How to determine your go-to-market strategy
The right go-to-market strategy can make or break your launch. Learn how to craft a GTM strategy based on data-driven market research.
By: Genevieve Carlton, Edited by: Rebecca Munday
Published: June 9, 2025
A go-to-market (GTM) strategy helps organizations launch new products and services. But how do marketing professionals create effective GTM strategies?
The best strategies leverage market research. Determining buyer personas, product positioning, delivery channels, and messaging can make or break your launch. Learn the steps you can take to craft a go-to-market strategy for any product or service.
Go-to-market strategy vs. marketing plan vs. marketing strategy
Go-to-market strategy
When introducing a new product or service to the market, your go-to-market strategy provides a road map to your target customers and marketing channels. A strong GTM strategy helps your new product make an impact.
Marketing plan
A marketing plan links your marketing strategies with your broader business goals. It lays out the success metrics that your marketing strategy and GTM strategy will aim to meet.
Marketing strategy
Your marketing strategy sets the direction for your marketing campaigns, including content, target audiences, and channels. You'll adapt your overall strategy based on customer feedback and market conditions.
Benefits of a go-to-market strategy
A go-to-market strategy can help your new products stand out in a crowded market. Effective strategies net more customers and a larger share of the market.
During the product development phase, researching your go-to-market strategy helps you identify unmet needs and customer demand. You'll also learn more about the best distribution channels and messaging to connect with your target audience.
Investing in your GTM strategy upfront can help you convert customers and increase profits.
Steps to create a go-to-market strategy
Market research can make or break your product launch. Here are the steps you'll take to create an effective go-to-market strategy.
1. Identify the problem
Your go-to-market starts with identifying the problem that your product or service will solve. Understanding how your product meets customer needs at an effective customer acquisition cost will shape the rest of your strategy.
During this step, conduct market analysis with an emphasis on customer demand, trends, and growth potential. This analysis will form the basis for your customer profile and distribution channels to connect with purchase-ready customers. Market research during this phase will also inform your product messaging and tactics.
2. Define your target audience
Who are the target buyers for your new product or service? Drawing on market research, you'll determine target buyer personas, craft marketing customer profiles, and assess the buying behavior of your target audience.
Detailed profiles of your ideal customer will also help you understand the problem(s) your product will address and the habits of your potential consumers. User-experience research is a valuable tool for understanding preferences and the customer journey.
3. Research market conditions
With a clear understanding of your target audience and their needs, it's time to dig deeper into market conditions. During this step, you'll conduct a competitive analysis to determine product positioning. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of competing products to inform your strategies to make your product stand out.
Your competitive analysis can also assess your competitors' go-to-market strategies to better understand your target buyers and their unmet needs. This stage can also help you develop effective strategies to gain market share.
4. Decide key messaging
Product messaging informs potential customers about your product and demonstrates that you understand your target customer's needs. Messaging also showcases your value proposition, selling customers on how your product solves their problems. Pay attention to both rational and emotional arguments for your value proposition.
Your messaging should align with your brand identity and broader marketing strategies. Conducting focus groups and using A/B testing can help you craft effective messages that reach your target audience.
5. Choose marketing channels
If your target audience never hears about your product, your go-to-market strategy will fall short. Choosing the right marketing channels is critical to your overall marketing efforts.
Drawing on the buyer personas you created, craft a distribution plan that aligns with buyer behavior. Direct marketing, social media channels, and partnership marketing can work separately or through a multi-channel marketing plan to reach customers.
Consider your budget to determine the most cost-effective approaches, along with a plan to scale your marketing efforts.
6. Craft your marketing strategy
Next, you'll create a focused marketing strategy for your new product or service that integrates your research. The strategy covers your messaging, customer engagement approaches, and pricing. It also outlines the sales strategy to develop leads, manage customer relations, and measure performance.
Your marketing strategy should offer a blueprint for your product rollout and ongoing marketing efforts. As you assess your strategy's effectiveness, you'll adapt your market positioning, content marketing, and media buying to improve retention and sales.
7. Set key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitor performance
Key performance indicators help you assess the effectiveness of your go-to-market strategy. Common KPIs include conversion rates, the return on your ad spend, and customer retention. Depending on your product or service, you can also track numbers related to your organic keywords and search traffic.
In addition to KPIs, you should also integrate customer feedback into your performance monitoring. A data-focused performance assessment will inform your ongoing marketing strategy and your approach when launching your next product or service.