For product people, go-to-market can seem like a bit of a mystery.

But really, go-to-market is 7 motions:

And here’s the good news: all 7 of these motions are learnable.

In today’s guide, we’re going to present a super tactical ‘how to’ for the key tools you need to implement each Go-To-Market motion.

Think: product screenshots and examples of what actually works, so you can master each tool.

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Introducing Maja

To do such a tactical startup guide for B2B go-to-market, I had to go to the expert.

Maja is the best-selling author of the GTM strategist book (20% off with Code PRODUCT20) and newsletter, as well as an advisor to companies on GTM. If there’s anyone you want to learn this topic from, it’s Maja.

Maja will also be doing a special 1-hour AMA for the post in our Slack community on 5/31 at 3pm cest/ 9am est.

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Today’s Post

Words: 19,456 | Est. Reading Time: 88 minutes

This post was the culmination of years of experience, and weeks of work:

1. A primer on go-to-market motions
   • The motions of today’s top growers
   • How to know which to prioritize
   • How to scale your team
2. 🔒 Guides by motion28 guides: 7 for each motion + its top 3 tools
3. 🔒 Top mistakes

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If you only have 1 minute…

• PLG is eating the world, but it’s not everything. Over 80% of the hottest companies use PLG as a primary or major supporting motion. But multi-channel is a must, with most leveraging at least 3 other motions to drive growth.
• Each GTM motion has its own playbook. From driving virality with your product to hyper-personalized ABM campaigns, there are proven tactics to master. While it takes deep focus and specialization to execute any one of them at a high level, you can use tools and this guide to accelerate your progress. There’s no magic.

All the fun is in the gory tactical details.

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1. A primer on go-to-market motions

It’s not just all your product. Any founder or PM worth their salt knows that the right go-to-market (GTM) can be the secret sauce that can make or break your growth trajectory.

It’s the art and science of finding the right combination of tactics to reach, acquire, and retain customers.

But with so many options out there, it can be overwhelming to know where to start.

We’ve got your back.

In this section, we’ll dive deep into:

1. The GTM strategies of some of today’s hottest startups
2. Break down a framework for prioritizing your own motions
3. Give you the inside scoop on when to hire for each function

1.1 Breaking down the motions of today’s top growers

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to GTM. Companies have led with any number of channels.

For this piece, we did a study of 12 of the hottest companies in tech. Here’s what we learned:

Across all 12 of these companies, we can see 3 key patterns:

TREND 1 – PLG is eating the world

Over 80% of the companies on this list leverage PLG as either their primary or a major supporting GTM motion. Even enterprise-focused businesses like Snowflake and Salesforce are adding free trials and freemium to their mix.

TREND 2 – Multi-channel is a must

No matter what their primary GTM focus is, all of these companies use at least three other channels to support their efforts. Inbound supports outbound, partnerships amplify PLG, and so on.

TREND 3 – ABM and Outbound accelerate enterprise deals

For companies selling five- and six-figure deals, ABM and targeted outbound are still the name of the game. These motions help them break into key accounts and navigate complex buying committees.

Bringing it all together

• If you’re selling to consumers or prosumers, lean into PLG, community, and partnerships early on. Layer in paid marketing as you find product-market fit and have budget to scale.
• If you’re selling to SMBs, blend inbound and outbound motions to build awareness and relationships. Paid digital can accelerate pipeline generation as you dial in your ICP.
• If you’re selling to enterprises, focus on targeted ABM and partner ecosystems. Inbound is great for air cover, but outbound is crucial for landing large accounts.
• If you have a complex or technical product, make sure you have developer docs, free tooling, and community support from day one.

Above all, stay nimble and open to experimentation.

What works at one stage may not work at another. What worked for one company might not work for you.

The key is a willingness to pivot when necessary.

1.2 How to know which motions to prioritize

Now that you’re well-versed in how the best do it… How should YOU do it?

Maja has helped 100s of companies decide. The most foolproof way seems simple, but has a lot of texture to it:

Let’s break it down.

Step 1 – Talk to your customers

Method 1: Demand capture

It’s not rocket science: you want to go where your customers go to make their purchasing decisions.

The big thing everyone gets wrong with this step is they too broadly define their customers.

We’re talking about buyers here, not users. And we’re talking about where they actually go to make a decision vs where they say.

You want to ask questions like:

• How did you purchase this category of software last time?
• And what did you found looking there?
• Did you look elsewhere?

Focus on the facts of how they made their last decision. And narrows the subset of GTM motions you’re focused on to those that can influence that.

Method 2: Demand generation

Of course, you may learn from your customers they they do not go anywhere! They may not have made the decision before, to purchase that type of software.

Then, you need to shift your questions to learn how you can do demand generation – not demand capture.

In demand gen, you invest in audience building and educating the market about a solution for their need or even about the problem.

Use your conversations with customers to help accurately assess GTM channels as they relate to it. Ask questions like:

• What’s the latest new software category you bought?
• What drove you to make that decision
• Where did you research it?

This will help you understand what channels could be used to generate demand.

Step 2 – Research your competition

The next step, once you have a narrowed down list, is to check out what your competition do.

A couple tools can be useful for this:

• competitors.app: will help you see social mentions and SEO traffic
• Similarweb: gives you high level stats on channel mix
• LinkedIn company posts: see their creative
• SEMRush: helps you analyze SEO & SEM
• Meta ads library: see their creative

It’s also very effective to message former employees on LinkedIn, and find interviews of the founders.

Between the data and qualitative conversations, you should be able to build a map similar to the one we built in 1.1, but for your market.

Step 3 – Play on your strengths

Now that you understand where customers might go, and how competitors are taking advantage of that, it’s time to look inwards.

What are you and your team good at? What channels can you conceivably do well at?

It’s not worth betting on your ability to hire the right agency. Instead, it’s worth thinking about your ability to sustainably pursue a GTM motion.

• Even if outbound feels like the best opportunity in the world, if you and the team aren’t salesy and have no experience in outbound, you’re not going to have an advantage.
• On the other hand, even if something like Inbound is really crowded, if you have several people talented in Social Media on the team, it can be pursued.

Ideally, you could pursue a channel where customers are, competitors aren’t, and you are skilled. But that’s not always possible.

So the hierarchy is:

1. Customers go there
2. You are good at it
3. Competitors are not there.

In fact, sometimes if competitors aren’t there, it might be a sign that channel doesn’t work.

Step 4 – Select 2-3 GTM motions to test

If you’re still weighing between several options, the next prioritization framework to think through is work vs impact.

You want to prioritize the channels to those with the highest bang for their back.

Once you’ve narrowed the list from 7 to 2-3, you’re ready to begin your test.

We definitely suggest testing more than 1 channel, even at the beginning.

In the end, you may collapse to 1 leading channel. But, in the initial phases, it’s best to have at least 2.

This helps you build a test-iterate-learn loop from two sources and hedge your bets.

Step 5 – Stick with them for 1-3 months

A big mistake people make with GTM channels is to put 30 days into a test with an agency, and conclude that channel isn’t worth it.

This is especially true for inbound, which has an incredibly long time to value.

Stick with the channels for a few months and try a few different strategies.

It’s worth getting analytical, even at small volumes:

• What worked? Double down on it
• What didn’t? Change to a different strategy

These GTM motions are very rich and deep. Remember that in some big company competitor of yours, there’s a team of 50 on each of these motions.

You can find some ROI in each—even if you chose wrong.

1.3 Who manages these as you grow

Early on, the founder or a “full-stack” marketer often owns the entire GTM strategy. But as you scale, you’ll need to hire functional experts:

• Inbound: Content marketers, SEO specialists
• Outbound: SDRs, AEs, VP Sales
• Paid Digital: Growth/performance marketers
• Community: Community managers
• Partnerships: Business development reps
• ABM: Account-based marketers
• Product-Led Growth: Growth product managers, PMs, engineers

Look for people who have successfully executed these plays at a similar stage. Their function-specific expertise is critical to get the most leverage from each tactic.

At the executive level, you may also need a VP of Marketing, VP of Growth, and/or Chief Revenue Officer to set the overall GTM vision. This is especially true once you raise Series B and later funding rounds.

Read on for the step-by-step guides to go 0 to 1 on each of these channels. It’s 28 guides. (The LinkedIn one alone is worth the entire cost. Maja and I break down our entire strategy.)