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Launching a new product or entering a market requires a reliable go-to-market (GTM) strategy. But can you wait to be visible until you hit the market?
Consider this: Google processes billions of searches daily, consistently holding over 90% of the global search engine market share. If your potential customers are looking for solutions, they are most likely starting their journey on a search engine. And that’s where search engine optimization (SEO) kicks in!
Discoverability is critical, especially in B2B contexts where nearly half (47%) of buyers consume 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a salesperson, primarily found via search.
And they do it over a variety of channels:
With most marketers finding success with SEO, the question shifts from if you should incorporate SEO into your GTM strategy to how you can use it most effectively for competitive advantage and sustainable growth.
TL;DR
- SEO is crucial for GTM: Given Google's dominance and the fact that most people research online, SEO isn't optional for discoverability in a GTM strategy.
- Supports all GTM types: SEO benefits virtually all kinds of GTM strategies (inbound, outbound, product-led, sales-led, etc.) by driving visibility, traffic, and leads relevant to each approach.
- Key benefits: Integrating SEO delivers long-term, sustainable organic traffic, is highly cost-effective (significantly lower customer acquisition cost than paid ads), builds brand credibility and trust (94% of clicks go to organic), and generates high-quality leads (14.6% close rate vs 1.7% outbound).
- Start early: Begin SEO efforts early in the GTM planning phase, ideally 3 to 6+ months before launch, as SEO takes time to show tangible results (rankings, traffic). Waiting until launch means missing initial visibility.
- Integration steps: Effectively integrate SEO by conducting thorough keyword research, creating high-quality content aligned with user intent, optimizing on-page and technical elements, building authority through backlinks, aligning with other marketing channels, and continuously monitoring performance.
- Expertise matters: Due to SEO's complexity and dynamic nature, consider hiring specialists to maximize effectiveness and stay updated with algorithm changes.
What Is a Go-to-Market Strategy?
A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how a company will introduce its products or services, or even itself, to the target market. This strategy typically involves identifying the target audience, defining the value proposition, and selecting the appropriate sales and marketing channels to reach potential customers effectively.
A GTM strategy isn’t just about “launching” something new; it goes beyond that as it’s a critical component of the business strategy. Here’s how Gartner defines it:
“A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a plan that details how an organization can engage with customers to convince them to buy their product or service and to gain a competitive advantage.”
One example of a GTM strategy is that of Airbnb. The online short-term rental marketplace focused on conference attendees as its initial customer segment. It took a targeted approach with this segment, which clearly lacked options, and provided a solution. The result was a success in the shape of 600 bookings in Denver during the Democratic National Convention.
Benefits of a GTM Strategy
A well-researched, focused, and structured go-to-market strategy offers numerous advantages for both B2B and B2C businesses, regardless of how old or new they are, what they’re aiming to do, and who they’re targeting.
With a good GTM plan, you can achieve the following benefits:
Clarity of Target Audience
A GTM strategy helps identify the target audience, guiding almost everything else in your campaign. Once you have the ideal customer profile, you can fine-tune and personalize marketing and sales. That’s exactly what you need. After all, in a Zendesk report, 68% of consumers said they expect personalization in all interactions.
Focused Resource Allocation
Companies can allocate resources efficiently and concentrate on high-potential markets once they pinpoint the target customers. For instance, if your target market is more active on TikTok, you’d adopt influencer marketing as part of your GTM strategy.
Increased Sales Efficiency
A strong GTM strategy keeps the sales teams in the loop, ensuring that marketing, SEO, and sales work towards common business goals. This alignment leads to a more streamlined sales funnel, reducing the customer acquisition cost and improving conversion rates.
Faster Product Adoption
A clear GTM strategy increases the awareness and adoption of the new product or service. It targets the right audience and solves their issue.
Improved Customer Acquisition
With a strong GTM strategy, you can improve the customer journey and tailor marketing messages accordingly. As a result, you can attract and retain more customers.
Consistent Branding
Consistent messaging across various marketing channels strengthens brand recognition. More importantly, it increases your ROI. After all, companies that maintain brand consistency see an average revenue increase of 23%. And an effective GTM strategy ensures that all communications resonate with the ideal audience.
Competitive Advantage
In Gartner’s State of Go-To-Market Strategies 2023 report, 51% of respondents said industry competition was the biggest GTM challenge. However, this challenge can be tackled easily with a strong GTM strategy that includes a thorough competitor analysis. It assesses market conditions and enables companies to position themselves against direct and indirect competitors effectively.
Reduced Marketing Costs
Targeted marketing efforts, guided by a GTM strategy, minimize expenditures on ineffective campaigns. By focusing on SEO and marketing that work for the business, you can achieve higher returns on investment. For example, companies prioritizing organic search strategies experience 61% lower cost per lead than those relying solely on search ads.
Where Does SEO Fit in Your GTM Strategy?
Google's top organic search result garners a 39.8% click-through rate (CTR). That shows the potential of SEO, which can be a crucial part of your GTM strategy.
A strong SEO strategy ensures that your product or service appears prominently in search engine rankings, making it more accessible to potential customers. For a brand, product, or service that’s new, SEO carries even more weight. It becomes more easily discoverable, particularly from the ideal customer base.
According to the GTM Alliance, there are nine distinct types of GTM strategies, and SEO can be useful in virtually all of them. Here’s how SEO fits into different GTM plans:
Why Use SEO in GTM Strategy
There are multiple reasons why you’d want to integrate SEO into your go-to-market plan:
1. Long-Term Visibility with Sustainable Organic Traffic
A well-executed SEO strategy enhances your website's (and product’s) position in search engine rankings, which helps increase organic traffic. And nearly 53% of all web traffic originates from organic search. It’s also the number one source of traffic website visits, as per HubSpot’s State of the Inbound Marketing Report 2022.
In comparison, paid search is responsible for only 15% of traffic. Unlike search ads, which require continuous investment, targeting organic search yields long-term and consistent exposure.
2. Cost-Effectiveness and Lower Customer Acquisition Costs
SEO is a cost-effective strategy that results in comparatively lower customer acquisition costs (CAC). Research from Terakeet indicates that SEO can decrease CAC by up to 87.41% compared to traditional digital advertising methods. You’re getting the same number of customers (or more) that you’d get with paid marketing but at a much lower cost.
With the help of relevant keywords, incorporating them into their copy and content, and optimizing search intent, businesses can attract potential customers more efficiently. That’s a godsend for any business starting out with a limited marketing budget.
3. Credibility and Trust
94% of clicks on search engines go to organic results, with the remaining 6% going to paid ads. Trust plays a big part here. Organically ranking within the top results creates relevance, which, in turn, increases the credibility of your GTM campaign.
Users tend to trust organic results more than paid advertisements because they perceive them to be more authentic and relevant. This trust from the user is actually even more beneficial for your ranking. Here’s how Chris Hornak of Swift Growth Marketing explains this phenomenon:
“Users are more likely to engage with and convert from brands they perceive as trustworthy. This engagement signals to Google that the website provides a positive user experience, further boosting its search rankings.”
4. Effective Lead Generation
Leads are a key component of the GTM strategy. And SEO enables businesses to generate quality leads (even before the business/ product has officially launched) through high-intent keywords.
But here’s the thing: SEO isn’t just for lead generation; it can even help close it. SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, significantly higher than the 1.7% close rate associated with outbound tactics. So, companies can attract and convert leads more effectively by creating high-quality content that resonates with user intent.
To sum it up, incorporating SEO into your GTM strategy enhances your brand's online visibility, contributes to cost-effective customer acquisition, builds credibility, and drives effective lead generation. Use SEO tools that focus on technical elements to further optimize your efforts and achieve your marketing objectives with measurable success.
When to Begin SEO for GTM Strategy?
Although it’s never too late to begin SEO, the earlier you start, the better it is. If you make it a cornerstone of your GTM strategy from the get-go, it’s likely that you’ll see results from SEO efforts when your GTM strategy is ready to launch.
Also, early implementation allows businesses to align their SEO efforts with the customer journey, ensuring that the content resonates with the target audience and addresses their specific needs. This proactive approach increases organic website traffic from the very start and establishes a strong foundation for future marketing campaigns.
Successful SEO techniques take time to show results. According to industry insights, it typically takes 3 to 6 months to see improvements in search engine rankings and organic traffic.
That’s why delaying SEO until after the product or service launch isn’t such a great idea. You miss out on opportunities to engage potential customers who rely on search engines to discover new solutions.
Pavle Radeka, Director of SEO at CommonMind, said: “In our experience, it can take from three months to more than a year to get tangible results depending on the starting website, content quality, and overall niche competitiveness. An average would be around six months.”
Since SEO takes time, it should start months before the release of the product or service. As soon as you have a GTM plan, begin working on SEO.
How to Integrate SEO Into Your GTM Strategy?
Here's how to seamlessly incorporate SEO into your GTM plan:
1. Conduct Comprehensive Keyword Research
Start by identifying relevant keywords that your ideal customer profile is searching for. You can use SEO tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to analyze search volumes, competition, and search intent. This ensures your content aligns with the queries of your target customers so you can drive organic traffic to your website.
For example, let’s say you retail nail polish.
A quick SEO search will show you what people are searching for and will help you create content around a new nail polish color, attracting tens of thousands of visits to your website monthly:
2. Develop High-Quality Content Aligned with User Intent
Create high-quality content that addresses your target audience's needs and pain points. Ideally, you should be creating different types of content, such as blog posts, social media posts, and videos. The latter do particularly well. 89% of businesses use videos in their marketing.
If you integrate SEO into your content marketing even before the launch of a product or service, it can significantly boost engagement and conversion rates when it’s finally launched.
For instance, someone searching for “pastel yellow nails” isn’t looking for a chemistry lesson—they want visual inspo, product recs, and easy-to-copy ideas.
Your content should reflect that.
Here are a few content types you could create around a trending color like pastel yellow nails:
- Blog post: “12 Pastel Yellow Nail Designs That Are Perfect for Spring”
- Short-form video: A 30-second TikTok or YouTube Short showing a swatch demo, like so:
- UGC-style post: An Instagram carousel of real customer photos wearing the shade
- Product page SEO: Optimized PDP (product detail page) targeting “[Product Name] – pastel yellow polish”
- Pinterest Pin or Idea Pin: A visual step-by-step on how to apply pastel nail polish at home
3. Optimize On-Page and Technical SEO Elements
Ensure your website's technical elements are optimized for search engines. This includes optimizing meta tags, headers, and URLs and improving site speed. Tools like Google Tag Manager can assist in managing and deploying marketing tags without altering the code, so use them with confidence.
4. Build Authority Through Backlink Acquisition
Acquire high-quality backlinks with link-building tools to give your site authority and improve search engine rankings. Engage in outbound tactics like guest blogging and collaborate with influencers in your industry. A study by Ahrefs highlights the importance of backlinks in achieving higher rankings.
5. Align SEO with Other Marketing Channels
Make SEO a part of your broader marketing efforts, including email campaigns, social media posts, and direct mail. This cohesive approach ensures consistent messaging and maximizes reach. As noted by Search Engine Land, aligning SEO with other channels enhances overall marketing effectiveness.
6. Monitor Performance and Adjust Accordingly
Regularly track your SEO performance using analytics tools like Google Analytics and Ahrefs – at least, that’s what our SEO experts prefer; however, feel free to look into Ahrefs alternatives as well. Monitor metrics such as organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rates to assess the effectiveness of your SEO efforts. This data-driven approach allows for continuous optimization and alignment with your business goals.
Why Hire an SEO Specialist?
While you may attempt to manage SEO internally, hiring an SEO specialist offers distinct advantages that can significantly impact your marketing efforts and business goals. An SEO expert brings expertise that you may not necessarily have, even if you have a great marketing team.
SEO is a dynamic field, with search engines frequently updating their algorithms. An SEO specialist brings a wealth of experience and keeps up with these changes, ensuring your SEO strategy remains current and effective.
Building an in-house SEO team can be expensive. An in-house SEO specialist can cost between $63,000 and $113,000 annually.
In contrast, partnering with an SEO agency often provides access to a team of experts at a much lower cost. You also don’t need to invest in the many SEO tools you’d need if you take the DIY route.
Blue Things is one of the best SEO service providers that offers the right mix of expertise, knowledge, technology, and performance. Our team has experience in GTM SEO for businesses in various industries like SaaS, healthcare, and consumer goods. We offer strategic link-building and on-page optimizations, so your brand is already ranking high when you finally go to market.
SEO in GTM Strategy Case Study
BlueThings took on the SEO responsibilities as part of the GTM strategy for inBeat. As one of North America's leading creative growth and marketing agencies, inBeat created a free marketing toolkit for social and influencer marketing.
Here’s how we incorporated SEO in the GTM strategy of this toolkit:
- Blog posts about and related to the free tools and the key marketing metrics they help calculate.
- Link-building through other authority websites in the marketing niche to build credibility for the brand.
- Optimized the brand’s web pages with on-page SEO so the tools, once launched, ranked high on search queries related to the marketing tools and metrics.
With SEO efforts rolling in early, the toolkit was ready to benefit from organic traffic.
This endeavor was part of our more comprehensive SEO project to boost traffic for inBeat. With consistent efforts, strategic thinking, and the right tools, we increased inBeat’s traffic from just 500 visitors to 300,000+.
Learn more about this case study!
Give Your GTM Campaign the SEO Booster!
Don’t leave SEO for the last minute. Make it a key component of your go-to-market strategy and begin working on it from the get-go. It’s a surefire way to create authority organically, increase awareness, and make the launch of whatever you’re launching a roaring success.
Contact us today, and let’s give your GTM strategy a powerful punch of SEO!
FAQ
Is SEO part of a marketing strategy?
Yes, search engine optimization (SEO) is fundamental to any comprehensive digital marketing strategy. It helps increase your brand's online visibility, drives organic traffic, and supports various marketing efforts. SEO ensures that content aligns with search intent, improving the likelihood of reaching the target audience effectively.
What needs to be in a GTM strategy?
A GTM strategy should include:
- Identifying the target market: Understanding the ideal customer profile and customer segments.
- Value proposition: Clearly articulating the unique benefits of the product or service.
- Marketing plan: Outlining marketing channels, content marketing tactics, and SEO strategies to reach the target customers.
- Sales strategy: Defining the approach for the sales teams to convert leads into customers.
- Metrics and KPIs: Establishing measurable goals to track success.
What are the four pillars of SEO?
The four key pillars of SEO are:
- Technical SEO: Ensuring that a website's technical aspects, such as site speed and mobile-friendliness, guarantees efficient crawling and indexing by search engines.
- Content: Quality content that addresses the needs and queries of the target audience, rich with keywords.
- On-page SEO: Optimizing individual web pages, including meta tags, headers, and images, to improve relevance and user experience.
- Off-page SEO: Building the website's authority through backlink building and social engagement.
Why is it important to consider SEO during the early stages of a GTM strategy?
Doing SEO in the early stages of a GTM strategy allows businesses to align their content with the customer journey. That, in turn, ensures that the product or service is discoverable by the target audience from the outset.
Early SEO integration helps identify relevant keywords, understand search intent, and create a content marketing plan that resonates with potential customers, leading to improved organic traffic and conversion rates.
What are the key SEO components that should be integrated into a GTM plan?
Key SEO components to integrate into a GTM plan include:
- Keyword research
- Content creation
- On-page optimization
- Technical SEO
- Link building
How does SEO help in reaching a target audience during a product launch?
SEO helps in reaching the target audience during a product launch by optimizing content to appear in relevant search queries. It increases visibility among potential customers actively seeking similar solutions.
Can SEO be effective for all types of products and markets within a GTM strategy?
Yes, SEO can be tailored to suit various products and markets by customizing strategies to address specific market conditions, customer segments, and search intent. Whether targeting niche markets or broader audiences, a well-executed SEO strategy increases online visibility and supports overall marketing objectives.
What SEO metrics should I track to measure the success of my GTM strategy?
To evaluate the effectiveness of your GTM strategy's SEO component, monitor metrics such as:
- Organic traffic: The number of visitors arriving via unpaid search results.
- Keyword rankings: Positions of your target keywords in search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Bounce rate: The percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page, indicating user engagement.
- Conversion rates: The proportion of visitors who take desired actions, reflecting the effectiveness of your sales funnel.
- Backlinks: The number and quality of external sites linking to your content impact domain authority.
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