Checklist on How to Create an Impeccable Strategy on Go to Market

It's always an adventure to enter new markets, and there is always risk involved. Moving beyond your existing call can be challenging, but you can thrive in a new market with a well-planned go-to-market strategy.

This guide is designed to assist businesses in creating a data-driven, go-to-market strategy. First, we'll explain what a "go-to-market" strategy is and its importance. Next, we will show you how to create your own.

 

What is a Go Market Strategy?

 

A go-to-market (GTM), market strategy, is a plan to distribute and deliver goods or services in a new market.

You'll need to consider many items when building your GTM.

• Competition and market size

• The buyer journey and customer pain points

• Product-market fit

• Audience demographics

• Variations in local and international markets

• Marketing strategies, sales funnels, and pricing strategies

Together, these focus areas form a strategy to ensure a product-market match in your target area or niche. It's your path to success. This checklist will help you create a comprehensive GTM strategy to support your next venture.

 

The Complete Checklist to Go-to-Market for a Powerful Strategy

 

Expansion into new markets comes with many of the same risks and is overwhelming. You can gain a competitive edge with new markets entry, product launches, and building brand recognition.

 

You must ensure that your company is ready to enter a new market.

 

Get everyone on the same page before you take any action to grow your business. This is particularly important if your goal is to expand your business nationally. These items will help you get started.

• Alignment and goals. Before you make strategic decisions, ask yourself the following question: What do I want from this expansion? Make sure you are clear about your ultimate goal and that it can be measured.

• Internal capabilities. Think about what capabilities you will need to expand your business. Are you willing to invest in infrastructure? What will it cost? Can you afford additional resources for expansion?

• Human Resources. Take a look at your Human Resources and any talent gaps. Do I have the right talent to manage this expansion? Are my current teams able to allocate time for new projects globally? Am I required to hire new salespeople, marketers, or an agency?

• The best timing. Finally, decide when to act. This will require a thorough analysis of the target market and its current political climate.

 

Gauge Your Potential Product-Market Fit

 

Before you begin exploring new markets, it is vital to verify your product-market fit. However, to build a go-to-market strategy, you need to research the ideal customers and estimate the demand.

 

Market Explorer tools allows you to analyze any market. To determine if it is worth further studying the area, you should first measure the demand.

Start by entering your domain and one of your competitors' domains in the Market Explorer tool. By joining multiple domains manually, you can create a custom market. Make sure to select a country.

 

Let's take, for example, a US-based eyewear company that makes sunglasses. We want to expand our reach into Brazil. We have created a market for ourselves that includes some well-known eyewear companies, and we chose Brazil as our destination.

 

 

Market Summary provides valuable information about the market you are interested in. We entered six competitors and chose Brazil as our target geographic area.

 

Pay particular attention to the Market Competition section and Market Size sections in the Market Summary. Brazil has a high level of Market Competition. Ray-Ban and Oakley hold the majority of the market share. This leaves little room for new entrants.

 

Market size-wise, approximately 10% of total addressable market demand (TAM) comes from those who are willing and able to purchase a pair of sunglasses. The Serviceable Available Market or SAM indicates this.

Scroll down to see the Growth Quadrant. This gives you an overview of the competition.

 

 

This graph shows year-over-year growth from December 2020 to December 2021. Notice Persol.com and Tomford.com's growth on the graph's left. They went from the Niche Players quadrant into the Game Changers quarter.

 

While Ray-Ban and Oakley are still the dominant players in Brazil, the Growth Quadrant provides new information about smaller players who have made significant moves in Brazil.

To see if the market is growing or contracting, you can also check the traffic trends for the entire market.

 

 

These graphs show that the market has been steadily growing over the past year, with a significant spike in October 2020. When entering a market, market growth is a positive sign.

Notice also the sudden spike in market traffic for December 2021. While Oakley's traffic was steady, Ray-Ban's increased with the market traffic trend saw a spike. Ray-Ban emerged as the true winner in December despite their smaller traffic share. This month's marketing and sales strategy might provide interesting insights into Brazil's market.

 

Take into account local market peculiarities.

 

We gained insights into many of the market's characteristics when we did our initial market study. We now need to take a closer look at these peculiarities so that we don't get any surprises later.

 

• Examine the economic situation

 

To determine if your choice is a good fit, thoroughly assess the economical situation in the region.

This step is crucial as it could make establishing yourself in your new market difficult. This was the problem Best Buy faced in the UK in 2010. They decided to open a UK office with an eye towards strategic acquisitions, ignoring the global recession. The global economy and the UK, in particular, were in severe decline.

 

• Analyze local laws, regulations

 

Local laws and regulations can make even big brands stumble. Many people assumed that Uber was a sure-fire winner when they expanded into South Korea. Uber had established markets in many countries around the globe and was, therefore, a shoo-in. Uber didn't understand its target market, and the consequences were severe.

Due to a shortage of taxis and slowing population growth, Seoul's taxi industry is declining. Seoul has more than 75,000 taxi drivers, compared to New York City's 13,000. Taxi licenses were stopped by the government as they began to decrease the number of available taxis. The price of taxi licenses has increased significantly as a result.

If PEST(ELI) test, which the global business community frequently refers to when looking at market expansion.

 

• Consider Language Barriers

 

Take into account the WhatsApp expansion to Germany. WhatsApp had 1.2 billion users worldwide by 2016. They failed to translate their terms and conditions into German before expanding into Germany.

The Federation of German Consumer Organizations sued the company, claiming that German users did not understand the technical language. A tiny oversight cost the business more than a quarter-million euros.

This challenge would have been impossible for a smaller brand.

 

• Study price sensitivity

Take into account factors such as average income per household. People may not be able to afford your products if the margin is too small.

 

• Pay attention to seasonal changes.

Last but not least: Geographic realities like reversed seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres can enormously impact consumer demand.

 

Are you establishing an international go-to-market strategy?

 

There are some essential things to keep in mind when entering a new market. Many factors can affect communication, acquisition, and decision-making in different countries. As you conduct your research, ask yourself questions such as:

• Are your customers more likely to make group decisions? Do they prefer to buy products by entering their credit card information quickly?

• What are the preferred communication styles of potential customers? Brazil and Japan are more inclined to meet face-to-face than phone or video calls.

• What cultural norms impact decisions? What cultural norms should we avoid in our communication, customer service, and marketing strategies?

Take into account Door Mint’s failure to expand into India. DoorMint was founded as an online marketplace that connected service providers (e.g., plumbing, pest control) and customers.

The company grew, and they began to specialize in dry-cleaning and online laundry. In India, traditional launderers and dhobis have always satisfied this need. This decision proved fatal. DoorMint couldn't compete with tradition.

Try to approach your target audience with an open mind and be aware of your cultural assumptions. You'll be able to understand other cultures better and make better strategic decisions.

 

Specify the Demographics and Interests of Your Target Market

 

Be sure to pay close attention to the demographics and their interests. These may be very different from the market you are currently in.

You can use Market Explorer tool to study your potential audience in the Demographics report.

 

 

You can better understand your target audience by breaking down their gender and age. The largest market for sunglasses in Brazil is between 25 and 34 years old, with a 60-40% split among men and women. This information should help us target our marketing to this age group in terms of voice and tone.

The social media preferences graph allows you to see which social media platforms are most popular among your audience.

 

 

 

 

We can see that there are more social media platforms in the US than in Brazil when we compare charts. However, Facebook is the most popular social media platform in Brazil. This could impact your marketing decisions.

The Demographics report also shows that audience interests are broken down.

 

 

Customers in Brazil are more interested in eyewear and sunglasses than fantasy sports. This information can be used to develop customer personas and consider potential partners for ads.

 

Clarify your Value Proposition

 

Consider the benefits your customers can expect from you and identify your key differentiations. These are the questions you need to answer:

• What does your product/service do to solve/improve problems?

• What are the benefits customers can expect?

• Why should customers choose you over your competitors? Also, what makes you different from your competitors?

Next, create a value proposition that combines all three.

 

 

 

Make sure you research the market in which you are interested. You might not find what works in your niche or region. You may find your offering too complicated or ineffective, the price too high, or face other challenges. Even the most successful brands will find that there are markets where their products or services are not in high demand.

For example, Coke tried to sell two-liter bottles in Spain with the help of Spanish distributors. Despite Coke's popularity, the venture was unsuccessful because Spanish refrigerators are not designed to hold large bottles. Take the example of General Foods Japan. Although the company spent millions marketing its cake mixes, sales were still low because only 3 percent of Japanese homes had ovens.

Define your value proposition properly. A good value proposition will help you reach product-market fit in your target market if the customer persona and unmet needs support it.

 

Decide on your Market Entry Strategy

 

Globalization has transformed the distribution strategies of companies.

The physical production is now possible. Products can be shipped to markets promptly. Software companies are often limited by language and legislation.

Even globalized businesses can be affected by economic uncertainty. Be careful when choosing distribution channels for a new market. Take into account the many channels available:

• Direct distribution is done through company-owned channels. More businesses are taking this route. Direct distribution allows companies to eliminate the middleman and control every aspect of their business, which results in better customer satisfaction.

• Indirect distribution is when you partner with third parties in order to sell or fulfil your company's value. Many large-name companies use this approach to build relationships with third-party partners.

 

SEMrush entered the Japanese market by partnering with digital marketing agency oRo. The market saw a significant increase in performance thanks to this strategic partnership.

• Hybrid distribution systems can be used to combine company-owned and third-party mechanisms. This model is used by many companies, such as Nike, and gives them the best of both worlds.

 

 

Get ready for the standard payment systems in your new market.

 

It can make the difference between closing a sale or losing it by ensuring that consumers have access to the correct payment options. Let's compare Ecom (Ecommerce), CNP (card-not-present transaction), payment methods worldwide and regionally.

Globally, 44.5% prefer to pay for items using a digital wallet or mobile wallet. Debit cards, however, are the most popular CNP method of payment at 25.7%. These numbers will rise to 51.7% & 33.4%, respectively, by 2024.

 

 

Bank transfers make up 13% of European payments. This is significantly higher than the global average. Although this is impressive, it is expected to drop to 11% in 2024. It's still a significant number at 11% and a good indicator of the importance of European payments.

 

 

Cash is still the preferred method for CNP transactions in Latin America. Latin America is unique in that 38% of CNP transactions are made in cash. Debit cards are the preferred method. This number is expected to decrease by 2024, but it's important to remember when you expand into this market.

 

 

Asia-Pacific is the region most used to mobile and digital wallets. Asia-Pacific markets accounted for 60.2% of international purchases that were made via mobile wallets and will rise to 65.4% in 2024.

 

 

Lastly, North Americans still prefer to use their credit cards for payment, but digital and mobile wallets are expected to take over this popular payment method by 2024.

 

 

Without thorough research on the payment options available, you could leave your customers without the best options. People like to spend money in familiar ways, so matching your offers to their preferred payment methods is essential.

 

 

 

Determine Your Go-to-Market Funnel

 

You can begin to develop a marketing strategy by understanding the market and audience. This will include the top funnel and all subsequent stages, including conversion.

Ask yourself these questions as you go along:

• How will consumers find you?

• What will they do to convert?

• How can you turn them into loyal customers?

 

The best sales funnels can attract new customers and foster repeat business. Retaining customers is more profitable than acquiring new customers.

To increase awareness of your brand, you should consider a broad-based campaign. This could include everything digital and printed, as well as events.

 

Create a Marketing Strategy

 

Is there a proven method to prepare a marketing strategy? It all starts with analysing the process of your competitors. Competitor Analysis can be done with the right tools.

To gain valuable insight into the successes and failures of your competitors, use Our traffic Analytics Tools.

Let's look at some of the top sunglasses brands. These are the three top eyewear brands on the Brazilian market.

 

 

Oakley.com is the brand that has experienced the most tremendous growth in Brazil of all three brands. It doesn't matter what they do with their marketing.

They saw an increase of 78.47% in unique visitors over the past year. Oakley.com visitors find it easier to find what they are looking for on their website by reducing page views and decreasing the bounce rate.

The Traffic Sources by Type graph will help you see where Oakley focuses its marketing efforts. This graph shows traffic sources to Oakley's website.

 

 

Oakley's direct traffic to Brazil is very high, which indicates a strong brand presence. Their referral, social, search, and paid numbers are more important than marketing.

You can drill down on your findings to gain more insight into Oakley's winning marketing strategies.

This page, which allows customers to personalize their sunglasses, has seen a lot of traffic via Social Media. To analyze the marketing efforts of your competitors, you can view this page.

 

A one-page Go-to-Market Plan

 

You can now create a one-page action plan to expand your market.

Either create your own go-to-market strategy template, or you can use one like the one we have. Whatever format you choose, ensure it contains:

• Expansion GEO

• Goals

• Budget

• Your value proposition

• Go-to-market

• Organization

 

You can visualize your approach and see the timeline details at a glance by organizing them in a single-page document.

 

 

How can data help you build a more robust market strategy?

 

It will take time to develop your go-to-market strategy. You will need to do a lot of research and digging to avoid making the same mistakes that were made by Coke and Uber.

You must ensure that your global growth plans are well-calculated and data-driven before making any decisions. You must thoroughly assess the market you are considering and do not leave anything to chance. Use the information in this article to help you expand.

 

 

Are you willing to do the necessary research to create a market expansion plan? Find out how to estimate the market potential using competitive landscape analysis.

 

Do Contact Us to See the analysis of your company to reach great heights in your business era.