Going to Market, Microsoft Style

To compensate for less-frequent product launches and a focus on integrated solutions rather than specific products, Microsoft now organizes its marketing efforts around annual “go-to-market” (GTM) campaigns. GTMs focus Microsoft and its partners on short-term strategic challenges and provide consistent marketing approaches for most of its business products. Partners can align their products or services with Microsoft’s GTMs to benefit from these campaigns. However, while GTMs are intended to make Microsoft’s message to the marketplace more focused and coherent, their short-term focus and vagueness mean partners should take time to understand their benefits.

New Approach Needed

For much of Microsoft’s history, the company’s marketing calendar was determined by major product launches. Between updates of Office, Windows (server and client), important server applications (such as SQL and Exchange), and new developer tools, the company had a ready supply of significant product advances to furnish market momentum.