If you’re looking to create your go to market strategy or GTM strategy before your SaaS is fully developed then you’ve already made smarter choices than so many other founders.
But no matter where you’re at in the launching process, these tips, common failures, and examples will help you learn what to do and what not to do when going to market with a new SaaS product.
What is a go-to-market strategy?
A B2B SaaS go-to-market (GTM) strategy is the comprehensive framework that aligns a SaaS product's unique value proposition with the right audience through targeted sales, marketing, and customer success initiatives. This strategy is not only crucial for new product launches but also for iterative improvements and scaling efforts, given the fast-paced evolution of the SaaS ecosystem.
Why is a B2B SaaS GTM strategy critical?
For B2B SaaS companies, a GTM strategy serves as a roadmap to position the product effectively in a highly competitive and dynamic market. It brings sales, marketing, product, and customer success teams together to work toward shared objectives. A good GTM strategy has become synonymous with sales and marketing alignment and greatly reduces the risk of the misalignment that leads to inefficient resource use and missed revenue opportunities.
Additionally, a tailored GTM strategy helps SaaS businesses address long sales cycles, multi-stakeholder buying decisions, and recurring revenue models that are unique to the industry.
The role of alignment in driving revenue
The global SaaS market's projected growth rate of 19.28% underscores the vast opportunity for companies to expand, particularly in high-growth areas like AI-powered SaaS solutions, which boast an impressive 30% CAGR. However, seizing this opportunity requires more than a great product—it demands an efficient go-to-market strategy where sales and marketing efforts are tightly aligned to maximize ROI.
With the average customer acquisition cost (CAC) for B2B SaaS hovering around $550—and varying widely between $300 and $15,000 depending on industry and target company size—misaligned strategies can lead to costly inefficiencies. Companies that align their sales and marketing efforts not only reduce wasted spend but also improve conversion rates, leading to a faster recouping of CAC and accelerated revenue growth.
GTM strategy vs marketing strategy: what’s the difference?
While a marketing strategy guides the efforts of the marketing team, a GTM strategy dictates the focus for all customer-facing departments. For SaaS companies, a GTM strategy should involve sales, marketing, customer success, and product teams. All of these teams need to work together to create a cohesive revenue strategy, managed by the chief revenue officer.
For example, a SaaS product team might develop a freemium pricing strategy, allowing new users to achieve value from the product for free. The marketing team would then market this free plan, while the sales team would follow up with product qualified leads (PQLs) to convert them into paying customers. The customer success team would then use a land-and-expand strategy to sell additional software seats and features to these customers.
What makes SaaS GTM strategies unique
Since the vast majority of our readers are building B2B SaaS companies, that’s what we’re going to focus on here.
B2B SaaS is a different environment because…
Go-to-market strategy is foundational product strategy. It maps out how the product the business will deliver can add value for the entire customer base as well as new target customers. This is a specific strategy concerning more finite new experience or series of new market experiences.
Your new product is software-as-a-service (SaaS), rather than some kind of tangible goods or services: But with SaaS businesses, there is always some level of service involved with every value proposition, because only updated software has full functionality and value for potential customers. So in a very real sense, part of the specific product launch messaging for B2B SaaS businesses must promise the target audience a superior customer experience based on their pain points that only this new platform can provide.
You’re marketing to companies, not people: This makes the go-to-market strategy for your sales team very different. Salespeople need to identify the best type of company to approach first, as well as the role or title of the stakeholders who will buy your product. They might also have different people who are champions, users, decision-makers, on the buyer’s journey, etc.
You can more easily utilize certain outbound methods: While outbound marketing is still a thing in B2C (think direct mail and cold calling), in the B2B world you also have cold email at your disposal, and outbound, in general, can be more effective.
The company size you target greatly affects your go-to-market strategy: The sales strategy is not just about selling to companies, but the right size companies. The demographics of the companies you target, whether they are really small businesses, other startups, SMBs, or enterprises, will have a huge effect on your strategy.
That’s just an overview of what makes the B2B market different.
Let’s dive into the best way to develop your go-to-market strategy.
How to build a go-to-market strategy for your SaaS product
You can’t put the cart before the horse, or the plan before the customer. You need to start with a solid understanding of who’s most likely to buy your SaaS product and why.
To develop a GTM strategy for your SaaS company, follow these steps.
1. Define your target market
Start by defining your target market.
As a SaaS company, you might use some or all of the following criteria to clarify your ideal customer profile (ICP):
Company size
Industry or vertical
Geographical location
Job title or role
Pain points or challenges
Technology infrastructure
Budget and willingness to pay
Existing software usage
2. Set clear revenue goals
The next step is for the CEO or CRO to clarify revenue goals for the upcoming months and quarters. You should also clarify which teams will be responsible for driving revenue, and what percentage of revenue. For new enterprise products, sales teams will typically be responsible for the majority of the revenue because they can be more direct. But for new self-service products, marketing teams will be largely responsible.
3. Develop your positioning
Next, you’ll need to develop a clear messaging strategy for your SaaS product.
Your messaging strategy should clarify your:
Brand identity
Buyer personas
Unique selling propositions (USPs)
Benefits-driven sample copy (headlines and descriptions that align with your USPs)
4. Create a pricing strategy
A well-defined pricing strategy is essential for driving revenue and aligning your product with your target audience’s expectations. Selecting the right pricing model depends on understanding your target audience, their budget constraints, and their willingness to pay.
The pricing models commonly used by B2B SaaS companies include:
Flat-rate pricing: A simple, predictable pricing model where customers pay a fixed fee for a standard package. While easy to communicate and manage, this approach may limit scalability as customer needs grow.
Usage-based pricing: Often called “pay-as-you-go,” this model charges customers based on their actual usage, such as API calls, user licenses, or data consumption. It’s ideal for products where usage fluctuates and is highly aligned with customer success.
Tiered pricing: Customers choose from predefined packages, each offering varying features and limits. This approach caters to different customer segments and is effective for upselling.
Per-user pricing: Set pricing based on the number of users accessing the SaaS product. This approach enables customers to pay according to their user base and provides scalability as the number of users grows.
Freemium pricing: Offer a free version of the SaaS product with limited functionality or usage, allowing users to experience its value and potentially upgrade to a paid plan for more features or capabilities. Freemium helps drive user acquisition, product awareness, and potential conversion to paying customers.
Value-based pricing: Pricing is determined based on the perceived value of your solution to the customer. This model requires deep customer research but can command higher prices when the ROI is clear.
Per-feature pricing: Set prices based on the specific features or modules customers choose to include in their subscription. Customers can select and pay for the features they require, allowing for customization and flexibility in pricing.
5. Choose your SaaS distribution channels
Successful B2B SaaS companies leverage diverse distribution channels tailored to their unique business models and customer needs.
Key channels include:
Marketplaces and Ecosystems: SaaS marketplaces like Salesforce AppExchange, AWS Marketplace, and HubSpot’s App Marketplace offer SaaS products direct exposure to high-value audiences. These platforms integrate seamlessly with existing tools, driving customer adoption by embedding the SaaS solution into established workflows.
Product-Led Growth (PLG): PLG strategies focus on showcasing the product's value through direct user experience, often supported by freemium or free trial models. This channel is especially effective for SaaS businesses targeting small and medium-sized businesses or departments within larger enterprises.
Review Platforms for Credibility: Platforms like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius allow SaaS companies to establish credibility by showcasing authentic customer reviews and competitive rankings.
Strategic Partnerships and Integrations: Collaborations with complementary platforms (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams) enable SaaS products to enter new markets and reach existing user bases. For example, Canva’s integrations with marketing tools like HubSpot increase its utility for professionals, making it a go-to design tool.
Further discussion (and options) on distribution channels can be found here.
6. Conduct competitive analysis
Success in a crowded SaaS market requires understanding your competitors and identifying opportunities to differentiate. A thorough competitive analysis can reveal gaps in the market, emerging trends, and strategies to outpace rivals.
Here’s how to approach it:
Identify Key Competitors
Analyze Features and Positioning
Study Customer Feedback
Track Marketing and SEO Efforts
Conduct a SWOT Analysis
Monitoring your competitive landscape keeps you ahead of market shifts, allows you to refine your offerings, and maintain a GTM strategy that resonates with your target audience.
7. Create a marketing plan
Now, it’s time to craft your marketing plan. This should include the marketing channels that you plan to use in your initial go-to-market launch.
Top channels include:
Search ads
Social media ads
SEO
Organic social media marketing
Influencer marketing
Event marketing
Account based marketing
You should also include your marketing campaigns. A campaign should be centered around a specific topic, USP, or content asset.
8. Organize your sales team
You’ll also need to structure your sales team around your GTM strategy. For example, if you’re planning on driving a high volume of organic traffic through digital marketing and a freemium pricing model, you’ll need to employ sales reps to live chat with inbound leads and qualify them. But if you’re targeting enterprise customers through largely outbound methods, then you’ll need a team of SDRs who will use cold email, cold calling, and direct social media messages to approach prospects.
9. Involve CS in driving revenue
Make sure that your customer success team is ready to help implement your GTM strategy too. Great customer success can make or break your SaaS business.
They should be trained in:
How to best onboard new customers
How to upsell and cross sell
How to sell additional licenses
10. Determine your launch plan and timeline
Your GTM strategy should include specific deliverables and timelines. It’s best to separate your GTM strategy into phases, typically pre-launch, launch, and post-launch. Each phase will include different campaigns, requirements, projects, and collaborators. Make sure that each element has clear deadlines and launch dates.
11. Measure and optimize your results
Monitoring the right key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential for evaluating and refining your B2B SaaS go-to-market strategy.
Consider these critical metrics:
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
Churn Rate
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Sales Cycle Length
Select metrics that are specific, measurable, and directly tied to the GTM strategy's objectives.
As you implement your GTM strategy, make sure to track all of these KPIs and establish baseline metrics for the identified KPIs before implementing any changes to the GTM strategy. This provides a starting point for measuring the impact of optimizations.
12. Incorporate feedback from customers and reiterate
And lastly, get feedback!
To collect feedback on your SaaS product and marketing approach, you should use a variety of methods, including an idea board, UX interviews, and marketing surveys. Your GTM team can work together to create consolidated interviews and surveys so that every department can get the feedback they need to improve their approach.
And, you can start with a SaaS go to market strategy template, but be thorough and make sure you're not skipping out on these important steps.
SaaS B2B go-to-market (GTM) strategy examples
Learn what works. Here are some examples of real GTM strategies from successful SaaS companies.
Loom’s built-in virality
Loom’s video-sharing functionality transformed users into marketers. How? Users would record their screen to share with others and that shared content got others to sign up for the free tier of the platform.By enabling seamless sharing and collaboration, Loom taps into natural word-of-mouth marketing, growing its user base significantly without heavy advertising spend. Learn more about how Loom’s GTM strategy led them to a $1 billion valuation.
Canva’s integration strategy
Canva expanded its reach and usability by creating seamless integrations with platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce, and social media tools. These integrations positioned Canva as an indispensable tool for marketers and business professionals, allowing them to design and deploy content directly within their existing workflows. By embedding itself into other widely-used systems, Canva strengthened its market position while improving user retention and productivity. Check this out for a deeper dive into Canva’s success.
HubSpot’s content-driven lead generation
HubSpot revolutionized inbound marketing by offering free tools like its Website Grader and producing high-value content tailored to marketers and sales teams. By addressing the specific pain points of their audience, HubSpot became a trusted authority in marketing automation and customer relationship management. This content-first approach not only built brand loyalty but also created a steady stream of qualified leads for their SaaS platform. You can get a full breakdown of their GTM timeline here.
Privy’s freemium model
Privy’s freemium model helps small and medium-sized businesses overcome initial cost barriers by offering a free plan with essential features. This approach allows users to experience the product’s value firsthand, while nurturing them toward premium plans as their businesses grow. By combining free access with scalable pricing, Privy has successfully converted trial users into long-term, high-value customers.
Clearscope’s niche marketing
Clearscope targeted content marketing agencies and SEO specialists by offering a solution that enhances content quality and search performance through AI-driven keyword insights. By solving a specific pain point—how to optimize content for both readers and search engines—Clearscope positioned itself as an essential tool for agencies and freelancers. Its targeted messaging and unique value proposition helped it stand out in a crowded SEO tools market. Learn more about Clearscope’s GTM strategy.
Gong’s social proof and customer advocacy
Gong leverages social proof by showcasing measurable ROI and testimonials from top-performing sales teams that use its conversation intelligence software. The company actively encourages customers to share success stories on platforms like LinkedIn, amplifying its reach and credibility. By focusing on data-backed case studies and enthusiastic advocates, Gong builds trust and attracts new customers organically. Listen to Gong’s CEO talk about going from idea to scale here.
4 tips and best practices
Before we dive into the template and examples, let’s first take a look at some of the best practices for developing a go to market strategy as a SaaS business.
1. Keep it simple
Allan Dib’s 1-Page Marketing Plan can work for any type of business, and he’s done a podcast interview about how it applies to SaaS.
The thing is your SaaS go to market strategy should fit on a single page. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a long term, far ranging business plan. It is simply how you are going to gain your first $10k or $100k in MRR, depending on your business model, pricing strategy, and goals.
You can find a picture of the actual 1-page marketing plan here, but the idea is that you have:
For prospects: One target market, one message, and one channel to reach prospects
For leads: One lead capturing method, one lead nurturing method, and one sales conversion strategy or channel
For customers: One core strategy for delivering a great experience, one core strategy for increasing LTV, and one core strategy for increasing customer referrals
2. Build your go-to-market strategy while building your product
The second most important tip is that you should be building your go-to-market plan at the same time or before your product. Marketing should be part of the product development roadmap. You should never build something and then wonder who to sell it to.
These things should go hand in hand.
Use market research, data, and solid KPIs and metrics to inform how you will market your product as well as how you build it.
Start selling your product (or at least engaging in lead generation) based on the GTM plan before your product is fully built.
Experiment with buyer personas and different audiences (selling, collecting leads, interviews, surveys) to discover who has the greatest need for your product and then build it for them and build your marketing campaigns and channels around them
3. Stick to one market, one audience, and one acquisition channel at a time
This is a difficult one for entrepreneurs. Many SEOs worry that they’ll lose their competitive advantage by thinking too small. They think that by narrowing it down to business size, they’ve done enough. Or that by narrowing it down to role, that’s good enough.
It’s not.
In the long run, your SaaS product might be used by companies in different niches and new markets all over the world, but for now, you need just one geographical region, one ideal customer target persona, and one channel you will use to reach them.
If that’s working, do it until you’ve exhausted it. If not, tweak just one element of your action plan at a time until you find the combination that you should exhaust.
4. Prioritize customer retention from the start
Obtaining the customers is critical, but retaining them is just as important. Retention is the foundation of growth in B2B SaaS, where recurring revenue drives profitability.
Make sure a proactive customer success program is built alongside the product. Streamline onboarding to reduce churn and encourage expansion with upsell and cross-sell strategies.
Investing in retention efforts is a must, and if you do it right you’ll see higher lifetime value (LTV) and users who become ambassadors.
4 common go-to-market mistakes to avoid
Related to the above, these are the mistakes that SaaS entrepreneurs should do their best to avoid.
1. Using too many marketing strategies
Don’t be everywhere. Don’t do all of the things. Stick to one core channel to begin with, whether that’s cold email, cold calling, or search engine optimization. If you feel it’s necessary to start building up some social media presence to show you’re alive, then pick just one platform such as LinkedIn to start.
2. Targeting too many markets at once
SaaS companies fail when they don’t stick to one geographical region. This might be the US or it might be Western Europe. It doesn’t have to be a tiny region, it just needs to be specific.
The reason is two-fold:
There are so many opportunities, your team will get confused by not narrowing things down, causing customer acquisition efforts to suffer. Create a value matrix to focus your messaging and more carefully target new customers.
Customers in the geographical region will recognize your customer logos or relate to your marketing better so that you can more quickly establish authority than you would if you were spreading yourself too thin.
A customer support team is at its best when marketing efforts and multiple updates or new product launches are not overwhelming the rest of the business.
3. Going to market to enterprises without cause or connections
Targeting enterprise companies first isn’t proven to bring in more revenue for early stage SaaS companies, even if the deal sizes are bigger.
Enterprise companies have a longer sales process and more decision makers. They are harder to sell to, and they are typically not early adopters. They want proven solutions.
Only target enterprise if there is an exact product-market fit and if you also have some connections. You need a sure-fire way to get your first customer, so then you can create a business case study and leverage that success to sell to other enterprises. Your selected use case should be spot-on for each target customer.
4. Not using outbound when it makes sense to do so
Because inbound is so hot, SaaS companies tend to neglect outbound. While outbound methods aren’t necessarily the best go to market strategy, there’s a good chance they are.
If there’s not a huge need for content marketing in your niche or lots of low-hanging SEO fruit, then 9 times out of 10, outbound is what you should focus on as a very early stage SaaS.
On the other hand, if you already have a huge amount of excellent content on hand such as blog posts and webinars you can repurpose for content marketing, there’s little downside in trying it—as long as you’re not reinventing the wheel.
SaaS go-to-market plan template
What do SaaS companies need to decide on? Even if you don’t think your product has a niche, you still identify the best niche to start marketing your product too. Later, you can go wide, but in the beginning it’s all about going deep and narrow.
Copy this down and fill it out.
When you change it, put it in a new doc or section of your doc, and then date that new version. This will help you keep track of your pivots and maintain consistency and brand awareness.
Try not to change multiple items at once unless you’ve really gotten it wrong. Otherwise you’ll be in danger of making it difficult to test the results of changes to the customer journey.
The core result of the SaaS product:
The most important 2 or 3 features:
The aha moment:
The secondary 4 – 7 features:
The end user:
The buyer (if different):
The market:
The niche:
The marketing acquisition channel:
The customer conversion channel:
The customer retention / onboarding strategy:
The core brand message:
For the core brand message, we recommend you use the brand script template by StoryBrand. You can create your own free account here.
Which go-to-market strategy to use for your SaaS product
Which GTM strategy is the best fit for your SaaS product?
While there is some overlap, you can use this framework as your guide.
Vertical SaaS products
For vertical SaaS products, you’re targeting a specific industry, role, or business type. You should leverage existing audiences to get in front of target buyers quickly.
The best GTM strategies for vertical SaaS products include:
Influencer marketing
Partnership marketing
PR
Horizontal SaaS products
Horizontal SaaS products have a much larger addressable market. They can reach millions and millions of small business and corporate users. Your GTM strategy should place a heavy focus on driving a high volume of leads, and converting a small portion of those into paying customers.
The best GTM strategies for horizontal SaaS products include:
Freemium pricing
Product-led growth
SEO
Low-priced SaaS products
With a low-priced SaaS product, you need to use highly scalable marketing strategies. You might not even employ a sales or customer success team, but instead automate the delivery and onboarding of your entire business.
The best GTM strategies for low-priced SaaS products include:
Social media marketing
SEO
PR
High-priced SaaS products
With a high-priced SaaS product, you can place more attention on relationships, rather than volume. You should employ a world-class sales team, working in partnership with your marketing team to reach enterprise prospects.
The best GTM strategies for high-priced SaaS products include:
Account-based marketing
Outbound sales
Search ads
When you develop your own go-to-market strategy for your SaaS, make sure that you keep it simple and consistent. Pivot only when needed to avoid shiny object syndrome.
Conclusion
How to do a go to market strategy?
To create a go-to-market (GTM) strategy for a SaaS product, you need to define your target market, set clear revenue goals, develop your product positioning, and determine your pricing strategy. It involves aligning sales, marketing, customer success, and product teams to work together towards common revenue goals. This strategy is crucial for targeting the right market and using effective strategies to reach your audience, thereby avoiding the risk of misaligned efforts and wasted resources.
Building a B2B SaaS product? Learn how you can gain expert advice on your GTM alongside a fully functioning development team.
