Nobody cares about your idea, even if you managed to convince investors
Go To Market strategy 101
Let’s face the truth: nobody cares of your idea.
Early stage startups often make the common mistake of believing their product is revolutionary, and people will be so impressed by the solution their introduced. Maybe the used some novel technology just introduced and it sounds so hot. No, this is not what people outside your little world will think. People do not care what a product does or whether is using quantum-AI embedded in liquid neurons, even despite the current AI-influencer phenomenon. Instead, people have their own pain (everybody does), and they might be interested in something that can alleviate it.
A further complication is the lack of trust. I heard sometimes, “yes this is a cool idea, we love it” but still no sale happening. People are generally not trusting new things, unless they come through proper branding campaign. Having a cool product or service is just half of the work. It is not enough to have built something and managed to fund it. Half of the job is to convince customers your something is alleviating some of their pain and that they can trust it.
I have to admit, it is not possible to address all at ones the issues raised in the previous sentences, the focus here is to have a GO TO MARKET strategy.
A Go-to-market strategy (or briefly GTM) is a tactical plan defining the necessary step to at least acquire the initial customers in a new market. In short, you need a strategy to find and sell to your ideal customers in the most efficient way.
There is a fundamental difference between a GTM and a marketing strategy. The GTM is the preliminary step when you have or you are something new. The marketing strategy is what you do more after the GTM to keep growing and survive in the market, it is a long-term thing.
A GTM framework should include at least the 3 following steps:
1. Define the ideal customer profile in the most detailed way
2. Reach out and Build trust with the ideal customers
3. Convert most of them into effective customers, and measure this.
In case pivot, and re-iterate
1. Define the ideal customer profile in the most detailed way
Whatever was in your marketing plan. You need to go deeper. The more narrowed and specific is the ideal customer for the product-market-fit., the better will be the life afterwards. For example, when writing this I had in mind a specific category of people (please forgive me if I did not think of you): Either someone with limited resources — not so much money, not so much relevant connections, not so much experience- but yet willing to do something, or a scientist in academia with little understanding of how to move from academia to industry but wanting to create a startup. If we consider the last subgroup, it means that the ideal person is currently enrolled in a MSc or PhD program finishing it soon, and has some ideas. This means that this person is following specific Reddit Channel, Facebook group, etc, and I can target these.
In more general terms, gather information about your target market, competitors, industry trends, and customer preferences. Further questions might include
· Is the product/service being sold to everyday consumers (B2C) or to other businesses (B2B)?
· What is the psychographic, or other types of segmentation of the ideal customer profile.
· How does your product stand out from your competitors? What is the added value?
2. Reach out and Build trust with the ideal customers
Found the necessary communication channels related of ideal customer profile, it is time to test.
Determine the most effective channels to reach your target audience. This could include direct sales, Facebook groups, online marketing, partnerships, distributors, or a combination of channels. Consider factors like reach, cost, efficiency, and customer preferences. Communicate in these channels and start communicating with those ideal customers (e.g. opening a waiting list splash page and asking the ideal customers to sign up). Now the questions are
· Does your ideal customer respond marketing effort as magazines, social media or niche websites?
· Where does your target audience spend most of their time? What marketing channels penetrate that space?
We need now to convert those ideal customers into real customers.
3. Convert most of them into effective customers, and measure this.
The objectives you establish will have a direct impact on whether your go-to-market plan is successful. You provide the measurements you’ll use to gauge your success as you set these goals.
It’s crucial to monitor your key performance indicators as your GTM plan develops and to make any necessary adjustments along the way. For instance, you may need to change your strategy to achieve a lower client acquisition cost if it turns out that you are paying more to attract customers than they are willing to pay for your product. Common criteria used to gauge a go-to-market strategy’s effectiveness include:
· Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
· Closing/conversion rate
· Length of the sales cycle
Those metrics are used intensively by business based on online platform as Software As A Service (SaaS) companies. However, it would be beneficial to use metrics like these in mosto of the business. There are plenty of free and paid services that can help you keeping track of those values.
4. In case pivot, and re-iterate
If the conversion is poor, better not being stubborn or too attached to the idea. It is time to change something, otherwise the risk is to end up in a complete failure. Once a small smart change is made, it is time to re-iterate the process from the beginning.
In summary, a go-to-market strategy is a comprehensive plan that guides a company’s efforts to introduce and promote its products or services. By considering target audience identification, product positioning, pricing, distribution channels, and promotional activities, a company can effectively reach its customers, and grow from there.