Whether you’re launching a new product or service, or entering a new market, one thing is certain: a well-drawn-out plan is indispensable.
There's no script for guaranteed success, and every launch comes with its own unique challenges and surprises. For most, a launch is a high-stakes process that can break either way.
To mitigate the risks and increase the likelihood of a successful launch we’re sharing a strategic go-to-market (GTM) plan to help ensure that every decision and action moves you closer to reaching your goal and steer your launch in the right direction for long-term growth.
Nailing down a solid GTM framework can help you find you gain a deep understanding of the market, and customer insights, and identify coherent messaging.
No two launches are the same, but all of them have some common elements:
Here’s our 4-step topline GTM framework that helps you plan, prepare, and manage your new launch for maximum ROI and growth.
First and foremost, it’s crucial you get serious about creating a clear and detailed vision of the “what” behind your new offering and how it will integrate into your core brand and brand story. That means defining "what" exactly your product or service is, including its features, look and feel, and core benefits.
Answering your “what” with precision is necessary to build the foundation from which your entire marketing strategy will grow. Start with these fundamental questions:
You’ll also need to consider how this service/product will fit into your core brand. This is where design languages and visual consistency will help position the new product/service under the main brand: use the visual language that represents your brand, including typography, color palettes, imagery styles, and other elements.
For example: You're running a global panel company - you run your own trackers, you sell that data and you also do recruiting. Say you want to launch a new sustainability tracker among Gen Z - after answering the 3 Q's above, you need to make sure this new product uses your brand tone of voice, visual language, and focuses on the outcomes of buying your tracker, such as "Learn what Gen Z thinks about sustainable packaging" and not something generic like "Access our Sustainability Report with data from Gen Z".
Your launch 'why' answers:
Identifying the 'why' behind your launch is fundamental in defining a narrative and purpose that resonates with your team, stakeholders, and target audiences. This 'why' factor serves as the backbone of your story, and it articulates the purpose of your offering, the problems it aims to solve, and its relevance in the market.
Understanding the 'why' also enables you to craft a compelling value proposition by helping businesses map out and summarize all of the outcomes an offering helps solve.
For example: Consider you’re working to launch a new DIY research platform where researchers can design, program, and run their surveys and see the final report with one-click data visualization. Your answers to the above questions are: 1) it is to democratize research, 2) it solves not having to rely on a middleman to get the project done, and 3) it’s quick, easy, and saves time/money.
Understanding the “who” or your target audience is key to the success of any product or service launch. To identify your target audience, envision the ideal buyer for your offering.
Chances are, senior leadership and salespeople are in tune with your buyers and have valuable insights into potential customers' characteristics, needs, and pain points—consider tapping into their expertise.
Delve deeper into understanding your target audience by creating buyer personas that encapsulate your ideal customers' demographics, behaviors, and preferences.
Refine your personas with in-depth interviews (IDIs) to ensure accuracy and alignment with real-world insights. By validating these personas, you can avoid relying on guesswork and uncover nuanced details like your target audiences' specific challenges, concerns, or aspirations.
For example: Imagine you have a behavioral tracking solution - what's going to differentiate this product is your audience. If you're targeting shopper insights people, the narrative you’ll want to sell is "Increase conversions on your product page" and speak the language of these researchers. If with that same solution, you also want to target media folks, you should sell "Learn how many viewers abandoned this TV show over the last 6 months" - always speak the language of your audience.
Once you know the what, why, and who, behind your GTM launch - the only thing left is to identify “how” your offering benefits your target audience and consumers. Fortunately, all the information from the previous steps should answer all your questions.
Your “how” addresses the mechanisms through which your offering fulfills the needs, solves the problems, or meets the aspirations of your target audience. This includes:
No product launch strategy is foolproof and they rarely go 100% according to plan. This GTM framework will help you develop a launch plan that is informed - all that’s left after launch is to measure, draw conclusions, and learn from successes and failures.
If you need help getting everything right, have a look here for more information on a tailored co-creation workshop for your company.