Advertisement
Go-to-market strategy for tech startups
Oct. 30, 2014•0 likes•22,759 views
37 likes
Be the first to like this
Show More
views
Total views
0
On Slideshare
0
From embeds
0
Number of embeds
0
Download to read offline
Report
Marketing
The building blocks you need to create your sales and marketing plan for your technology startup. Presented at FastTrac program, Quebec City, Canada.
Sovita ChanderFollow
Business Development, Program Management at Promptinnov.comAdvertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Go-to-market strategy for tech startups
- Go-to-Market Strategy for Tech Startups FastTrac program, Quebec City
- Why we’re here today Traction Photo Credit: GrejGuide.dk via Compfight cc
- Why should you listen to me? •Entrepreneur. Started when I was 26. •Been in the big company and startup trenches. •I’m not from around here. So I’ve never been able to afford to make market assumptions.
- Everybody thinks go-to-market is this…
- Marketing is fun and easy, right? •Killer slogans •Slick tradeshow booths and swag •Cool website (get that Bootstrap framework and flat design, baby)
- Nope. Go-to-market… Starts with your buyer Photo Credit: underwhelmer via Compfight cc
- Go-to-market strategy Initial target segment Who they are How they buy Buyer profile Buyer journey
- Why target (and limit) segments? •Crossing the chasm •Limited resources (not IBM resources) •Courir plusieurs lièvres à la fois : spend your time and money most effectively
- What’s a good segment? It’s not the whole pie. Photo Credit: atomicShed via Compfight cc
- Good vs. bad segmentation DON’T DO THIS “We target physician practices.” DO THIS “Our initial target market is physician practices with 20 or more physicians, in the United States, located in zip codes with >$75k household income and median population over 55.”
- But won’t this limit ourmarket reach? Remember: Target Addressable Market (TAM) =/ Initial Target Segment •Drill down to be effective. •Get your revenue (or other proxy metric). •Get your ROI/benefits. •Once you’re successful in that segment, then start moving on.
- Skrillex is the product…What is the market?
- Go-to-market strategy Initial target segment Who they are How they buy Buyer profile Buyer journey
- In this segment, who are the buyers?
- Create a Buyer Profile Need a template? Ask me. sovita@sovitachander.com
- Homework: more customer validation •Over the next few weeks, validate your Buyer Profile information •Call folks you know in this segment. •Don’t sell. •Keep it conversational.
- What they tell you is golden. Mine it. Pay attention and you will craft your messaging, your copy, your pitch, everything.
- Go-to-market strategy Initial target segment Who they are How they buy Buyer profile Buyer journey
- Buyer’s Journey: marketing and sales Awareness • Do I have a problem? • How painful? • Impact? • What are others doing? Consideration • Can I ignore it? • Do I need help? • What should I look for? Engagement • How long? • How much? • How disruptive? • Impact on business / performance?
- Go-to-market strategies and tactics
- Go-to-market ingredients Target Buyer Profile Offering & Value Buying Process Tactics Based on Above Hat-tip: April Dunford
- How to pick the right tactics? Test!
- Go-to-market success
- How to pick the tactics to test? Segmentation: focus. Narrow down. Match to buying process. Match to your resources.
- BEFORE: Go-to-Market Excerpt from Client Business Plan 4 step strategy to capture early adopters: a. Next 6 months: gain traction and visibility with paid / discounted software. b. Direct sales for physicians. c. Starting April 2015: Demo our solution at HIMSS, other industry events, Free HTML5 and App available d. Starting June 2015: Self-provisioning app online
- AFTER: Aim for go-to-market that looks like this… Goal Activity Budget Outcome (drivers, metrics) What do you need to do, business-wise? What specifically are you going to? How much can you spend? How much will it really take? What does success look like? Get early adopters to pay attention Build a demo video Ballpark it - $1000 1000 views in first month (So how will you drive traffic? That becomes a series of tactics.)
- ….for each phase of the Buyer Journey Awareness • Do I have a problem? • How painful? • Impact? • What are others doing? Consideration • Can I ignore it? • Do I need help? • What should I look for? Engagement • How long? • How much? • How disruptive? • Impact on business / performance?
- Thank you! Sovita Chander (418) 802-2435 sovita@sovitachander.com
Editor's Notes
- Go to market – getting your product out there Getting traction Because your marketing and sales is your business. Need: secure seed/angel investment Need: drill down to most promising* segment Outcome: high-level go-to-market strategy *Promising = easiest to penetrate given current network and resources; lowest risk to start generating revenue.
- Not your total addressable market, not your opportunity size, not your market size. Not each of your verticals. Your buyer. How do you pick a buyer? You segment. Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/69907433@N00/5025262178/">underwhelmer</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">cc</a>
- Choose initial target market and segment. Segmentation work: buyer profile, buyer journey. Build the plan: Identify most promising strategies and tactics. Identify initial key business drivers/metrics for this segment and include a plan to validate these drivers. 2-3 go-to-market milestones for your business plan. Out of scope: opportunity size, business model, product-market fit, etc.
- Target customer: customer you can most easily acquire in the next 3 months, who are most likely to need your product. You’ve done your market validation, right? This is who you target. Not the customer you wish you could acquire. Poor segmentation: “We target physician practices” Good segmentation: “Our initial target market is physician practices with 20 or more physicians, in the United States, located in zip codes with >$75k household income and median population over 55.” Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/57071639@N00/4434547381/">atomicShed</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
- Tactics and strategies that resonate with a club DJ playing Skrillex will not be the same as a music festival manager looking to book Skrillex. Same overall market, same music. But different segments (and buyers, buyer needs, buyer attributes).
- Choose initial target market and segment. Segmentation work: buyer profile, buyer journey. Build the plan: Identify most promising strategies and tactics. Identify initial key business drivers/metrics for this segment and include a plan to validate these drivers. 2-3 go-to-market milestones for your business plan. Out of scope: opportunity size, business model, product-market fit, etc.
- Which problems are keeping them up at night? Where do they go to get information to solve these problems? What are their aspirations? How do they feed those aspirations? What role do they play in a buying decision? What is stopping them from looking to YOUR COMPANY for a solution?
- Conversation: Start with high-level description of the problem you solve. How would they search for a solution to this problem? Your goal is to fill out the worksheet and validate your existing answers. Keep it conversational.
- Choose initial target market and segment. Segmentation work: buyer profile, buyer journey. Build the plan: Identify most promising strategies and tactics. Identify initial key business drivers/metrics for this segment and include a plan to validate these drivers. 2-3 go-to-market milestones for your business plan. Out of scope: opportunity size, business model, product-market fit, etc.
- Lots of different ways to conceptualize this process. Sales funnel. Etc. Here’s let’s just look at basic stages.
- Resources and advice: tons and tons on how to execute AdWords, Twitter, etc. But great tactics, well executed still fail (and often). Why? Wrong tactic Message is off Call to action isn’t compelling Etc…
- Pinpoint the attributes, note your assumptions Target customer: customer you can most easily acquire in the next 3 months Not the customer you wish you could acquire. Poor segmentation: “We target physician practices” Good segmentation: “Our initial target market is physician practices with 20 or more physicians, in the United States, located in zip codes with >$75k household income and median population over 55.”
- Lots of different ways to conceptualize this process. Sales funnel. Etc. Here’s let’s just look at basic stages.
Advertisement