Why a launch needs a GTM plan
Many launches meet the same wall. The product is ready and the packaging is printed. Then someone asks, "Who exactly is going to buy this, and where?" If the answer is "everyone, everywhere", money gets spread thin.
A GTM plan forces that answer before the spending starts. It also gives your sales team, your dealers and your agency one shared page to work from, so each person does not invent their own version of the launch.
Shopify says a strong plan uses market research, past results and competitor data to forecast how the product will do. For a first launch you may have little past data. Then your own buyer conversations are the data.
The seven-step go-to-market framework
Shopify lists nine steps. HBS Online names three facets, which are distribution channels, messaging and marketing tactics, and an estimate of customer acquisition cost. They overlap a lot. We have merged them into seven steps that suit an owner who has limited time. Do them in order, because each step feeds the next.
Step 1. Choose one buyer group
Write down who will buy first. Be narrow. "Women in India" is not a group. "Working mothers in Pune who buy school lunch boxes online" is. For a business product, name the type of firm, the size and the person who signs the order.
This is also where you pick the first market. Shopify's second step is to learn who the customer is and why they would pick you over others. The tight group makes that learning faster.
Step 2. Prove the problem is real
Shopify's first step is to confirm that the product solves a real problem for its target buyers. Do it with talk, not with a survey. Speak to ten people in your buyer group. Ask what they use today, what annoys them and what they paid last time.
Listen for the same complaint three times. If you hear it, you have a problem worth solving. If every person says something different, your group is too wide or the problem is too small.
Step 3. Write your promise
Your promise is the one clear benefit you offer, and why a buyer should pick it over the other choices. Shopify calls this the unique value proposition. Use this fill-in line:
For [buyer group] who [problem], [your product] gives [main benefit]. Unlike [what they use today], it [one difference].
Include doing nothing in your list of rivals. Buyers often keep their old supplier or their old habit. That can be your biggest competitor.
Step 4. Set the price
Shopify says to set a price that balances what buyers will pay with what keeps the business profitable. Work out your cost of making and delivering one unit first. Then check the prices your buyers already see.
Add the costs people forget: dealer or distributor margin, payment fees, returns and the cost of winning the customer. A price that looks fine on paper can lose money once those are counted.
Step 5. Pick the route to the buyer
HBS Online calls this distribution channels: how the product reaches the end user, directly or through others. It advises starting with the most cost-effective channels that fit the company, and saving others for later. In India the usual routes are:
- Your own sales team or your own website and WhatsApp.
- Dealers, distributors and wholesalers who already serve your buyers.
- Local shops in the general trade, and larger chain stores.
- Marketplaces and quick commerce apps.
- Business directories and trade fairs for firm-to-firm (B2B) sales.
Each route has its own margin, speed and control. Our guide to business models in India shows how the choice of model shapes the route. Pick one route to start, not five.
Step 6. Plan the promotion
Now choose the message and the channels. Shopify asks for goals, costs, key performance indicators (KPI), the numbers you will watch, timelines and messaging. Keep the message the same as your promise from step 3.
Choose channels where your named buyer already spends time. A dealer meet, a LinkedIn post, a Google search ad and a shop-board each suit a different buyer. The detail goes into your marketing plan, which sits under the GTM strategy.
Step 7. Set numbers and review them
Shopify names sales volume, customer acquisition cost (CAC) and sales cycle length, and tracking after launch with feedback from customers and your own team. HBS Online defines CAC as total sales and marketing costs divided by the number of customers won in a period. Sales cycle length is the time from first contact to order. We also watch conversion rate, which is how many out of 100 people who see your offer act on it.
Write the target for each number before launch. Then review them on a fixed day each month.
A one-page GTM template you can copy
Paste these lines into a document and fill each one in plain words. If a line stays empty, that is the work still to do.
- Product or service, in one line:
- First buyer group (type, size, city, who decides):
- The problem they have today, in their own words:
- What they use now, including doing nothing:
- Our promise (use the fill-in line from step 3):
- Price and the margin left after every cost:
- First route to the buyer (one only):
- Message and the two or three channels:
- Three numbers and their targets:
- First review date and who attends:
- What would make us stop or change the plan:
A made-up example
Say a family firm makes cold-pressed groundnut oil. First plan: sell to "every Indian kitchen" through every shop it can reach. Second plan, after ten buyer calls: sell to health-minded families in one city who already buy from local mills. These are made-up numbers and a made-up firm.
Say the firm learns that these families trust word of mouth and dislike unlabelled tins. Its promise becomes clean, labelled oil in a glass bottle, delivered weekly. Its route is a WhatsApp order list and two neighbourhood shops. Its numbers are repeat orders in 60 days and cost to win each family. It reviews them every month and widens to the next city only when they hold.
The second plan is smaller. It is also testable, and that is what makes it useful.
Common mistakes, and the fix
- Aiming at everyone. A wide group means a vague message. Fix: choose one group and write its description in one line.
- Writing the plan before talking to buyers. Fix: do the ten conversations first.
- Ignoring the middle of the chain. Dealers and distributors also decide whether your product sells. Fix: ask what they need to push it, such as margin, training or display.
- Copying a rival's plan. What worked for one brand may not work for its competitor. Fix: use rivals to learn, then choose your own gap.
- Spending big before testing. Fix: run a small pilot in one city or one route, and read the numbers first.
- No review day. A plan nobody reads becomes wallpaper. Fix: fix the date and the owner now.
Rules to check before you sell
Some products need licences, labels or registrations before the first sale. Food, packaged goods, electronics, medical items and financial products are common examples. The rules depend on what you sell and how you sell it.
Make a short list of the rules for your product and ask a chartered accountant (CA) or a lawyer to check it before the launch date is fixed. We read no rule texts for this guide, so we state none.
How to measure your go-to-market plan
Watch two kinds of numbers. Early signs tell you in weeks whether buyers care: enquiries, trial orders, replies from dealers. Later results tell you whether the business works: repeat orders, margin after all costs and cost to win a customer.
- Count enquiries and orders by source, so you know which route and channel brought them.
- Record why people said no. Three clear reasons are worth more than a hundred clicks.
- Check the margin on real orders, not on the price list.
- Compare your numbers with the targets you wrote in step 7, and write down what you will change.
Do not judge a launch on likes or views alone. They show attention, not business.
When to ask for help
You can write a first plan alone with this template. Outside help makes sense in three cases. You cannot find enough buyers to speak to. Your team disagrees about the first buyer. Or you are entering a new city or country and do not know its routes. A fresh pair of eyes can also test your numbers before you spend.
Bring your one-page template to any adviser. It saves time, and it shows quickly whether their questions match your problem.
