On November 18, 2013, Steven Wardell, VP of Marketing at Activate Networks gave a 3-hour presentation and workshop to the MIT Enterprise Forum on The Art of Developing Your Go To Market Strategy to an audience of technology entrepreneurs at the Tang Center at MIT in Cambridge.

1. The Art of Developing Your
Go-To-Market Strategy
Steven Wardell, VP Marketing @StevenWardell
Presentation to MIT Enterprise Forum at MIT Tang Center, 18 Nov. 2013
617.558.0210 | info@activatenetworks.net | www.activatenetworks.net
1 Newton Executive Park, Suite 100 | Newton, MA 02462

2. About Steven Wardell
• Entrepreneurial Background
― Employee 8 of eYak, next-gen VOIP company, raised $74m and sold
to Sonexis
― Co-founder of Artisan Pharma, a phase 3 biotech start-up, raised
$40m and sold to Asahi Kasei Pharma
― Founding management team of Activate Networks, big-data social
network analytics, raised $15m, in growth phase
― Prior: Citigroup and Microsoft
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3. Overview
• Desired outcome of this meeting – know that you could
apply a GTM Strategy framework to your product and
present the result to an investor
• More a discussion than a lecture; volunteers to work
through their own Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy
• Assume you’re all entrepreneurs; discuss entrepreneurial
constraints (lack of time, budget, data)
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4. Definition
• A Go-To-Market Strategy (GTM Strategy) is an action plan
that specifies how a company will reach customers and
achieve competitive advantage. Typically covers Whom,
What, How much, How Promote, Where Promote
• The term is often associated with product launches, but it
can also be used to describe the specific steps a company
needs to take in order to guide customer interactions for
existing products.
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5. OTC Drug
• Target: Older consumers (mass market)
• Product: Aspirin that is gentle on your stomach
• Price: Same as market leader (Bayer aspirin)
• Promote: TV ads on prime time network TV and shelf
promotion at point of sale
• Channel: supermarket chains; drug store chains
• USP: gentler on your stomach than aspirin
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6. Premium flowers
• Target: flower lovers (upper middle class, women)
• Product: premium decorative flowers that last longer
• Price: competitive with store-bought, if you subscribe for a year
• Promote: direct mail, direct email, infomercials, specialty
magazines
• Channel: direct (and delivery by mail)
• USP: higher quality and last longer than anyone else
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7. Safety razors
• Target: young to early-middle-age men
• Product: razors / razor blades
• Price: discount, subscription purchase only
• Promote: search engine optimization, search engine
marketing, online display ads, viral videos
• Channel: direct (and delivery by mail)
• USP: hip, discount, never run out of blades
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8. Groceries
• Target: middle class households, major metro areas
• Product: groceries
• Price: full / competitive price
• Promote: search engine optimization, search engine
marketing, online display ads, billboards, ads on trucks
• Channel: direct and with partners (Stop & Shop in Boston)
• USP: Fill shopping cart on iPad, delivered to your home
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9. Premium Cable TV Channel
• Target: 20-45-year-old taste leading urban consumers (mostly
men)
• Product: cable TV channel (including edgy new movies that
feature actual movie stars)
• Price: premium extra cost among cable channels
• Promote: urban billboards (and other display), urban magazines,
self promotion on cable
• Channel: through cable providers like Comcast
• USP: new, proprietary movies with actual movie stars
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10. Hardware component
• Target: consumers of digital devices
• Product: unique screen technology (for devices)
• Price: competitive with existing options
• Promote: co-promotion with device manufacturers
• Channel: product is not stand-alone; sell through device
manufacturers
• USP: draws little power, visible in strong sunlight
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11. Market Analysis
Market
Analysis
Go To
Market
Strategy
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12. Market Analysis
• Product Overview
• Who would be interested in this solution?
• Users and their Current Problem
• Market Research
• Competitors, Competitive Landscape, SWOT
• Product Positioning
• Unique Selling Propositions
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13. Product Positioning
1.
2.
3.
4.
Who do we want to sell to (target)?
What are we selling (benefit)?
Why should they believe us (reason to believe)?
What is the feeling that the brand evokes (brand DNA)?
5. Example: Activate Networks Retention Connect Solution
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14. Product Overview / Description
E.g., IBM® Sterling B2B Integrator enables the security-rich integration
of complex B2B processes with diverse partner communities. It provides
a single, flexible B2B gateway that enables companies to meet a wide
range of B2B integration needs. IBM Sterling B2B Integrator can
improve business processes beyond enterprise boundaries and increase
visibility into and across supply and demand chains.
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15. Current Problem of Potential Users ?
Identify Current Problems faced by Potential Users that the
Product/Solution is expected to address
E.g., Users of thick-client office productivity software typically have
problems accessing the same documents together at the same time.
Cloud-based office productivity applications finally allow users to access
the same documents at the same time
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16. Pricing: HBS Value Thermometer
A.
Objective value
i.
B.
Perceived value
i.
ii.
iii.
C.
$90 (buyer would be willing to pay up to $90 cash upfront for opportunity to save
$100)
Marketing & Sales can drive up the perceived value
Substitutes also affect perceived value
Product price
i.
D.
$100 (seller calculates that it saves 4 hrs labor at $25/hr)
$80 (seller prices close to perceived value; buyer is getting a deal!)
Cost of goods sold
i.
$40
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17. Pricing: Solution Selling
For custom engagements – identify pain points, track the pain
throughout the organization, calculate total $ cost of pain, show value
of solution, and price solution
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18. Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Identify Tangible Advantages - IPs and Patents, etc.
Intangible Advantages - First in business to offer a certain feature,
cost advantage, etc.
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19. Market Analysis
Market
Analysis
Go To
Market
Strategy
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20. Go-To-Market Strategy
• End Goal in a Year; Metrics and Measurement
• Strategy
― Whom to target in the market (regions, segments, industries, budgets,
personas)?
― What product portfolio offered to target customers?
― How much will we charge for our products for different customers?
― How will we promote our products to target customers (inbound marketing;
direct, field-based sales force; sales channel partner)?
― Where will we promote and sell our products to target customers (trade shows,
website, trade journals, email, mobile ads)?
• Identify specific programs and prioritize by cost and impact
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21. Exercise – Go-To-Market Strategy
Your Startup
Whom do we target?
What is our product?
How much to charge?
How to promote?
Where to promote?
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22. Thank You !
Steven Wardell, VP Marketing @StevenWardell
Feel free to use and repurpose this template for your needs
Hat tip to @RajivNetra for original template
617.558.0210 | info@activatenetworks.net | www.activatenetworks.net
1 Newton Executive Park, Suite 100 | Newton, MA 02462

23. Appendix
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24. Who would be interested in this
Product / Solution ?
Small, Medium, and Large Enterprises?
Industry, business unit, job title, buyer persona?
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25. Market Research
Identify the overall market size for product/solution, market
segmentation, user base, price and pricing comparables, growth trends,
etc.
E.g., Oracle CRM market potential is Oracle existing customer base;
market sizing provided by market research and equity-research analysts;
market size for new product categories may be unknowable
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26. Competition
Identify Direct Competition and Indirect Competition;
SWOT analysis
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27. Product Positioning
Positioning is key. Describe how product can be positioned and some of
the advantages it has in terms of positioning.
“Positioning is also the first body of thought that comes to grips with
the problems of getting heard in our overcommunicated society.“
– Ries & Trout
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28. Competition: Key Differentiators
Identify the competing products / solutions with description.
List how your product is differentiated from them.
Products
Product Description
Your Product Differentiators
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29. End Goal in a Year
Target in volume and revenue
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30. Whom to Sell to?
Regions - Segments – Industries – Etc.
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31. Marketing Strategies
Identify and Detail your Marketing Strategies with clear Timelines –
When to start and How long to execute them?
Prioritize the Marketing Strategies based on their impact and budget
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32. Partnership Strategies
What sort of Partners to tie up for GTM ?
What unique benefits do they bring ?
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33. Pricing Strategies
Study the competition and market, and identify some unique
pricing models that will entice and hook the customers.
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34. Metrics and Measurement
Measure the marketing impact and reach with metrics.
Identify the ROI.
Refine the strategy.
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35. Channel Partnership Strategies
Going the Channel Partner route?
List strategies for
Choosing the right Partners,
Supporting Channel Partners,
Making them work, etc.
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