go-to-market strategy vs marketing strategy

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©2013 ARDIZ EBN – ALL RIGTHS Reserved

Go-to-market Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy

Go-to-Market refers to plans made to launch a new product, while marketing strategy can apply to any ongoing marketing activities. There is a lot of similarity in the two, but the go-to-market strategy is specifically tailored around a product launch, and has additional components due to the need to have a strong feedback loop with the product development team. Once the product is successfully launched the original strategy morphs into a marketing strategy and very possibly integrates with the overall strategy across products. If you want to be successful in global competitive markets, you must continually reevaluate your strategies and business models. Therefor our business model innovation approach not just focuses on the efficiency improvement of existing processes and structures, but also on consciously challenging and changing the current business model of our customers in order to differentiate them from competitors.

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We can help you find answers to key strategic questions along your company’s entire value chain

Tailored to the particular situation of your company, we will review your competitive position, develop concepts for profitable growth and define the right resources.

However, the best strategy is useless if the company is not able to sustainably put it into action and generate results. We will help you harmonize corporate culture and structure with your strategic objectives and align them where necessary.

Product life cycles are getting shorter, while acquisitions expand your brand portfolio but also raise the level of

complexity. On the one hand sales channels are becoming more specialized, while on the other hand they are

dominated by key account customers.

The growing power of key account customers leads to increasingly tougher negotiations, and, in the end, to

more complex trade terms and pricing systems. To compound this, the end customer is also becoming less

predictable – communication channels are increasingly taking into account the many-layered digital spectrum.

Digital marketing speeds up communication, but it also poses considerable challenges in terms of integrating

individual information offerings so as to establish a desired customer contact experience. Companies need to

respond to this dynamic of change, above all in their sales strategy.

What is Go-to-Market Strategy - GTM?

The term Go-to-Market or Go-to-Market Strategy is used frequently by a diverse group of people with a meaning that spans a wide range. What is even more confusing it that marketing strategy and go-to-market strategy are used interchangeable when they are actually very different concepts?

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Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategy is usually focused on who to sell to and what to sell. The boundaries of marketing strategy run across functional lines inside an organization but marketing primarily interacts with two other functions in a company.

First, marketing interacts with development via product marketing to convey market requirements and to provide content for communications and sales tools for selling. Marketing also interacts with sales to build pipeline and assist in closing opportunity more quickly.

Go-to-Market Strategy

Go-to-Market Strategy is focused on how the organization will put offerings into the market to reach market penetration, revenue and profitability expectations.

This charter is a superset of marketing strategy as it impacts all functions within an organization with the goal of preparing the entire company for market success.

Another key point to stress is that Go-to-Market Strategy is not an event, i.e., a product launch. GTM strategy is focused on the entire product lifecycle—from concept to grave.

The Go-to-Market Strategy can be over whelming if not managed properly. The key is not to try to do everything but to focus on the core issues and to nail them. For example, here is a checklist that one company used:

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Go-to-Market Strategy - Checklist

Solve a compelling business problem in a differentiated manner that demands a premium

Determine the market opportunity.

Decide upon the beach head target for initial market penetration.

Understand the buying process: Identify the decision makers, approvers, recommenders, influencers and snipers.

Understand the business issues for decision makers and develop a value proposition that resonates with them. Tie them to a compelling event.

Establish a differentiated position from substitutes and alternatives.

Prepare a product road and complete product life cycle.

Document the distribution strategy and corresponding sales process.

Create an integrated demand creation plan to create qualified opportunity.

Develop a comprehensive and methodical demand management plan to follow-up on qualified opportunities.

Prepare an implementation plan to ensure the offering is set-up to perform properly.

Train the support organization to handle implementation and end user inquiries.

Identify partners for creating awareness, interest, consideration, purchases, implementations and supporting customers.

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Go-to-Market Strategy - Product Roadmap

Once you have identified the business needs you will address in the market, it is critical to have a product roadmap that highlights the evolution of a product, product extensions and the entrance into new markets. Organizations may use a planning horizon of 1 year (for start-ups) to 5 years (for the largest enterprises).

These roadmaps should be reviewed and updated each quarter. When an offering is added to the roadmap it should be accompanied by a market backgrounder—a two page document that covers the most pertinent information about the offering like price, competition, positioning, market focus, anticipated revenue, compatibility information, etc.

As time progresses, a market requirements document should be created, followed by a product requirements document, a feature requirements document and finally a product introduction plan.

Who Are You Selling To

A big question that needs to be addressed and well thought out is who you will sell to. This is a loaded question as it implies the fundamental business problem is understood, a unique and differentiated solution to that problem has been developed, a compelling value proposition that resonates has been created, a path to access the decision maker is known and the story to communicate to the decision maker has been crafted that results in action.

All of this information should exist in various forms of completion as this is the exact information that should have been used to initiate a development effort.

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Go-to-Market Strategy – Sales

Sales are obviously a critical component of any GTM strategy. There should be a standard, repeatable sales process that is communicated, understood and followed. In a B2B complex sale there might be a technical and business component to the sale. There may also be attention placed on titles or roles and the concerns, issues or challenges that each face.

It’s a good practice to document and overlay the buying process on top of the sales process as well for a comprehensive view of customer acquisition and revenue generation.

Finally, detailing the specific sales activities at each phase is a best practice that ensures each at bat was exhausted to generate a potential sale.

What is the Distribution Strategy?

Will your organization be responsible for 100% of all sales? If so, will the offering be sold through a direct sales force, an inside sales force, an ecommerce site or some combination of the three? Or will indirect sales channels be leveraged.

The more sales channels that are used the more thought that needs to give to the market coverage model, sales strategy, compensation plans, sales training, and sales tools and channel conflict.

Outlining a distribution model, like the one you are viewing, will help you think through issues and opportunities and serves to get everyone on the same page.

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Indirect Sales Channels

Some organizations choose to leverage channel partners as part of their distribution strategy. If you choose to leverage partners, it is critical to understand and communicate why that choice was made. Specifically, partners may be identified and categorized into enabling and delivery partners.

Enabling partners are focused on complimenting or supplementing your offering while delivery partners gravitate towards successfully implementing and / or supporting the offering.

Understanding your distribution strategy, how they will contribute to your success and communicating inside and outside the organization why partnering choice has been made and is a must.

Establish new strategic approaches or improve your current strategies

We can help ensure that your strategy, structure and processes are aligned for optimal effectiveness and

efficiency.

We can help you ensure that you have the right processes in place to achieve your goals and objectives. And we

can help you develop an organization structure that will maximize your results and help you develop effective

route-to-market plans for your customers and channels.

Our Strategy, Structure & Planning services are described as follows:

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• Go to Market Planning – We’ll work with you to establish a Go-to-Market approach based on the

questions you need to need to ask:

• What are my core/focus products/SKUs?

• How do I attack my various customer segments?

• How do I execute marketing plans across my customer base?

• Organization Structure Design – Developing the optimal organization involves more than simply

creating new organization charts. Our approach ensures that the structure aligns with your strategy

and incorporates all of the factors that affect your organization’s performance (process, staffing,

reporting, compensation, training, systems, etc.). Also, we help you develop an implementation plan to

address the details of organizational change.

• Channel & Customer Development – Our approach defines customer relationships and the series of

“touch points” (business process interactions) that make up the typical manufacturer/customer

relationship. Using a proprietary model, we can assist you in mapping your business processes and

assessing their effectiveness. We also conduct Customer Satisfaction Studies and use the results to help

you develop an effective CRM Strategy.

• Process Engineering – Good process usually drives good results. Some companies have disappointing

results because their underlying business processes are inefficient or broken. How well do your

processes work? The only way to know for sure is to map them, identify issues, and find ways to

improve and/or simplify the processes.

• Customer Segmentation – One size does not fit all; your marketplace programs need to be tailored to

the needs of different customers. Working with you to understand your customers and their challenges,

we can create relevant customer segments and develop approaches and programs that target them.

• Organization Development – The overall effectiveness of your organization is determined by a broad

range of factors, including: Goals/Objectives/Strategy, Processes, Structure/Staffing/Compensation and

Systems/Tools. We use our Organization Development model to evaluate these key drivers, assess their

impact on your effectiveness and ensure that they are all working in sync.

• Change Management – Change Management is an essential element in planning any organizational

transformation (new structure, tools or programs) to ensure that the organization continues to perform

and deliver business results during the planning, implementation and post-transformation timeframes.

• Working together with your team, we can develop an approach that ensures not only that “change

happens” but that it is embraced and effectively implemented.

core focus areas in Sales and Marketing are augmented by our integrated project ARDIZ EBN approach.

We ensure that assignments, as appropriate, are approached from a total business solution standpoint and that projects address the key business enablers that often mean the difference between failure and success.

“We possess the ability to think globally and yet act locally”

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About Us

ARDIZ™ Euroamerican Business Network | EBN Established in 1983 as ARDIZ and Associates Inc., incorporated in the State of Florida, (USA). Its professional consultants and partners are currently being secured in South America, Europe and the United States. It works both private and public, provides a consistent high quality level of Management Advice and a full range of Business Strategy, Change Management, Corporate consulting, Branding, Image and Identity programs thru its subsidiaries, and local partners, strategically located in the operating markets covered. "Our value equation is aimed to facilitate companies to gain competitive advantage and manage the profound change associated with it" The theoretical solutions to corporate business problems are often not too difficult in principle to understand. What is challenging is creating practical, workable solutions, demonstrating realistic applications of the cultural dynamics and complexities of the businesses, as well as the financial implications.

It is here where we provide the tangible differences

CONTACT

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