Getting ready to market with your new product? Some might think all it takes to go to market are a few product photos and some witty copy, but the real work is beyond the promotional launch. To help you uncover the steps it takes to truly launch a new product, we've outlined core steps to a successful go-to-market strategy for you to follow.
Plus, we've also grabbed some of our favorite relevant blogs posts from the archives that can help you even more.
Like what you see? Make sure to grab your own PDF format and start checking things off!
Step 1. Define the target market.
This should be a set of characteristics that describe the organizations you plan to sell to including, industry, location, size, status, and performance. The market can consist of either existing customers or a new market.
You may want to read What is a Vertical Marketing Strategy?
Step 2. Understand your buyer personas.
Buyer personas are a representation of your ideal buyer. What roles do they have? What does their day-to-day look like? What challenges do they face? How does your solution help them solve their challenges and achieve their goals?
More tips on creating buyer personas, specifically for B2B.
Step 3. Create a value proposition.
Your unique value proposition is a pledge of what will be delivered, experienced, and acquired by a prospect when they become a customer. It should clearly convey why they should choose you over a competitor.
What goes into understanding a Unique Value Proposition?
Step 5. Identify your key competitors.
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This will uncover opportunities to di erentiate your product or service from theirs in the minds of your consumers while mitigating possible threats.
Kick off your competitive analysis with these four key questions.
Step 6. Choose a pricing strategy.
You can analyze what competitors with similar products are doing to gain initial pricing strategy ideas, but your pricing model should be built around the value that your product provides to your customers while maximizing profitability.
Not sure how to start? Here are 17 (yes, 17!) pricing strategies to help establish market positioning.
Step 7. Determine purchasing methods.
Consider the ways someone could purchase your product and become a customer. Can they sign up for a trial or demo? Is there a free version of the product? Will you provide a consultation or assessment?
Make the case: are you going to build a call-to-action or a call-to-value?
Step 8. Build a marketing and sales strategy
Determine the ways you plan on educating your target market about your new offer. This will be heavily dependent on whether you are targeting existing customers or new markets.
There's so much we can say on this topic, but to kick things off, here is one of our top blogs around goal planning for marketing and goal setting for sales.
Step. 9. LAUNCH!
Once you have gone through each item on this checklist, you will be ready to introduce your new product or service. Take a deep breath, don’t panic, and launch. Observe how the market responds, and adjust accordingly.
Hint: Here's where a really great website design can help. You may want to explore a few of our favorite website launch examples for lead generation.
