If you’ve ever tried to launch a product or push into a new market, you know most “go-to-market” (GTM) advice is either too theoretical or just a sales pitch in disguise. This guide is for product, marketing, or sales folks who actually have to ship something and make it work. You want a GTM plan that’s grounded in reality, not a 50-slide deck nobody reads.
I’ll walk you through how to build a real, practical GTM strategy, step by step, using Mantiks—a platform designed to give you actual data and insights instead of guesswork. Here’s how to cut through the noise and create a GTM plan that gets results.
Step 1: Get Clear on Your Real Target Customer (Not Just the Persona Deck)
Before you start plotting campaigns or demos, you need to know who you’re actually selling to—and why they’d care.
What works: - Talking to real customers or prospects. Yes, interviews. Actual conversations. - Looking at recent sales wins and losses. Why did people really buy? Why didn’t they? - Using Mantiks to pull up firmographic and technographic data on folks who converted, so you’re not just guessing.
What to skip: - Making up “personas” in a vacuum. - Copying competitors’ segments because it’s easier.
How Mantiks helps:
Mantiks makes it easy to surface patterns in your existing customer base. You can segment by industry, company size, tech stack, or buying triggers. No more “ideal customer profiles” based on thin air.
Pro tip:
Focus on the handful of customer types who already have a reason to care. Don’t try to boil the ocean.
Step 2: Nail Down the Real Problem (Not Just Your Product Features)
The market doesn’t care about your feature list. They care about the problem you solve for them, in their words.
What works: - Reading win/loss notes or support tickets to see what problems people are actually trying to solve. - Using Mantiks to analyze keywords and themes from customer interviews, reviews, and support logs.
What to skip: - “Solutioning” before you’ve got a problem worth solving. - Messaging that sounds like your internal roadmap.
How Mantiks helps:
Mantiks can cluster feedback and conversations into clear pain points, so you can see what’s real and what’s just noise.
Pro tip:
If you can’t say the problem in one or two sentences, you haven’t nailed it yet.
Step 3: Map Out the Buying Process (Without Guesswork)
Too often, companies assume how people buy. Reality is usually messier.
What works: - Mapping the actual journey—who’s involved, what stalls deals, what gets them moving. - Using Mantiks to analyze deal cycles and spot where prospects drop off.
What to skip: - Theoretical buyer’s journeys that don’t match your data. - Overcomplicating with 10+ steps when most deals are won or lost in 3-4 key moments.
How Mantiks helps:
Mantiks lets you visualize real funnel stages and see conversion rates at each. You’ll spot bottlenecks and where people get cold feet.
Pro tip:
Ask recent buyers what almost stopped them from buying. That’s where your process needs work.
Step 4: Build a Focused Target List (Not a Generic “Total Addressable Market”)
You don’t need to blast 10,000 companies. You need a list of accounts that are actually likely to buy, now.
What works: - Filtering your target list with real buying signals—industry, tech stack, recent funding, hiring trends. - Using Mantiks to combine internal data (from your CRM) with external signals.
What to skip: - Buying giant lead lists, then expecting SDRs to work magic. - “Spray and pray” outreach.
How Mantiks helps:
Mantiks can automatically surface accounts that fit your best-customer patterns and alert you to new companies showing buying intent.
Pro tip:
Keep your target list tight. It’s easier to personalize and you’ll waste less money.
Step 5: Test Messages and Tactics (Don’t Assume, Validate)
Your best guess is just that—a guess. The only way to know what works is to test.
What works: - Running small, quick experiments: different emails, ads, landing pages. - Using Mantiks to track which messages actually drive engagement or meetings.
What to skip: - Big, expensive campaigns before you have proof. - Endless internal reviews before anything goes live.
How Mantiks helps:
Mantiks pulls in campaign performance data and ties it back to segments and messages. You’ll see what’s resonating with which accounts.
Pro tip:
Kill off underperforming messages quickly and double down on what works. Don’t get emotionally attached.
Step 6: Align Sales and Marketing (But Don’t Overdo the Meetings)
Alignment is important, but nobody needs another standing meeting.
What works: - Sharing the target list, messaging, and what’s working (or not) in a simple dashboard. - Letting sales flag accounts that are heating up, and marketing see which content drives meetings.
What to skip: - Endless alignment sessions with no decisions. - Blaming each other when numbers are off.
How Mantiks helps:
Mantiks centralizes GTM data, so both teams see the same reality. Less finger-pointing, more action.
Pro tip:
One shared source of truth cuts more drama than any “alignment workshop.”
Step 7: Measure What Matters (Ignore Vanity Metrics)
You don’t need to track everything—just the numbers that matter for moving deals.
What works: - Focusing on conversion rates at each stage, deal velocity, and win/loss reasons. - Letting Mantiks highlight leading indicators, not just lagging ones.
What to skip: - Obsessing over impressions, likes, or MQLs nobody follows up on. - Overbuilding dashboards nobody uses.
How Mantiks helps:
Mantiks does a good job surfacing real performance metrics and nudging you when things are off track.
Pro tip:
Set aside an hour every couple of weeks to review what you’re measuring. If it isn’t helping you make decisions, drop it.
Step 8: Iterate Fast (Don’t Wait for Perfection)
The best GTM strategies are living documents. You’ll never get everything right on the first pass.
What works: - Reviewing what’s working every month and making one or two changes at a time. - Using Mantiks to flag shifts in buying patterns or new segments worth chasing.
What to skip: - Waiting for the “perfect” launch plan. - Spending weeks building reports nobody reads.
How Mantiks helps:
Mantiks alerts you to changes in the data, like new trends in buyer behavior or sudden drop-offs.
Pro tip:
Keep your GTM plan in a shared doc and update it as you learn. It’ll never be perfect, but it should always be useful.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Keep Moving
There’s no magic bullet for GTM. Most strategies fail because they’re too complicated or too theoretical. Use Mantiks to ground your plan in real data, test relentlessly, and don’t get distracted by shiny objects. The winners are the teams who learn fast and keep things simple. Don’t try to boil the ocean—pick a place to start, get real feedback, and build from there.