KC Associates' go-to-market plans are based on the market infrastructure model developed by Regis McKenna. The key point of this model is not just to identify your various audiences, but also to recognize that there's a path of influence and a path of reference in the buying process. That's powerful.
A good go-to-market strategy reflects your vision as well as the realities of the market infrastructure and market dynamics. It's true that market adoption of technology-based products follows a predictable lifecycle. It's also true that buyers in each stage of market adoption generally respond to differing value statements. That's important.
We make sure your go-to-market plan (developed by you or you and us) meticulously addresses each audience layer with the right messages and tactics—those that will build credibility and generate a response. Messages that highlight your value as seen by each target audience. Tactics that compel these audiences to see your messages. The goals, of course, are to better control and manage the buyer's experience and shorten the selling cycle. That's magic to your sales team.
The path of influence is about market conditioning—educating and influencing people so they accept your positioning, branding and messages. Note that your company is at the base of the triangle and that its ability to influence audience perceptions generally dissipates as it reaches further up into the broader market and ultimately the target buyer.
The path of reference works in the opposite direction. A target customer's most direct path to gather information and check references in order to establish proof of your claims begins with sources that are most "believable" due to their perceived independent nature. The company, then, is the least effective source for "credible" information in the buying process.
In his book Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore uses the Technology Adoption Lifecycle to illustrate technology-based products and services are accepted by the market over time and that buyer values are correlated to the stages of adoption. As the model indicates, each stage of technology adoption has various buyer attitudes and priorities and as a market evolves, so, too, must a company's go-to-market strategy and messages.
