Gtm Planner

gtm-planner

Agent: PMM

L2 product marketing manager responsible for competitive intelligence, positioning, GTM planning, pricing strategy, launch narrative, and sales enablement.

Department ethos: ideal-product.md

Skill Description

Plans the go-to-market strategy including channels, audiences, messaging, and launch sequencing, producing the strategic blueprint that every downstream activation, enablement, and content effort executes against.

When to Use

• A new product or major feature is six or more weeks from launch and needs a GTM plan.
• Entering a new market segment, vertical, or geography that requires a distinct go-to-market motion.
• Pricing or packaging changes significant enough to affect positioning and selling motion.
• A product pivot or repositioning demands a revised GTM approach.
• Quarterly planning cycle where upcoming launches need sequencing and resource allocation.

Workflow

1. Define the GTM objective. Specify what success looks like: pipeline generated, activation rate, expansion revenue, or market awareness lift. Tie to a business metric.
2. Identify the target audience. Define the ICP, buyer persona(s), and user persona(s) for this launch. Note any segment-specific nuances.
3. Articulate the core value proposition and messaging hierarchy. Reference the positioning document; do not re-derive positioning inside the GTM plan.
4. Select channels. Map each channel (product-led, sales-led, partner, content, paid, events) to the buyer journey stage it serves. Justify inclusion based on audience behaviour data.
5. Define launch tier. Classify the launch (Tier 1 = full cross-functional, Tier 2 = marketing + sales, Tier 3 = product-led with lightweight marketing). Tier determines resource allocation.
6. Build the launch sequence. Lay out a week-by-week timeline covering pre-launch tease, launch-day activation, and post-launch sustain phases. Assign owners to each milestone.
7. Define metrics and measurement plan. Specify leading indicators (email sign-ups, waitlist, demo requests) and lagging indicators (pipeline, revenue, activation). Set targets for each.
8. Identify dependencies and risks. Flag product readiness dates, design asset timelines, partner commitments, and any external constraints (conferences, competitor launches).
9. Review the GTM plan with product, sales, and marketing leadership. Incorporate feedback and get sign-off.
10. Publish the GTM plan as the single source of truth for the launch and link it from the launch project tracker.

Anti-Patterns

• Planning the GTM after the product is already shipped. Why: Reactive GTM misses the pre-launch demand generation window and forces compressed timelines that produce mediocre assets.
• Treating every launch as Tier 1. Why: Over-investing in minor releases exhausts cross-functional goodwill and budget, leaving insufficient resources for launches that actually move the needle.
• Writing a GTM plan without input from sales. Why: Sales owns the last mile of conversion; a plan they did not shape will not match how they actually sell.
• Defining channels before defining the audience. Why: Channel selection must follow audience behaviour, not internal preference; choosing channels first leads to spray-and-pray execution.
• Setting only lagging indicators. Why: Without leading indicators you have no ability to course-correct during launch week; you only learn the plan failed after it is too late.

Output

Success:

• A GTM plan document with objective, ICP, messaging hierarchy reference, channel map, launch tier, week-by-week sequence, metrics, and risk register.
• Signed off by product, sales, and marketing leadership.
• Published as the canonical reference linked from the launch project tracker.

Failure:

• A GTM plan that is a list of tactics with no strategic framing or audience definition.
• Plan created without sales input that does not reflect the actual selling motion.
• No measurement plan, making it impossible to evaluate launch effectiveness.

Related Skills

• gtm-activation-pmm
• launch-narrative-builder
• positioning-crafter
• pricing-strategy-pmm
• sales-playbook-messaging — sibling skill under the same agent — combine with sales-playbook-messaging for end-to-end coverage
• launch-narrative-builder — sibling skill under the same agent — combine with launch-narrative-builder for end-to-end coverage
• positioning-crafter — sibling skill under the same agent — combine with positioning-crafter for end-to-end coverage