMERS SEAMLESSLY.

This is the opportunity to start converting your idea into sales and as such the first moment where you formally take the idea/product to market.

This seems like the easiest part of the journey however can be the most complex and confusing given the number of avenues and potential channels you have in your go-to-market strategy.

 This is the time to answer the following types of questions:

• Can your idea/product be sold exclusively online?
• Will you need a venue and/or salespeople to sell your idea/product? What type of training will your sales team/s need to sell your idea or product?
• Will you need to establish sales tools to help sell your product (website, software, technical applications, presentations, merchandisers etc)
• How will you measure and report on the various sales channel’s performance, effectiveness, cost?
• How will you talk to customers before and after a successful or unsuccessful conversation so as they remain ‘fans’ or ‘pipeline’ opportunities?

MANAGING CUSTOMER SERVICE.

The goal of every new idea, product or organisations is to ensure your customers enjoy a magnificent experience. In order to ensure that this ambition is a reality for your idea/product you will need to consider:

• Will you need resources to manage this experience?
• Will you offer customers ongoing communication channels/services to engage with you?
• Will you need to consider producing materials that support your offering? How will you maintain and produce these?

The objective of any process is not to add complexity and this point where you believe you are ready to go it is imperative to ensure you have checked through as many possible scenarios so as you can be confident your idea or product has every chance of being successful.

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Business Strategy, Go To Market