Choosing Your Motion
Your "GTM Motion" is the primary mechanism by which you acquire customers. Choosing the wrong motion for your product's price point is a fatal error.
1. Inbound (Marketing-Led)
How it works: You create valuable content (SEO, podcasts, webinars, social media) that pulls potential buyers toward you. Best for: Products with a moderate Average Contract Value (ACV) where customers actively search for solutions. Pros: Highly scalable, builds long-term brand equity. Cons: Takes a long time to see ROI (often 6-12 months for SEO).
2. Outbound (Sales-Led)
How it works: Your team actively prospects and reaches out to targeted buyers via cold email, cold calling, or direct mail. Best for: High-ticket Enterprise B2B products (ACV > $10,000) where the target market is small and highly defined. Pros: Immediate feedback, highly targeted. Cons: Expensive to scale, requires highly skilled sales reps.
3. Product-Led Growth (PLG)
How it works: The product itself serves as the primary driver of customer acquisition, retention, and expansion (e.g., Slack, Zoom, Dropbox). Usually involves a freemium or free-trial model. Best for: Products that have a rapid "Time-to-Value" and end-user appeal. Pros: Extremely low Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) once the flywheel spins. Cons: Requires world-class product design and engineering; very difficult to bolt onto an existing sales-led company.
The Golden Rule of Distribution
Do not try to do all three at once when launching. Pick one primary motion that aligns with your product's price and your target buyer's behavior, and execute it flawlessly.