Go-to-Market 101 by Vinod Harith (Founder, CMO Axis)

1. But…where is your market?
Go-to-Market 101
Vinod Harith, Founder, CMO Axis

2. What we will cover
• Defining a market (what really is a market?)
• Fundamental concepts of marketing
• Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
• Differentiation and Competitive Advantage
• Thinking Sales vs. Marketing
• Marketing for newer biz models
• Understanding your ecosystem – the complex web of creating influence
• Building personas
• Some ‘immutable laws’
• Some zero-cost marketing tools to get started
• Case study discussions

3. What really is a market?
• “A narrow market definition limits your
business opportunities. You have to see
more to sell more.” – Jack Welch
• Many businesses either take a narrow or a
very broad market definition and end up
either over estimating or under estimating
their market potential

4. What really is a market?

5. Estimating your market right
• What is the size of the market?
• What unique need does your GENRE of product/ services meet?
• How much are customers willing to pay for this product/ service (top/
• bottom/average)?
• Is this a price sensitive/ commodity product or premium product?
• Who are the other key players?
• What is the gap un-serviced by current players?
• What is the REAL available market for you?
• How is your product different from competition?
• What is your playing field? (premium/ general/ price warrior)
• What share of this can you reasonably expect to get?

6. Estimating your market right
• Talk to the ecosystem
• Buyers
• Users
• Analysts
• Industry media
• Competitors
• VCs
• Where can you find them?
• Your peer network
• Your social network
• Online communities
• Events and conferences

7. Segmenting your market
• Measurable
• Size, purchasing power, and profile of segment
• Accessible
• Can be reached and served
• Substantial
• Large and profitable enough to serve
• Differentiable
• Respond differently
• Actionable
• Effective programs can be developed

8. Segmenting your market
Small Cars Premium Hatch Sedans Small SUV SUV/ MUV Segment
Alto, Datsun Go Verna, Dezire Creta, Ecosport Scorpio Price/ Value
buyer
i10, Brio Baleno, i20 Accord, Corolla Tuscon, CRV Innova, Fortuner Premium/ Utility
A class BMW, Camry Land Cruiser Niche/ Luxury

9. Targeting your market
• Selecting which segments to serve
• Undifferentiated (mass) marketing
• Differentiated (segmented) marketing
• Concentrated (niche) marketing
• Micromarketing (local or individual)
Baby Shampoos
Shampoos for specific conditions - dry hair, long
hair, dandruff, etc
Natural/ ayurvedic Shampoos
Premium shampoos for Hair salons/ custom hair
treatments/ salon only brands

10. Positioning
• ‘Positioning’ is that one word you own in the minds of the customer
• It refers to the consumer’s perception of a product or service in relation to its
competitors
• Positioning is all about 'perception'
• Perception differs from person to person, market to market
Maruti Suzuki – affordable, low maintenance
Hyundai – value for money, feature rich
Toyota – work horse, reliable, long lasting
BMW – fast, young and successful

11. Differentiators vs. competitive advantage
• Product
• Service
• Channel
• People
Differentiators
• Important
• Distinctive
• Superior
• Communicable
• Not easily
replicable
Competitive
Advantage
Oppo – better selfie cam Infy – financial transparency
Samsung – better service network Apple – design and innovation
HUL – distribution Toyota - quality
Apollo – better doctors Nike - sourcing

12. Thinking Sales vs Marketing
Sales
• Individual influence on buyer
• Knows the customer and their specific
pain points
• Initiates, manages and closes the sale
• Funnels ground knowledge of customer
needs, competitor offerings to help
marketing in better product management
and value articulation
Marketing
• Collective influence on the buyer segment
• Knows the customer segment, their ecosystem
of influence and what their collective pain
points are
• Reduces time and cost of sale through effective
product/ service differentiation and value
articulation
• Helps command a price premium through
effective brand management

13. Marketing for newer biz models - 4Ps vs SIVA
Chekitan Dev and Don Schultz proposed replacing the 4 P marketing mix (Product,
Promotion, Price and Place) with a more customer-focused “SIVA” marketing mix,
which is very relevant for newer business models
• As opposed to a product looking to be sold, the solution is designed to solve a
customer’s problem – think Uber, think Amazon
• Rather than just one-way, static “push” promotion, information is all about
maintaining a two-way educational dialog with the marketplace –think social,
think content marketing
• Compared to cost-plus, vendor-centric pricing, value takes into account the
benefits, what might they have to sacrifice and what will be their reward – think
data sharing with Google and FB
• Instead of static distribution or “place,” access allows customers to purchase
solutions when where and how they want

14. Understanding your ecosystem
• Ecosystems are important to know
what’s your sphere of direct and
indirect influence
• It is knowing your customers, your
influencers and what’s happening in
their spheres and what makes them
tick
• Once you understand the levers,
your marketing messages can be
customized to each constituent in a
targeted manner

15. Communicating your ecosystem

16. Building personas
• Name of the persona
• Job title
• Key information about their company
(size, type, etc.)
• Details about their role
• Demographics
• Education
• Family
• Information sources (blogs, sites)
• Groups they are part of
• Hobbies
• Goals and challenges
• How you help achieve their goals
• How you help solve their problems
• Common objections during sales process
• Marketing message
• Elevator pitch

17. Building personas

18. Applying some immutable laws
• The law of leadership: Is there a category
where you can be the first/ only/ #1?
• The law of mindshare and perception: It
is important where you are in your
customer’s mind and how he/ she
perceives your product/ service
• Uber vs Ola
• The Rule of 3
• Coke, Pepsi, Thumsup
• The law of focus and exclusivity: What
is the one word you own in the
prospect’s mind?
• Hamam, Margo
• The law of division: Lead a category or
create a division
• Oppo, Mahindra
• The law of singularity: What is that one
thing you do really well?
• Salesforce – CRM, SAP – Manufacturing ERP

19. Zero/ low cost tools
• SEO
• Content marketing – Blogs, articles, white papers, POVs
• Social selling
• Industry associations engagement
• Analysts, influencers
• Speaking opportunities
• Awards/ rankings
• Targeted ‘low cost’ marketing
• Alliance marketing
• Adwords, social promos, Taboola, Outbrain

20. Case studies
• Engineer’s engineer