How to Develop a Go-to-Market Strategy That Blows the Competition Away

Speed to market is important, but a fully-functional connected product isn’t the only measure of market viability. It’s never too early to plan your go-to-market strategy to ensure you’re ready to take your market (and your competition) by storm.

Map Your Product’s Journey

Consider the major operational channels needed to take your product from factory floor to customer door: manufacturing, sales, distribution, and support. Although you likely have these processes in place, connectivity can add an element of complexity to each.

Know Your Product’s Purpose

Start asking “Why?” from the beginning because connectivity for connectivity’s sake means little if it’s not useful to your customers and product users. Read our blog post about understanding your customer needs for a good place to start.

Differentiate Your Product

Along with asking “Why?” be sure you also ask “What?”—as in, “What does my IoT-enabled product have that no one else’s does?” The unique attributes of your offering are likely to be your primary selling points, and you’ll need to be able to articulate them clearly to your target audience to be successful.

Study Your Competition

Research competitors that have already introduced connected products. What’s their target audience? How are they selling it? What were their big wins and losses? What seemed to work well and what didn’t? How will your product offering differ?

Determine Your Pricing

Your IoT product could solve all your customer’s problems, but if it’s too expensive, they won’t pay for it. Limit the scope of your vision to what's affordable, and use the data to show how your product provides tangible value to your users that makes the price worth it.

Train Your Sales Force

Provide your sales and marketing team with a little IoT 101 so they can properly show your customers how it all works, convey the value of data aggregation, and build trust in the steadfast security measures you’ve put in place.

To learn more, download your own copy of our free IoT Strategies for Diversified Businesses white paper. If you’d like to learn what the next step in your IoT journey is, read our full IoT Readiness guide or connect with one of our IoT advisors.