What Is a Go-To-Market Strategy for a New Product?

After spending months creating and perfecting a new product for your customers, you wouldn’t just throw it on the market and wait for sales to roll in. You would give time and effort to researching the best way to bring your product to your customers, so they could see the value of your product, and you could make the most of your teams’ hard work.

This forethought and planning are what’s known as a go-to-market strategy. Let’s look at what a go-to-market product strategy is in more detail, and what goes into a successful strategy.

What is a go-to-market product strategy?

A go-to-market product strategy is a step-by-step process to successfully bring your new product to the market. Think of it as a roadmap to follow to prevent common mistakes that can occur when launching a new product without a plan in place.

As every product is different, so too is every go-to-market strategy — your own strategy depends on your industry, your target customers, and many other factors. Generally, though, every go-to-market product strategy will include a target market, sales strategy, and marketing strategy. Here are some things to consider for each:

Your target market: What does your ideal customer look like? Where do they shop and find information about new products to buy? How does your product fit into their routines, budgets, and lifestyles?
Sales strategy: How will you convince your potential customers to buy your product? What is your product’s story, and how does that speak to your customer’s journey? How will your customers purchase your product easily?
Marketing strategy: How will you ensure that your product is seen by your target audience? Which social channels do they use? Where do they like to shop?

Your go-to-market product strategy will also incorporate research into your customers’ pain points and your competitors in the market. While creating your go-to-market strategy, you should always keep the following questions in mind:

What problem does your product solve for your customers?
Which of your customer’s needs will be fulfilled by your product?
How much is your product worth to your customer?
Is there sufficient demand for your product?
Is the market oversaturated with products like yours?
Or the opposite — does your product fulfill a need that not many people have?
Does anyone else on the market offer the same product as you? Are they focusing on the same pain points? If so, how are they targeting their message to hit this idea with customers?

In all, your go-to-market product strategy should be a comprehensive plan to successfully launch, market, and sell your product to your target audience. Remember that having a go-to-market strategy is essential, no matter what your company sells — it could be a service as well as a physical product. The ideas behind your strategy remain the same — ensuring that your target customers are aware of and happy with what you have to offer.

Chris Mills

Chris is the Vice President of Product Marketing and GTM at Wrike, leading the product marketing, industry solutions, market intelligence, and go-to-market strategy teams. He has over 25 years of experience in the enterprise software industry, previously heading marketing teams at Salesloft, Hearsay Systems, and PROS. Chris combines analytical and people skills with business knowledge to build high-performing teams and drive cross-functional results.

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What Is a Go-To-Market Strategy for a New Product?