How To Build A Go-To-Market Strategy

The question is, how can you effectively stand out to position your business and products, and win the trust of customers? It starts with having a go-to-market strategy. In this post, we’ll explore how to build a go-to-market strategy, its definition and components, and much more.

What Is A Go-To-Market Strategy?

The best way to explain a go-to-market strategy definition is that it’s a framework for launching and selling a product or service. The strategy begins with figuring out exactly what your customers want, how much they are willing to pay for it, determining your value proposition and positioning it to make the most sales. All of which happens before you even launch your sales page.

How Is A Go-To-Market Strategy Used?

Go-to-market strategies are essentially a plan of action. In it a company lays out its plans for reaching target customers and getting a leg up on the competition. From the cost of bringing the product to market to the precise means of marketing, it’s similar to a business plan in many respects. Whether launching new products or relaunching or bundling products and services already in your repertoire, they help sales teams explain to customers why they should buy.

They are also used to help predict potential revenue. When you create your plan, you can reduce time and resources spent in marketing products and services and reduce the potential expense of possible failures. Since you are doing market research prior to launch, you can more easily predict whether or not the product or service you are launching will sell.

Get it right, and you’ll achieve growth in revenue. Get it wrong, and you may have to go back to the drawing board.

Another reason having a go-to-market strategy in place is so important, particularly in the world of cybersecurity is that it increases your ability to adapt to the continuous change of the threat landscape. Everything you do in your framework can be repeated as things evolve.

The same questions will be asked of your customers, and the same research will be curated and evaluated to determine market needs and demand. Now that we’ve answered the question of what a go-to-market strategy is, let’s take a look at how to build one.

Building A Go-To-Market Strategy

There are many ways to approach and develop a Go-To-Market Strategy, but most include some core elements, which we have outlined below:

• Identify target markets: It's critical to understand the type of market you're entering since you'll be able to assess the market's advantages and disadvantages. Ask yourself questions like:

• Which target markets do you want to go after?

• What issues do you want to address? (i.e. general cybersecurity or a more niched down segment such as fintech companies)

• What kind of market are you in, or would you like to be in?

• What is its rate of expansion and how big is it?

• Identify your target customer: Understanding your target customer can also assist you in determining your price and marketing strategy for your product or service. All of your eventual decisions will be based on that ideal persona. Ask yourself questions like:

• Where do your target customers buy?

• What channels do they use?

• Where will you advertise your goods?

• Where can you reach your target consumer more effectively and quickly?

• Define your solution offering: In this element, you’ll consider the cybersecurity solutions you are considering selling. Questions to think about for this include:

• Do you have the products or services your customers need readily available?

• If not, can you develop it or partner with a supplier to help you bring the offering to your market quickly?

• Define your value proposition: The biggest question here is why should your customers buy from you instead of the competition? What sets your cybersecurity solutions apart from what others are selling? For example, if you can provide a one stop shop for everything a customer may need to defend themselves online, you will be much more likely to win the sale than a company who doesn’t.

• Select your sales channels: For this element, you will need to consider whether you will be selling directly to the consumer, or acting as go-between for another supplier (i.e. direct sales, value added reseller, managed service provider, etc…) Once you determine this, you’ll need to explore which channel makes the most sense to reach that target audience such as ecommerce website, online marketplace, retail store, call centres, etc.

• Select a marketing strategy that matches your goals: Where are your customers hanging out online? Will you sell ads to them on Google/Facebook? Or perhaps an organic marketing campaign with blogs and white papers will work better. Do as much research in this phase as possible to avoid wasting hundreds if not thousands of dollars on marketing plans that won’t yield revenue.

• Identify and track key metrics: What metrics will you need to measure to ensure you are meeting your goals? A few metrics you may want to track include, but aren’t limited to:

• Number of sales leads acquired

• Cost per lead (CPL)

• Lifetime Value (LTV) of the customer

• Average sale

• Conversion rates (visitor to subscriber, visitor to customer, subscriber to customer, etc…)

• Churn rate

• Plan how to keep your customers: With so many companies offering similar cybersecurity solutions to your own, how will you keep your customers loyal to you? Consider things like:

• Loyalty discounts

• Retention offers if they try to cancel

• Brand advocacy programs

• Free education and training

Conclusion - Next Steps

We’ve covered a lot in this post. We’ve explained what a go-to-market strategy is, why they are useful, and we even walked you through how to build a go-to-market strategy for your own company. Next, it’s time to put your strategy into action.

It’s important to note that you must give your strategy enough time to see if it was effective or not. Successful implementation of a new go-to-market strategy can take 12 to 36 months. It’s also worth noting that it is a long-term approach to building profitability, decreasing customer acquisition cost, and enhancing the customer experience.

To accelerate your results, it may be beneficial to partner with a security provider with a proven methodology for successfully selling in the cybersecurity market. Look for a partner that can offer a blueprint for success, has case study examples that illustrate their strategies work, and that is a proven expert with credibility and a strong reputation.

If you’re currently looking for a channel partner, look no further than SiteLock. As industry leaders in the cybersecurity space, we can help you bridge the gaps in your own security solutions, and help you develop a go-to-market strategy that can yield more revenue and customers than building your own solutions in-house. Learn about SiteLock’s Channel Partner program.