I remember well how years ago, as an inexperienced founder of a tech startup, I thought that a good product was enough to attract customers. "If we build it, the customers will come naturally," I told myself. Now, years later, I know better: without a well-thought-out go-to-market strategy, your solution won't get off the ground. In this blog, I share what a GTM strategy entails and how to build one as a scale-up that really works.
What is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy?
A go-to-market strategy is a plan for how to get your product or service to the right customers. It describes who you serve (your target market or Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)), what you offer (your value proposition), and how and where you market (channels, tactics, sales model). Consider marketing campaigns, sales processes and even customer support.
For B2B scale-ups, such a plan is crucial. You operate in a market full of competitors and incentives. Without a focused GTM approach, you're wasting time on the wrong prospects or activities. A sharp GTM strategy helps you stand out in the noise and focus your arrows on the right opportunities.
Why is a GTM strategy so important?
Many high-growth companies are so focused on their product and internal growth that the market approach becomes a bit of an afterthought. The result? Marketing shoots with hail, sales hunts for random leads, and customers get mixed messages. A waste of energy and time.
A good GTM strategy prevents that and brings focus and collaboration:
-
Focused on the right customer: You don't waste time on leads that don't fit. You define who will really benefit from your solution and align all your marketing and sales accordingly.
-
Consistent message: If everyone communicates the same value proposition - from LinkedIn post to sales pitch - you build recognition and trust with potential customers.
-
Efficient funnel: Marketing delivers specifically interested prospects, and sales knows exactly when and how to pick them up. No fighting over leads, but a smooth transfer and a well-oiled sales machine.
In short, your GTM plan is the compass for your commercial efforts. Without that compass, as a scale-up, you are quickly sailing blind in the storm of a competitive market.
Essential building blocks of a GTM plan
From my practical experience, I usually build a GTM strategy around a few pillars:
1. Clear ICP and segmentation: Who is your ideal customer? Outline your ideal customer profiles in detail. The sharper your target audience, the more targeted your marketing. At an AI startup, for example, we narrowed the target from "all companies that can do something with AI" to "industrial companies without their own data-science team." After that, our click rates as well as sales opportunities skyrocketed - we were finally speaking the language of the right customer.
2. Value proposition & messaging: What will you solve for that customer? Formulate the pain points of your CPI and how your solution solves them. In B2B, it's often about efficiency, cost savings, revenue growth or risk reduction. Make sure you have a core message that explains in one sentence why your offering is different or better. When we at BONANA simplified our own proposition to "from strategy to scalable execution," we found that prospects were much more likely to say "aha, I need that."
3. The right channel mix: Think about the best way to reach your target audience. Inbound marketing (content, SEO, webinars) works well if your audience is actively seeking info. Outbound (targeted acquisition, LinkedIn messages, events) can directly grab the attention of decision makers. Often a mix is ideal. For example, for a fintech scale-up, I set up a series of substantive blog posts (for inbound leads) as well as an account-based campaign to a handful of dream clients (outbound). Those two tracks complemented each other perfectly.
4. Technology and tools: A GTM strategy becomes scalable with the right tools. A good CRM system (such as HubSpot) is indispensable for capturing leads and tracking their interactions. Marketing automation software helps to automatically nurture and track leads. On one project, for example, we linked calling software (Aircall) to HubSpot - as soon as a lead viewed the pricing page, sales was notified. Technology makes your strategy smarter and more efficient.
5. Team and processes: Make sure marketing, sales (and possibly customer success) are on the same page from the start. Establish processes: what happens to a new lead? When is someone a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) and when is someone a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)? Define those thresholds together. At one client, for example, we introduced lead scoring: every action by a prospect earned points, and only at 100 points did marketing turn the lead over to sales. The effect: sales called only really warm leads, and marketing knew exactly how to warm up leads.
From opportunistic to structured: a practical example
To make it tangible, here's an example. We were working with a promising software scale-up whose growth was stagnating. The product was strong and the team driven, but attracting new customers was struggling. Their approach was frankly sprawling: every month they tried something different; one time sponsoring a trade show, then Google Ads, then cold acquisition. With no line or learning effect. There was no clear picture of who their best customers were or how they found them.
We then went back to the drawing board together and redesigned their GTM strategy. First, we defined two core ICPs, complete with fleshed-out personas and customer journey (Buyer Journey). For example, we discovered that their ideal decision maker was often an operations manager who primarily wanted assurance that the software would integrate smoothly. We incorporated that insight directly into their message: "No headache implementations - live within 4 weeks" became the new slogan.
We then set up HubSpot as the beating heart of their marketing and sales. Every website visitor or whitepaper download was automatically logged. We set up a lead scoring model so that marketing could nurture leads until they were hot enough, and sales only jumped in at a predetermined score. We also linked external data feeds so salespeople had the right company information immediately.
Finally, we launched a tight multichannel campaign. The same core message and look-and-feel everywhere: on LinkedIn, via email, and yes, even with a few targeted phone calls to prospects in the target group. Potential customers thus got to see and hear our proposition through multiple channels.
The result? Within a few months, we saw a spike in quality leads. The sales team suddenly felt confident that marketing was filling their pipeline with quality, and marketing felt appreciated because their efforts were translating into concrete deals. That scale-up was growing like hell again - not just because of a good product, but because they now had a structured go-to-market engine running.
Getting started with your GTM strategy
Are you on the eve of a product launch or want to sharpen your existing approach? Some tips to get started:
-
Analyze your best customers: What do your current top customers have in common? Those patterns form the basis for your ICP.
-
Lay out your plan: Write down your GTM hypothesis, even if it's a first draft. Who will you target, through what channels and with what message?
-
Measure and learn: Set up metrics from day one. Use analytics and your CRM to track which campaigns are working, where leads are coming from and where they are dropping out. Learn and adjust.
-
Engage your team: Make sure everyone understands the GTM strategy and can provide feedback on it. When marketing and sales follow the same compass, you avoid misunderstandings and boost results.
Remember that a GTM strategy is a living document. Market conditions change, customer needs evolve, and your business grows. So evaluate your approach regularly and fine-tune where necessary.
A strong go-to-market strategy makes the difference between trying haphazardly and achieving targeted success. Since discovering the value of this in both my own projects and clients, I swear by it. Invest in it, experiment and stay the course - your future self (AND your team) will thank you.
Ready to take your go-to-market approach to the next level, or don't know where to start? Feel free to drop me a line - I'd love to think with you to make your GTM strategy a success!
