Athlos is a premium activewear D2C brand based out of Mumbai, India. The primary objective of this GTM strategy is to launch a new product line in a different price segment. This is a comprehensive framework for planning and executing a successful go-to-market for the launch.
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AG
by Ashima Gupta
Overview
We develop the GTM strategy using three pillars:
1
Understand
Insights
Market
Customer
Risks
Constraints
2
Define
Launch
Stage
Goals
Customer segments
Rollout
Pitch
3
Levers
Marketing
Product
Alternate
Understand: Insights & Market
We want to encapsulate the qualitative and quantitative pointers that informed the need and purpose of this product.
Qualitative Insights
Eg. Online reviews, anecdotes from customer conversations, comments on Social Media has pointed towards price being high
Quantitative Insights
Eg. High drop off from product description page/cart pointed to price being a barrier to purchase
Market
We're talking about the competitors, geography, climate, regulations, cultural aspects etc.
Understand: Customer
Imagine your perfect customer for this product. and let's ask 3 key questions:
What are their key traits?
What's the specific problem they're trying to solve?
How do they describe your product to others?
Risks
Imagining a future where the launch didn't meet expected results. What were the reasons. We think about mitigation strategies in advance for most probable + severe impact ones
Eg:
New product line cannibalises existing product line
New product in a low price range has an impact on the brand perception.
Constraints
Any bottlenecks to be considered while planning for the launch
eg. limited inventory, current order processing capacity per day etc.
Define: Stage of Launch
We define and discuss this with the whole team, to bring absolute clarity with the stage and primary purpose of the launch. For eg. Is this a PMF exercise, or are we early scaling or mature scaling stage?
This will help us adjust our levers and focus energies on what matters most at the current stage.
Defining our Goals
This is the most crucial step in the strategy where we set the vision of the 'northstar metrics' and 'check metrics'. These goals will be socialised with entire working team so that we bring them on the same pafe. This is how our goal statement will look like:
"We want to achieve this metric in these many days with this kind of resourcing"
Metric
Revenue > # orders > # add_to_cart > # sessions
Timeline
4 weeks
Resources
Budget, # team members allocated to the launch
Define: Customer Segments
Segmenting our users using key behaviours will help us to:
Measure & prioritise the segments. We can start by focusing on the ones that deliver highest value and accordingly plan the rollout.
Create ICP/personas, tailor the pitch and messaging
Choose channels as per the segment.
Examples of the segments for Athlos:
Price Sensitive customer
Loyal customer who wouldn't mind one more t-shirt in their running wardrobe
The sport ambassador who would love to gift a t-shirt to someone who they want to convert to a runner
Define: Rollout Strategy
Right time to launch
(any particular days/ seasonality)
Size and kind of the audience
Inventory plan
Example of questions this brings up:
May-June bring warm months, is it the right time to launch? Given outdoor activities are at a low and people prefer to be indoors. We should highlight indoor activities in our imagery.
Historic order data to help establish seasonality. We should also checkout other brands' new collection drops coming in at the same time
In case of limited inventory, should we prioritise the customers who dropped off from the cart due to price barrier in past 3 months? In that case, our best channel would be a personalised email blast
If the purpose of the launch is PMF, then maybe we start the rollout with brand loyalists first, gather feedback from them, make them feel special etc.
Pitch Development
Now that we have the customer segments prioritised, a rollout strategy ready, the time is ripe for creating a compelling pitch for each customer segment that we're focusing on for the launch.
Hook
Hook is basically the most attractive proposition for this customer and
JTBD
Job-to-be-done is the core goal of the product
Messaging
When we show the messaging to the users, will they think - 'That's exactly what I need!'
Marketing Levers & Product Integration
Based on our goals and rollout plan, we now create a channel plan. We will also rely on what channels have worked best for us so far
(This list is not all inclusive, just an indicator)