In Part One, we established the critical groundwork: vision clarity and deep market understanding. Now it’s time to convert strategy into results. This section of the playbook takes you through the essential steps to build, activate, and scale your go-to-market initiatives.
1. Strategy Development
Translate your market insights into a robust go-to-market strategy. This involves:
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Defining Offerings: Create products and services that solve problems you uncovered in your customer research and are differentiated from the competition. Both elements are required. Otherwise, you risk building something unique that no one wants. Even big companies, like Microsoft’s Zune, which optimized for device-to-device sharing when customers wanted seamless access to music, or Google Glass, which optimized for futuristic tech features when customers wanted practical, socially acceptable wearables.
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Segmentation and Targeting: Develop market segmentation strategies to tailor your marketing communications effectively.
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Positioning and Messaging: Your positioning should clearly communicate what you do, why you are relevant (i.e., how you solve the problems identified in your market analysis), and how you are different. Leveraging specific words or phrases you heard customers use in your market analysis can help craft messaging that resonates.
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Establish concrete, comprehensive plans that go beyond what you want to do and detail exactly how you will get there. Think beyond the development of services to what it takes to successfully launch a service, which includes not only defining the product but also developing systems, processes, and personnel to support it. Plans should not be defined by a single function but rather represent how each core function drives and supports the critical initiatives that will activate any new effort (e.g., entry into new markets) or change in direction (e.g., evolution of an existing capability).
Tips for success:
Sometimes, companies falter by thinking their company or product is for everyone. In general, the more broadly you define your target customer, the greater the risk that your offering will not appeal to anyone. I like to think of defining customer targets as a bullseye. Think about your ideal customer as the center of your bullseye. Define your value drivers and create your positioning and messaging as if you are talking directly to that person or company. Your messaging may attract customers from the outer circles, too, but if you try to appeal to the needs and desires of all the possible layers of customers, you’ll drive yourself crazy and dilute the most important messages your core customer needs to hear. A great example is Calendly. Instead of trying to be a general productivity tool for everyone, it zeroed in on a specific pain point: the back-and-forth of scheduling meetings, especially for sales teams, recruiters, and consultants. Its early messaging spoke directly to busy professionals who were frustrated with scheduling logistics and needed a fast, professional solution. That laser focus helped Calendly grow rapidly in its core segments, and only then did it start expanding to broader use cases. If it had tried to be a generic productivity platform from the start, it likely would have been lost in the noise.
Be prepared to iterate. CMO Tad Egami advises clients that a robust go-to-market strategy cannot be done in a one-day offsite or through a consulting study. It takes iterations by the core team of management and revisiting core assumptions as you continue to define key insights into what drives your customers and your markets. He finds that leaders who are intentional about ensuring alignment between key functions like Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance, etc., achieve growth more quickly, reduce friction between departments, and ultimately deliver to better customer experiences for long-term satisfaction.
For a deeper dive into how to approach Strategy Development, I recommend reading “The Growth Gears.“ The book by Art Saxby and Pete Hayes is an excellent guide to generating growth.
2. Resource Allocation and Team Structuring
Ensure you have the right mix of resources and personnel essential for execution. This includes:
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Establishing cross-functional teams: Think broadly about functions that can be tapped for growth, and you’ll not only expand your capacity to implement your strategy but also create connections and relationships that will reduce friction and improve performance long term. What could customer service, HR, finance, and product development accomplish by working together?
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Allocating budgets and staff time wisely to maximize ROI, focusing on high-impact activities aligned with strategic goals: Remember, if you’re doing new things, costs may be higher than you expect, so build in a buffer to keep your strategy on track.
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Defining capability gaps: It is common for a strategy to require skillsets not currently on a team. A key benefit of working with a Chief Outsider CXO is the ability to access execution resources on a fractional basis. These specialized implementation experts bring best practices from well-known companies, such as PwC, Boston Scientific, and Google, to your project and work as part of your team.
Tip for success:
Consider looking beyond your “go-to people” when it comes to allocating resources for growth. Go deeper into the organization and tap people across functions to serve. You may be surprised by the enthusiasm and valuable perspective that more junior members of your team offer when they have the opportunity to contribute to the company’s growth.
Don’t be afraid to stop doing something! Use a critical eye to evaluate projects, products, initiatives, and business units that are no longer aligned with your vision. Ending or paring back on existing work can be a way to allocate resources to advancing your strategy.
3. Activation and Scaling
Develop tactics to ensure your product and company are found, communicate your message effectively, track implementation, and measure your impact.
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Execution Plan: Outline the step-by-step process that teams will follow, from campaign development to launch. Ensure the plan is achievable, with clear timelines, owners, and responsibilities. A RACI chart is a good way to keep everyone aligned and reduce friction.
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Targeted Tactics and Testing: Focus on piloting highly targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with specific customer segments and are directly tied to your strategy. The key is to ensure your tactics are finely tuned to reach your ideal customers through the right channels, whether that’s being found on Google search, or using social media, or traditional platforms, to bring your message to the customer. Tailor your messaging to speak directly to the needs and desires of each segment, using data and insights to refine and optimize your approach continuously.
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Feedback: Constantly look for contradictions between what you are saying and what customers experience when working with you. Reviews, customer surveys, and win/loss interviews can be a good way to discover contradictions. For example, Warby Parker built its brand around convenience and ease—especially the “Home Try-On” program. However, early customer feedback, as revealed through reviews and customer support, showed that while people loved the idea, they were confused about how to return the frames and what would happen after they did. Warby Parker used that feedback to revise their instructions, clarify emails, and simplify return logistics. That alignment between promise and experience helped strengthen customer trust and contributed to their rapid growth.
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Measurement, Performance Reviews, and Adapting: Implement regular review sessions with key stakeholders to assess the progress of your tactics against pre-determined benchmarks. Use these meetings to celebrate small wins, motivate the team, and change course if the tactics aren’t yielding the expected results.
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Expand and Scale: Based on positive outcomes, plan expansion activities and scale strategies to reach additional customers in your target segments.
Tips for success:
It is tempting to be drawn to what your competitors are doing or saying. Resist the urge! Stay focused on the tactics that reach your target customer.
If you don’t have a functional system for tracking execution, consider using a tool to manage stakeholders and deadlines. At Chief Outsiders, we use GrowthGearsSM OS to manage projects efficiently by aligning strategy, execution, and performance in a cohesive manner. Growth Gears OS enables us to systematically leverage best practices, manage stakeholders and deadlines seamlessly, ensuring that all team members, from marketing to operations, are aligned and on the same page.
Conclusion
This playbook outlined five critical steps for go-to-market success: establishing a clear vision, conducting thorough market analysis, developing a targeted strategy, structuring resources effectively, and executing for measurability and scale. By following these steps and tips for success, you reduce the risk of common go-to-market failures.
Are you struggling to identify the critical gaps and opportunities in your growth strategy? Consider taking the free Growth Gears Assessment to gain a clearer picture of where your business stands and what steps are needed to accelerate your path to market leadership. By engaging in this assessment, you’ll uncover actionable insights that can help transform your strategic vision into measurable success.
At Chief Outsiders, we specialize in partnering with mid-size company CEOs to transform strategic visions into profitable growth. Let us know how we can support your growth ambitions.
