Rethinking GTM: From Spray and Pray to Customer-Centric Relationships
When did you last see a GTM strategy that grabbed your imagination, nailed your pain points, and made you feel heard?
Never? Rarely?
Whether you are in B2B or B2C, the GTM landscape is evolving, and a buyer-behavior revolution is underway. Your marketing needs to make this sea-change alongside your customers’ expectations.
Why is buyer behavior changing?
With increased access to information, knowledge, and customer reviews, customers are more informed than ever and research extensively before engaging with any brand. With gen AI tools to hand, your potential customer can ask any question and are rewarded with simple, easy-to-understand answers.
To hook a client, you need to work harder than ever. No longer does a vaguely promissory enterprise product blog aimed at the C-Suite bring in the dollars. Instead, you must build communities, and develop trust through independent thought leadership. It should be your marketing team’s mission to position your company as a trusted go-to for your potential clients. In short – you need to provide deeper, trusted opinion and value that talks to your customers in a meaningful way.
Additionally. the traditional linear sales funnel is irrelevant. Buyers now move back and forth in their decision-making, relying on self-education and peer reviews. It doesn’t matter if you are a B2B or a B2C company; word of mouth, peer reviews, and expert opinions are now the keys to hooking your next customer.
This brings me to my next point… your customers prioritize genuine relationships and value-driven solutions. In the modern world of always-on marketing, your potential customers are highly unlikely to tolerate impersonal tactics. When they feel they are being pitched to, they will move on down the line to one of your competitors.
How has technology revolutionized GTM?
In one word. Data.
Access to data, analysis of data, and deeper data insight into customers and potential customers means your business can gather and analyze granular customer information. This information helps your teams uncover individual needs and preferences so you can develop tailored experiences for your high-value targets. Data-driven hard-hitting campaigns are needed to build your user communities, your brand evangelists and ensure sure you are whispering the right things in the right ears.
Now it is time for two tech buzzwords: marketing automation and AI. We have heard of them, but do we use them? We should. These tools enable personalization at scale, dynamic content delivery, and insightful recommendations based on customer behavior. When used in tandem with your deep data insights, half of your marketing job is done. Just ensure you have a brilliant marketing strategist and exceptional execution team to take your customer data and turn it into successful campaigns.
Use AI to build your user experience
Luckily with the advent of AI, successful GTM marketing campaigns are well within reach and it is entirely up to your corporate marketing budget as to exactly how in-depth you want to get. With just a few words typed into a generative AI program, you can leverage the vast knowledge AI database to analyze your data, enabling you to tailor messaging, content, and offers to individual customer needs and preferences.
You can also analyze your data with AI and use it to empower and enhance your content personalization engine. Free content AI tools have found their niche in being able to dynamically ideate outlines and ideas for personalized website content, email marketing campaigns, and social media campaigns based on user profiles and behavior. Remember, the aim here is to build communities around your brand and products, not to pitch your product.
If you want something a little more immediate and direct to the customer, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can personalize customer interactions, answer questions, and qualify leads more effectively.
However, let’s not forget the old favorites – social media and communities: Direct customer interactions, social listening, and online communities provide valuable insights and opportunities for relationship-building. AI can analyze social media conversations to identify potential customers, understand their preferences, and engage them in personalized interactions. Newer platforms such as TikTok offer a wealth of value for B2B brands if done right.
Let’s build your brand following
When was the last time a GTM strategy truly addressed your specific needs, and made you feel valued? If the answer is never or rarely, you’re not alone. Both B2B and B2C landscapes are evolving, experiencing a buyer-behavior revolution.
Raise your hand if you have received an email that starts with Dear [insert name]. I bet over half of us. With one email blunder, that company let you know you are not unique or valued. You are, in fact just another email address on a list that they have got to send something to. In my opinion, the pray and spray method of email nurtures died a death in 2021 (or earlier!).
What if marketing meant value? What if those emails and pieces of outreach made sense to you, your pain points, your needs, and your personality?
It’s no longer a what-if. Without hyper-personalized outreach, your marketing will lag behind, your marketing dollars will go to waste, and your boss will be mad. B2C is nailing personalization, but B2B seems to be lagging behind, relying on old approaches, tried, tested and out-of-date marketing tactics – and as a result, are leaving dollars on the table.
Traditional B2B marketing needs a significant shift to align with new customer expectations, and we can help you navigate the choppy waters of modern marketing approaches.
Our top GTM campaign creation tips:
- Know your target audience and their needs
- Craft a value proposition that sings to that specific ICP
- Develop your customer journey map
- Always leverage data and analytics to inform all of your choices
- Utilize an omnichannel marketing approach (and be creative about those channels!)
- Content marketing is QUEEN – do it right, and you have won half your battle
- Personalize, personalize, personalize
- Build campaigns that build trust, encourage engagement
- Measure and adapt – metrics are your bestie – use them
- Stay ahead of the curve – follow AI marketing blogs, learn best practices for AI, deep-dive into gamification – become your company’s expert.
Bonus tip? Be authentic – your audience can see through the [insert word].
Extra Bonus tip… we are here to help. We have created numerous GTM strategies for clients and would love to help you get started! Drop us an email to schedule a call.
