Don’t start executing on marketing channels until your company is aligned on its go-to-market strategy! Garrett Jestice is the Owner and Chief Marketing Officer of Prelude Marketing, the Founder of Startup Marketers, and a Fractional CMO. Garrett outlines the five pieces of foundation alignment, why companies don’t succeed when trying to use every go-to-market motion, and how to build experiments to test channels and initiatives when the time is right. Busted Myths:Before you start executing in a marketing channel for a B2B startup, you need to have foundational alignment. Without aligning your company’s go-to-market strategy, each part of the team will end up pursuing disparate tactics leading to ineffective funnels and eventually failure. Takeaways:There are five pieces of foundational alignment that bring together a company’s whole go-to-market team. These five pieces are 1) Your Go-To-Market Strategy, 2) Your Customer, 3) Your Positioning, 4) Your Brand, and 5) Your Story.Your company needs to decide on which go-to-market motions to include in its strategy and you effectively use all of them. Of the seven go-to-market motions, the most popular are inbound-led, outbound-led, and product-led.Many startups try to pick and choose pieces of every go-to-market motion which often leads to failure because they do not choose one motion to use and are unable to put all of their effort and resources into that motion. In defining the customer of your company, make sure that sales and marketing are in alignment by developing Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP) and Buyer Personas. These outline the industries and roles of the ideal buyers of your product or service.Your company’s positioning is the rational side of your strategy. Your positioning should define your specific product category, main differentiators, and main value propositions. This should also include how to describe your company in a concise position statement.Your story is the compelling reason why your company exists. It encompasses the challenges faced by our customers and how we help them overcome those obstacles and reach their desired outcomes. Quote of the Show:“When you're launching marketing, especially in a B2B startup for the first time, you have to have foundational alignment before you jump into experimenting with channels and initiatives.” - Garrett Jestice Shout Outs:Andy Raskin - Strategic Narrative guru Book Recommendations:Move by Sangram VajreBuilding a Story Brand by Donald MillerThe Advantage by Patrick Lencioni Links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettjestice/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GarrettJestice Company website: https://www.preludemarketing.com/ Project: http://www.theshotcoach.com/  Ways to Tune In:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-show/id1338838763Amazon Music/Audible: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/37228621-2f9c-4905-a223-1844effb49ddSpotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1vVLpNI1LssMTiL6KdsamnStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hard-corps-marketing-showGoogle Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/m/Im7mytmu2wa2mekhoeixlja5hpe?t=The_Hard_Corps_Marketing_ShowYouTube: https://youtu.be/ouM3CjMrmEQ Hard Corps Marketing is produced and sponsored by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/