Vietnam Smart Factory
2024년 12월 23일2025 Vietnam Internet Foundation and Data Center
2025년 01월 13일What is a Go-to-Market GTM Strategy?
GTM (Go-to-Market) “Let’s go to the market or customer” is an intuitive business and marketing catchphrase and strategy that anyone can hear.
However, we are so confident in the products and services we have created that we mistakenly believe that when we go to the market, there will be customers waiting for us and that they will fall in love with our products or react enthusiastically. However, the market is full of competitors, and we often end up being persuaded by the customers we are trying to persuade.
TechValley's Vietnam GTM Strategy Consulting Example (Source: TechValley Internal Data)
If we approach overseas markets the way we have done domestically so far, the result will be nothing but a waste of time, effort, and opportunity costs.
Having been in the IT industry in Vietnam for 12 years, I have received many requests from Korean SMEs and startup representatives to promote and sell their products in Vietnam. However, I have come across many cases where most companies only got a taste of the market and returned home bitterly, without considering market research, customer needs, market prices, or competitors.
To be frank, it will not be easy to succeed in the Vietnamese market in 2024 by copying and pasting a platform or business model that was recently successful in Korea.
Therefore, a comprehensive GTM strategy should be utilized in various ways, such as analyzing the local market, optimizing the product market, marketing, sales and channel utilization, and managing sales and profits, based on the current organization, resources, and process configuration.
Step-by-step GTM strategy
To reduce these repeated failures, the author proposes the following steps for a GTM strategy tailored to the local market for startups preparing to enter the Vietnamese market.
GTM Consulting Methodology (Source: TechValley Consulting Materials)
Step 1 – Market Research (Feasibility Study)
Market research is a very basic and essential element in GTM. We recommend that you entrust the potential customers, competitors, prices, marketability of our products, related laws, permits and regulations, etc. in the market you are trying to reach to a professional research company or consulting company if possible. (Information and materials on the Internet are limited and there are some parts that are distorted by non-experts.)
Things to Consider in a Feasibility Study
Once we have a rough idea of the market, we need to find our potential customers and analyze their needs or pain points regarding our products and services.
In other words, in GTM Stage 1, we need to find the market we want to enter, learn about it, and have a clear understanding of the customer's needs.
Step 2 – Verify the product
If we understood the market and customers in GTM Step 1, we now need to re-launch our products to fit the needs of the market and customers. Many people ask if products that were popular in Korea could be brought to Vietnam as they are, but even in Vietnam, customer needs are very different from those in Korea, and considering the price level, market price, distribution structure, commissions, etc., rather than asking local customers to adapt our products, we need to transform our products into products that fit the market and customers, PMF (Product Market Fit) .
PMF Winning Strategy
Step 3 – Product Design (Architecture)
After analyzing the customer's requirements, we go through the PoC (Proof of Concept) testing process and launch the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and local products and services based on a prototype optimized for the local market .
Even after the product launch, you must continue to listen to the market’s response and the voices of customers. In particular, MVP in Vietnam needs to be lightweight and localized to fit the local market, considering local low- and mid-priced devices. This requires considering not only language, but also local currency, payment, integration with local SNS and messengers, and ecosystems with third parties.
Product local development process
Step 4 – Business Acceleration
When a typical company enters overseas markets, it tends to start marketing and sales, which are business activities, at this stage. It is important to state that all business activities prioritize customer needs and the development of products and services that meet them, and businesses can actively utilize joint marketing, seminars, and webinars that can promote products locally while increasing brand awareness through local partners or channels. It is also necessary to increase exposure on search engines or Chat GPT through product landing pages, keyword registration, and SEO (Search Engine Optimizer).
Business Acceleration (Source: TechValley internal data)
Step 5 – Growth in Sales and Profits
Once the developed product is launched in the market, generates sales, and passes the break-even point (BEP: Break Even Point), it is time to grow based on stabilization and sustainability.
If actual transactions or contracts are made through local partners or resellers, the revenue model should also be reviewed. Usually, it can be carried out through the RS model (Revenue Share) or the Reseller model, and the revenue model can be determined depending on whether the company establishes a local corporation or a localization strategy through a local partner. In this final stage, various local bases (entities) such as overseas corporations (Branch Office), representative offices, JVs (Joint Ventures), and partner offices can be formed.
Establishing a company in Vietnam
Finally
And since it is a time to prepare for an IPO based on growth, the CEO must pay special attention to the company's sales, profit rate, etc. During this period, external experts in business, technology, and IPO are brought in, and collaboration and sometimes internal competition occur between existing startup members and new employees.
At this time, there are many cases where companies attempt to secure subscribers, pivot, and expand overseas for the sake of an IPO, but we recommend that you prepare for growth based on substantial sales and profits.
If you have any questions about marketing, cloud & AI consulting, or corporate IT operation diagnosis for entering the Vietnamese IT market, please contact us at any time.
Vietnam IT Blogger, CEO of TechValley Vietnam
Technical inquiries : patrick@techvalley.biz | go2hanoi (KakaoTalk)
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