Up, Up, And Away! Expert Advice To Revolutionize GTM

Crafting a good Go-To-Market strategy sometimes feels like a superpower, doesn’t it?

Superheroes always have superpowers that help them save the day. The Flash has super-speed. The X-Men’s Storm can control the weather. Spider-Man has his tingly spider-sense to tell him when something’s amiss as well as the ability to shoot webs to get him around town.

We, unfortunately, may not have superpowers — but we do have marketing experts with seemingly superhuman knowledge. When it comes to more intelligent Go-To-Market, their brains offer super-smart takes that even mere mortals can use.

We assembled our own superhero team and asked for their advice when it comes to amping up a Go-To-Market strategy. The result is the exciting (and informative!) comic: Save the Day with Smarter GTM™!

These are a few key insights from their adventures. With help from their super-powered advice, you’re sure to be the hero of your own team.

Use Predictive Analytics to “read” customers’ minds

An increasingly competitive digital marketplace is driving ever-higher demand for highly personalized customer experiences. Data analytics can reveal insights to provide relevant messaging at every step.

“With predictive analytics, marketers can leverage data and advanced marketing technology to better target customers with more personalized offers and messaging across the customer lifecycle,” says Lee Odden. “Using predictive models to optimize campaigns, brands can become ‘the best answer’ for their customers creating impact and driving marketing ROI.”

By proactively providing solutions for your audience, you not only hone a competitive edge but cultivate loyalty for your ability to meet customer needs.

Identify cries for help

All too often, personalization gets watered down into mail-merge email campaigns and other less-than-optimal strategies. Adding segmentation to the mix supports truly customized messaging that speaks more directly to each audience’s fears and concerns.

“A better approach is to use data to not only personalize WHAT you’re saying but to WHOM you’re saying it,” says Jay Baer. For instance, he suggests creating an ad, email, or chat bot message targeting customers based on their past purchases to promote items other customers who purchased the same item or service also bought. “The key is capturing information about customer behavior and scenarios, not just basic data points, and then integrating that information in 1:1 communications that transcend the typical batch-and-blast.”

Provide the right information

In our content-saturated world, marketers often assume that more information helps customers make purchase decisions faster. That means more ads, more guides, more landing pages, and so on. Yet too much information can be overwhelming, causing confusion or even paralysis during the research process. And with that all the Go-To-Market strategy efforts go down the drain.

The answer is to provide only the information that customers really require. “The first step is to understand what audiences are asking for, rather than what the brand wants to answer,” says Robert Rose. “We find that today’s successful marketers are focusing on providing less information to make the research process fuller, and more content designed to make the buying process easier. But to do that, you must first understand your audience’s real needs.”

Plus, if you truly understand what they require, you won’t face an uphill battle trying to persuade them of the value of your offering–you’ll already be positioned to provide it. Doing away with the need to convince customers is one of the superpower secrets of Ann Handley, too. “What if a better Go-To-Market strategy is not about ‘convincing,’ but instead starts with something more fundamental: Who will use it? Who will buy it? Why does this product/service matter to them? And why are we the best choice to deliver it?” she asks. “Answering those four questions first makes the path less about convincing and more about crafting your story as truly the only choice.”

Teach sales to leverage content

Creating content is just part of the overall strategy. If you’re not training your sales team how to use it, they could be missing out on a chance to dramatically increase closing rates.

Marcus Sheridan suggests comparing content that resulted in actual customers to content that didn’t instead of just looking at the number of leads the content generated. “It creates the perfect target for sales teams,” he notes as a Go-To-Market strategy tip.

But, he warns, “the only way this works is if sales knows the content that is available in their toolbox for sales enablement, has easy access to it, and has been trained on how to intentionally and strategically integrate it into the sales process.”

Setting up an internal strategy focused on applying marketing content is a key tactic that can bring rewards to the sales team as well as your bottom line.

Don’t live or die by the numbers alone

In our increasingly data-driven world, it’s tempting to let data lead Go-To-Market strategy. But numbers only tell part of the story.

“Pay attention to the numbers, but don’t neglect qualitative data,” cautions Margaret Molloy. “Remember that stories bring the metrics to life and improve understanding of impact, especially outside the marketing department.”

After all, it’s not the metrics that matter, but what you do with them. Being too rigid about meeting metrics can cause you to miss opportunities and stagnate creativity. Molloy even suggests setting aside a portion of resources for experimentation, which may uncover new insights and ideas either right away or down the road.

Take your cues from these superhero marketers

Just like superheroes in comics use their powers to save humanity, these marketing experts use their super-intelligence to ensure Go-To-Market strategy efforts are the best they can be. You don’t need super-strength, X-ray vision, or mind control to be successful — just a willingness to integrate their insights.

For more sales and marketing super-intelligence, be sure to check out Save the Day with Smarter GTM™!