A great product nobody hears about fails. A go-to-market strategy is the plan for how a business reaches its first customers and gets them to buy. Students often assume the answer is "social media," but each channel has a different cost, reach, and level of risk. In this activity, students compare two real options side by side and choose one, with reasons.
The comparison follows the approach in our Choosing the Right Go-To-Market Strategy article: imagine the first customer's experience through each channel before spending a dollar on it.
| CRITERIA | OPTION 1: BACK-TO-SCHOOL NIGHT TABLE | OPTION 2: PTA NEWSLETTER AND ONLINE ORDER FORM |
|---|---|---|
| Who it reaches | About 150 parents, in person, in one night. | About 600 families by email, all year. |
| Cost | $20 for a poster and samples. | Free if the PTA agrees; $0 for a form. |
| Time | One evening, but only once a year. | A week to set up, then it runs on its own. |
| Biggest risk | If it rains or few parents come, we miss a year. | Emails are easy to ignore; parents can't touch the product. |
| How we'll know it works | 30 packs sold that night. | 25 orders in the first two weeks. |
TagBack's choice: start with the newsletter (cheaper and longer-lasting), then use the table to show the product to parents who didn't respond online. Many real businesses combine two channels the same way.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Create a storyboard that compares two ways to reach your first customers.
Create an assignment from the Go-to-Market Strategy template, which has a column for each option and a row for each criterion.
List in-person, partner, online, and word-of-mouth channels on the board so students can choose two that fit their persona.
Students fill every row for both channels and illustrate their persona finding the product, like a parent reading the PTA newsletter.
Check that each final cell justifies the decision with at least two criteria, and leave feedback before grading.
Show a few storyboards as slideshows and have the class predict which channel will hit its target first.
Give 0-2 points for each of the five criteria rows across both options, plus 0-2 for the final choice. A 2 on a row means both columns answer the same question with specifics, as TagBack does with 150 parents versus 600 families. A 2 on the choice means it names at least two criteria, such as cost and how long it lasts.
Plan one 45-minute class. Spend the first 10 minutes brainstorming channels as a class, then let students pick two that fit their persona. TagBack's buyers are parents of middle schoolers, so a booth at a skate park would miss them. Students who skipped Customer Persona will need an extra 15 minutes to decide who they are trying to reach.
Yes, with fewer criteria. Grades 6-8 can compare two channels on just three rows: who it reaches, cost, and biggest risk, and pick from a teacher-provided list like a school event or a club partner. Grades 9-12 should use all five rows, estimate real reach numbers, and set a measurable target such as TagBack's 25 orders in two weeks.
Keep the criteria labels visible in every row so students only write the answer. Offer short frames like "This channel reaches ___ people" and "The biggest risk is ___." The illustrated scene matters here: students can show the persona finding the product, such as a parent reading the PTA newsletter, and explain it orally instead of writing a long paragraph.
Ask why TagBack combined two channels instead of choosing one, and whether students' plans should too. As an extension, have students actually test their cheaper channel for a week and report the result against their target. Another prompt: if the PTA says no to the newsletter, what is TagBack's backup, and how does that change cost and reach?