At some point, every growing business runs into a dead end.
Everyone on the team is busy. You’re doing all the “right” things - LinkedIn ads, webinars, content marketing - but the needle is not moving. Your calendar is full and your budget is spent, but sales cycles are getting longer, not shorter.
The most frustrating part? On paper, everything looks fine. You find yourself in meetings where every department is technically “winning” their individual KPIs, yet the company is losing revenue.
What’s more, nobody seems to take the blame. Sales say: “The leads are cold.” Marketing says: “Sales isn’t following up!”
We know the frustration all too well. It feels like running on a treadmill: there is an enormous amount of sweat, movement and noise, but when you look out of the window, the scenery hasn’t changed.
At SUM Digital, we see this constantly. We’ve learned that growth that feels random is usually the result of a strategy that has become disconnected from reality.
If you’re feeling these frustrations, it isn’t a sign that your product is failing or your team is incompetent. In fact, it’s often a sign of success: you’ve simply outgrown the assumptions that got you to this level.
The “cure” is simple, and it’s not more activity. It’s your go-to-market (GTM) strategy that needs a realignment.
First, let me address this common misconception. Many leaders consider a GTM strategy a one-time event - something you do for a product launch or when starting a new business.
This is where many B2B companies go wrong. A go-to-market strategy isn’t a one-and-done launch plan, but a living system that needs to evolve with your market. Think of it as a hypothesis that must be constantly validated. Why? The market fluctuates, buyer behavior changes and your ideal customer profile evolves. If you haven’t checked and adjusted your strategy in the last 12 months, it’s likely outdated.
Regularly checking, revalidating and adjusting your GTM is the only way to turn frantic, disconnected activity into clear actions that will actually serve your business goals.
If you need a refresher on what is a go-to-market strategy, read our article explaining what we mean by a GTM strategy and why it’s so important for your business.
Not all go-to-market strategies are created equal. When executed properly, a go-to-market strategy is your structured roadmap for going to market and winning, serving and retaining customers. Ideally, it should function as the bridge between your product or service and predictable revenue.
A strong go-to-market aligns:
When your go-to-market strategy is failing, it’s likely because you lost clarity on one or more of those aspects. Let’s look into each of them in more detail.
The “who” pillar of your go-to-market strategy defines your target market and customer with laser precision. And no, “professional services firms” isn’t enough. Why?
If you’ve cast too wide a net, your messaging becomes generic. In B2B, generic is expensive. Let’s take a business targeting professional services firms as an example.
When you try to speak to everyone - from a 10-person creative agency in Amsterdam to a 50-person engineering consultancy in Delft - you end up speaking to no one. Because their workflows and pains are fundamentally different, your "all-in-one" pitch feels like a "one-size-fits-none" compromise. You aren't just missing high-value leads; you are actively spending your budget to acquire the wrong ones.
Don’t treat your ICP as a wishlist, but more as a filter. Think of those who can’t live without your solution instead of thinking: “I’ll just target anyone who can use this.” It will pay off - your messaging will attract customers who are less likely to churn, instead of chasing low-quality leads simply to make your dashboard look good.
Another factor diluting the clarity of your messaging is an unclear value proposition. In the B2B world, your message has to do more than grab attention - it has to convince multiple personas that you are the specific answer to their specific problem. You don’t have the budget or the time to be everything to everyone. Success comes down to a ruthless prioritization of the opportunities that offer the highest impact.
Think of the primary, undeniable reason a customer should choose you over the status quo. Is it a unique methodology you offer or a speed or cost advantage? Many B2B companies make the mistake of focusing on product features and benefits rather than articulating the transformation they offer.
Don’t say “Our software has X, Y and Z”. Instead, say “Our software helps you cut time by 20%”. If you can’t articulate why you are the better choice in one sentence, your customer won’t do the work to figure it out for you. You will remain a nice-to-have (a vitamin) instead of a must-have (a painkiller) that is necessary in order to solve their specific pain or problem.
One of the most common go-to-market mistakes - and often the most expensive one - is working from assumptions instead of research. You might have conducted research to validate your product-market fit, but what about your marketing plan and knowing which channels will help you find the right customers?
Maybe you’re choosing channels based on trends or “best practices” rather than where your specific ICP actually seeks information. This is the root of “random acts of marketing”. Without deep market research into your audience, you’re simply burning through budget on LinkedIn ads when your buyers might actually be found in niche Slack communities or trade events.
The space you’re in matters. Instead of trying to be everywhere and be the loudest, take some time to conduct research into your audience’s searching and scrolling habits. It’s imperative in order to know where you will focus your limited marketing resources for maximum impact.
The messaging you put out there is for your customer, not for yourself. But if you haven’t mapped out their path to purchase, you’re likely providing the wrong information at the wrong time. This is where the disconnect between marketing, sales and service happens.
When these teams aren’t aligned on the customer timeline, the experience feels disjointed to the buyer. You might be sending general information to a lead who is actually ready to buy, or your sales team might be pushing for a call before the customer even understands the problem you solve.
This lack of alignment creates friction that pushes buyers away. If you can’t meet the customer where they are with the specific information they need at that moment, they will find a competitor who can. It’s essential to build processes that support customers at every stage - from first thought to ongoing use.
We use the Customer Timeline Canvas to help you visualize this process. You can download it to understand how your customers actually make decisions and what it takes to move them from that initial “maybe” to a firm “yes”.
Now you know exactly where B2B companies often go wrong with their GTM. I hear you thinking: “I can’t fix everything at once!” It’s true that repairing a broken go-to-market strategy is not a quick, one-off process. But here are 4 steps to consider if you want to make a start.
Stop trying to speak to everyone. For the next 90 days, pick one ICP and ignore the rest. By focusing on the audience that can’t live without your solution, you stop wasting budget on generic campaigns and start attracting high-quality leads.
Audit your current messaging using the StoryBrand framework. Are you the hero - or is it your customer? Are you articulating the transformation you offer, or just listing features? Move from being a “vitamin” to being a “painkiller”, clearly stating which pain/problem you help solve.
Replace assumptions with research. Instead of trying to be everywhere at once, take the time to find out exactly where your specific audience searches and scrolls. Focus your limited marketing resources only on the channel where your buyers actually seek information, rather than following generic “best practices”.
Use the Customer Timeline Canvas to align your marketing, sales, and service teams. Mapping the journey ensures you are delivering the right message at the right time. This prevents disconnected efforts and ensures that the experience feels unified for the customer from the first moment they encounter you until they say "yes."
A good go-to-market strategy is resilient and adaptable. It’s more than just a marketing plan: it aligns your marketing, sales and service around the same customer truth. When you have full clarity on each of the four aspects - who you sell to, what problem you solve, how you reach them and how you win - growth stops feeling random and starts to become predictable.
While strategy might be theory; execution is the proof - read our post How they won: 6 B2B go-to-market case studies to see these fixes in action.
If you are currently struggling with your go-to-market, marketing, or growth strategy, I’m here to help you move forward.
Every Friday from 11:00-12:00 CET, I set aside one hour to help founders, CEOs, and marketers tackle their specific challenges. If you're feeling stuck, these sessions are designed to give you a fresh perspective and a clearer idea of your next move.
Bring your challenge and let’s diagnose it together.
📅 Book an Office Hour session here