Anytime you launch or relaunch a new product or feature or enter a new market, it’s essential to have a thoroughly planned and tested B2B go-to-market strategy.
You wouldn’t wander on a hike into a predator-filled and uncivilized densely wooded area without a plan and adequate equipment—that would be just silly. And, if a tree were to fall in those woods as you hiked, would it have really fallen if no one were there to hear about it and use it?
Yes, we’ve reused that metaphor 17 times. But it applies here too.
So, how do you go about optimizing your B2B go-to-market strategy (and backpacking trips..?) Well, that’s what we’re here to discuss.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
TLDR; Contents
What is a B2B Go-to-Market Strategy?
Generally, a go-to-market strategy (GTM) is a roadmap that plans the launch of a product to ensure smoothly entering the market and successfully reaching end-users. The goal here is to assess your market and potential product-market fit, find your target persona and how to get the product into their hands best, and predict your product’s performance.
Basically, you’re looking to establish your pricing and distribution strategies based on robust data in a way that gives your a competitive edge.
A B2B go-to-market strategy applies not only to new products but also to relaunches and entrances into new markets. It’ll involve many of your teams, from your pricing and distribution decision-makers to partnerships, product, product marketing, marketing, and customer support.
And it’s not one size fits all; every launch, both for whole products and new features and markets, will need its own tailored go-to-market strategy.
B2B Go-to-Market Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy
You might be wondering what the difference is between B2B go-to-market strategy and marketing strategy.
So, to overstretch our metaphor: B2B go-to-market strategy is planning your route and listing out how much food, water, and machetes your may need for your hike. On the other hand, marketing strategy is the ongoing process of staying alive and uneaten once you’re backpacking.
A B2B go-to-market strategy is a short-term, one-time strategy that’s relevant during your initial launch or market entrance. It’ll require knowing your market, product fit, and business and employee target persona to establish positioning, distribution, and pricing.
In contrast, your marketing strategy will be the consistent and long-term undertaking of keeping your competitive advantage and maintain retention and growth once you’ve launched. It’ll involve marketing processes, knowing your growing audience, and continuously tailoring distribution and marketing channels to it.
Initially, for new products and companies, the two will be the same. However, over time, your B2B go-to-market and marketing strategies will diverge.
Types of B2B Go-to-Market Strategy
Partnerships with Established Brands
Ever order a textbook and get coupons for mattresses and a Tide pod or two? I have. That was weird.
But it’s a go-to-market strategy. In B2B, partnering with established brands that already regularly land in the hands of users is a great way to get an (unsolicited but occasionally delightful) introduction to customers.
Of course, it’s best to do so with trusted and relevant brands. Not competitive, but complementary.
So, if you’re selling a professional services networking app, partner with the most popular hard seltzer brand of the moment.
And, if you’re a company selling a camping water filtering straw, partner with the most well-loved machete distributor.
You get the point.
Content Marketing
B2B content marketing is a great way to increase your brand awareness, authority, trustworthiness, and search rankings to your target audience. This type of marketing entails SEO, value-adding knowledge sharing, newsletters, webinars, and tutorials.
By establishing your name as a trusted resource for any relevant knowledge surrounding your target industry and creating actually useful business content, you’ll boost your search rankings and your reputation.
Pricing Models
There are a ton of different B2B pricing models for entering markets, from trials and freemium to tiered, value-based, cost-plus, and flat-rate pricing. But the essential piece to establishing your pricing models is to do so with both a competitive and customer-focused approach.
We’ll get into the different pricing strategies below. Stay tuned for Part II.
Paid Campaigns
Paid campaigns are just that: paid. For B2B go-to-market strategy, Google Ads and sponsored search results, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram ads are all good places to start. All should have tailored land pages to your target persona, depending on the source of exposure.
Some others are sponsored content pieces in reputable and relevant press outlets, print ads, telecommunications (TV/radio/podcast/streaming services), retargeted display ads, and—of course—massive, flashy, and unbearably witty billboards.
Underserved Markets
Another B2B go-to-market strategy is based on assessing the saturation of your target market. So, if you’re seeing that the market you’re entering is especially dense with competitors, it may be a good idea to target more underserved markets that have fewer players.
What could be a slight, well-thought-out pivot in your initial planning stages could save a lot of time. Additionally, a revised decision about your target market could help you amass the human capital, competitive reputation, or financial clout to enter saturated markets later.
Interruptive Marketing
Interruptive marketing is more to do with outbound marketing. We’re talking cold calls, emails, LinkedIn DMs, paid ad campaigns, display ads, conference tabling. Heck, even door-to-door if you’re that determined, geography-specific (and emotionally secure.)
Read on in Part II: How to Choose Your B2B Go-to-Market Strategy.
Well, this was a lot. We know. So, it could be beneficial to consult product strategy experts who’ll help you put the theory to the rubber.
Coincidentally, hi, we’re Goji Labs—a product and software development consultancy with experience in designing, “rescuing,” and deploying hundreds of products.
Looking to develop a new app or revamp an existing one?
Have any general questions about who we are and our authority on the subject?
Reach us at GojiLabs.com.
– Goji Labs