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It doesn’t really matter where your business is located because the vast majority of local markets and the global market are growing and expanding.
In other words, both new business owners and well-established owners can expect fierce competition on the market. To make your business shine and catch the attention of modern clients, you have to identify the true value of your offer and ensure that your target audience understands what they can expect when they purchase your product/service.
Defining a go-to-market strategy
The activities we have mentioned are part of the go-to-market strategy. Although this strategy can be applied in any marketing activity, in most cases, marketers and business people require this strategy in the process of the introduction of brand new products and services. So, in a way, this is a pre-launch strategy that helps people get an advantage over their competition.
When it comes to defining the go-to-market strategy, the simplest way to understand this activity is to think of it as a business plan which relies on both outside and inside resources available to a business in order to showcase and deliver the specific value proposition to clients and get a competitive advantage on the market.
Preparation for go-to-market strategy
At the beginning of this process, you should make moves that can help you identify your target market. In case you are an established company, you should check whether the new service or product you have matches the needs and requirements of your existing base of customers or you are trying to expand your offer in order to reach new categories of customers.
Once you have answers to these questions, you can continue with the research process and find the true value of the product. Another important activity at this stage is to define the price of this product or service. Business people often encounter challenges when it comes to the pricing strategy when they are trying to introduce a product that’s completely unique. That’s why you need to pay special attention to this matter.
Pricing is not the final step in this process because you also have to consider the distribution method and marketing channels which you will use for promotion. When you analyze all these things and evaluate all the options, you should be able to find a way to create a competitive advantage.
Example of ideal Go-To-Market strategy
Now that you know the basic elements of the go-to-market strategy, let’s share an example. For instance, let’s say that you are running a telecommunication company and you are developing a new subscription plan.
First of all, you have to find the right category of people that will be interested in the product. In case your end users are businesses, you should look for the best ways to present your product to these entities.
For instance, you can use professional social media platforms or billboards. When you attract a certain number of potential customers that are willing to make progress in the purchasing process, you should be able to provide an option that should allow them to buy the service/product on the channel that this category of users usually uses like the Internet (through your official website) or by sending agents. This is a user-centered strategy that should work smoothly if it’s done in the right way.
Product positioning as part of developing a user-centered strategy
If you want to witness success with your launch strategy, you should pay attention to product positioning. Professional marketers are using this process to understand how to present products’ (or services’) attributes in the best possible way to a specific category of people (target audience/customers).
There are many elements of product positioning that you must consider and when you implement these elements in the right way, they can help you develop the best user-centred, go-to-market strategy. For starters, you must take your customer needs, requirements, and desires into account. Be as specific as you can.
For example, you should not focus only on targeting men under 30, you have to think of your customer base as men under 30, with a specific annual income, location, interests, etc. What would their needs be?
Analyze your competitions’ offers
The next step is to analyze your competitions’ offers. What do their products/services have? How is your product or service better? What should you emphasize when addressing your potential customers? Is there anything that makes your product stand out?
Finally, you have to find the right communication channels and deliver a business message that your target base will understand and accept. For instance, advertising a new cosmetic product On TV during a sporting event is not a good example of using communication channels in the best way.
Developing a go-to-market strategy is beneficial because it helps you cut time to market products, creates a path for expansion, handles innovation challenges and cuts costs linked to unsuccessful product launches. Don’t forget that the key element in this process is the end user – his needs and requirements.