Nowadays companies and start-ups producing innovative products or services are endless.
It would seem obvious that in order to stand out of the crowd, your product or service must have better characteristics than those of your competitors, and thus it would be able to sell itself. But what if instead you had to compete with other similar products, how would you face the situation? And is having a good product just enough or do you need more? Building a strong communication and GTM (Go –To-Market) strategy would clearly help!
Unfortunately, many products and services invented every day remain there, abandoned on a shelf and until nobody passes in front of them, nobody will notice them. Does it mean they are bad products? No, it just happens because at the moment of product creation, they forgot to look at the market.
Before launching your product, create a strong GTM process. It's not enough to do a little add here and there, hoping that people will be interested. You need to take care of the GTM process, which more than anything else will allow your product or service to acquire notoriety and value.
You might be wondering how to create a good and efficient GTM strategy? There are many tools to do it, but the most commonly used ones are the Business Model Canvas and the Value Proposition Canvas. Let us explain.
The Business Model Canvas structures in a rational way how a company creates, delivers and captures value! It forces you to think further than just that “cool” product.
As shown in the model, it is composed of 9 building blocks. But you have to use it in a particular order. Each building block will guide you to the next. Take your time, after all it is your future star concept you are preparing.
- Value proposition
- Customer segments
- Channels
- Customer relationships
- Key resources
- Key activities
- Key partners
- Revenue streams
- Cost structure
The Business Model Canvas will help you to identify a connection between you and your target audience. It will help you to identify WHY your new business model can make a difference to what kind of audience and HOW the market eco-system would fit in your approach. Maybe you could even discover that it is not that innovative after all or that despite all your efforts, there is no real market for it.
Try to approach all the questions in a holistic way, because in the end you will be able to create the bigger picture of your business plan and your GTM strategy will start to become clearer. Don’t do it on your own. It works best if you print it out on a large sheet, gather stakeholders from different departments and have a post-it brainstorm on it.
The Value Proposition Canvas focuses more on the value you want to create through your products towards your customers or target audience. It is actually a detailed part of the business model canvas. (Value proposition and customer segment). The value proposition is the sweet spot where your company’s product intersects with your customer’s desires.
To complete this model we also suggest you to print it or draw it on a whiteboard and populate with a lot of post-its (like in a Kanban Method).
At the core of the value proposition canvas lies the fact that products must be designed by studying and analyzing the needs of the customer. A concept also referred to as the design thinking. The same thing must be applied to the GTM process.
By building a strong GTM process for your target, and above all built on the people you want to reach, you will be able to make your product known in the most effective way. Nonetheless, you will be able to create connections between your customers, and between you and your customers. This will allow you to observe their reactions towards your product even better. It will help you to understand how to improve it, all with a single purpose: to improve people's lives by satisfying needs or adding value.
Remember, before communicating your product or service, learn to listen to your target audience. Understand it. Understand what it wants and what it expects of you. Make attempts, analyse the results and try to improve by bringing a little creativity to it.
Remember: The journey is not about the WHAT, but the HOW to the WHY.
