So the 2021 GTM Playbook is Dead. Almost all of us agree on that.
That playbook was fueled by a desire to load up on 100s of new SaaS apps to fuel a pandemic-inspired buying spree. Today, SaaS and Cloud is back, and AI-fueled B2B spend is on fire. But we’re not expanding the total number of apps customers pay for by all that much. Our app count is staying flat. And competition has exploded. AI has ushered in 100s of new competitors in each category. And changed the game at the product level. Customers now expect so, so much more for their SaaS dollar.
So if the 2021 GTM playbook is dead, what has replaced it? Or will replace it?
It’s still murky.
The reality is, the 2025 GTM Playbook is mostly the 2021 one done much more aggressively, with more effort (not less), with better tools, but tools and AI alone are not the answer. Not yet at least.
What doesn’t work nearly as well today, but so many are still doing:
- Endless generic outbound emails. The hit rates here keep going down.
- Low energy digital “events”. No one comes anymore.
- Break-up emails. It’s not about you.
- 2021 SEO strategies. Still work, but in rapid decline in many cases.
- 2021 mass-scale content strategies (1000s of pages of content). Google doesn’t like this anymore.
- Spending all day on LinkedIn. No, for 95% of folks, this isn’t “social selling”.
- Most traditional press and most basic PR strategies. Who reads to day?
- “Customer Success” teams that are just there to upsell and not help. This might get you more revenue today. But it doesn’t fuel the word-of-mouth engine and create more new customers and leads.
- Endless price increases on the base. This may help you hit the plan in the short term but again does not fuel word-of-mouth. It certainly does not create new leads and customers.
What works a little that a lot are doing — but doesn’t work enough to usually be worth it:
- Lots of energy into social media that few really watch
- Lots of energy into your own podcast with few subscribers
What still works well today, but folks often lack the energy to run:
- Accelerating word-of-mouth by being present everywhere. In the end, this is where the majority of everyone’s leads come from once you have a mini-brand. Word-of-mouth. This has always been the case in software and still is.
- Highly targeted, researched outbound, that adds real value. Everyone still opens email. The good ones, at least. Email is hardly dead. In fact, it’s still magical. But an outbound email that is opened with no research behind it … is almost always a waste of an open.
- Using AI tools to ensure no emails are wasted. Email is still opened and it still works — done right. But you can’t waste an email open by a top prospect. Too many are wasted. The best use of AI here in the end is to make sure no opened email is wasted. I bet most of yours are.
- High-energy IRL field event strategy (connecting with prospects and customers live). The best buyers go to the top 1-2 events in their industries. Not all of them, but a lot of them. As true today as 5 years ago. But you have to go harder here and do it for real. If you send 3 SDRs that stare at their phones during the event, expect very low ROI. Send your experts. Send the ones you’d want to talk to, if your time was precious at a big industry event.
- Your own IRL big events (see Stripe, Figma, Canva, Procore, etc). Yes, these have partially gone out of fashion — but are also back! Many of the next generation of Cloud leaders are all-in here now. Your Own Big Event has gone out of fashion not because of WFH, but mostly because they are an insane amount of work. Marketers stopped wanted to do the hard work here when they didn’t have to from 2020 to 2022. But getting your customers and prospects together IRL has always worked.
- Being “deflationary”. The very best SaaS products often get cheaper each year. I don’t mean they literally lower prices, that’s rare. But they add so much more value each year than the year before, that the net effect is deflationary. Canva is one classic example. This was also true of HubSpot for many years. Today it’s also clearly true of OpenAI, Claude, Descript, Opus Clip, and so many other leaders in AI. Adding more value per dollar each year (or even each quarter for AI leaders) turns your customers into champions. Into an army of champions, really. Raising prices with little to show for it … doesn’t.
- Weekly webinars. These always work and always have. But you have to do them for real, and add real value and energy, each week. Not just when you “have time”. More here.
- Visiting prospects and customers in person. Ask anyone selling bigger deals or in vertical SaaS is this works. 95% of them will say Heck Yes. Your team might be comfy at home. But visiting your top customers and prospects works as well today as ever. Maybe even more so, because the competition often … isn’t.
- Aggressive brand awareness. Some brand marketing really is a waste of money. But most deals require 2-3 touches at least to close. Great brand awareness really can count as one of those. When you’re looking at two competitors, and it seems like you “hear about” one all the time … that’s often the one prospects pick. It’s just natural. In many ways, this is brand marketing’s job. To make sure they’re always “hearing about” you. Done poorly, it wastes so much money, with nothing to show. Done well, it’s that magical 2nd or 3rd touch that sales needs.
- Aggressively doing partnerships. Selling 100% direct is often leaving 20%-50% of the revenue on the table. But it’s easier since most folks know how to do it, and partner and channel sales are even more work than direct selling. Too many wait too long here. And turn around and find out the competition has out hustled them with partners, agencies and channel sales.
- Incredibly high-quality video content about the industry that truly add unique value. They aren’t just about … you. Do we need another YouTube channel? No. Another interview of the exact same folks? No. But if you can truly build epic content for your industry, S-tier content … the algo will find you. YouTube has special reach, when used right. A good example from SaaStr Fund-backed Owner here:
AI GTM tools are incredible here and evolving so quickly. But while we will all be using a suite of them soon if not already, they don’t solve for many fundamental challenges in 2025.
You gotta do the work. More so, and to a higher quality level, than in 2021. That’s the big difference. Yes, even in the Age of AI.
The 2025 GTM Playbook in fact often requires you to get out of the home office more, to work harder, and to spend more human time per prospect, not less.
Are we willing to do this? A lot of teams … aren’t. To be direct:
- We have a record number of SaaStr Annual sponsors that don’t have anyone to man their booths
- Most sales executives I interview don’t want to do in-person customer visits now
- Very few SDRs I talk to are running very targeted, very custom campaigns. They are still just running automated cadences. Just more AI-fueled ones.
- A lot of GTM leaders and marketing leaders are hoping deploying a next-generation AI-first tool will solve their GTM woes. That that alone is the answer.
- Etc. Etc.
The New GTM Playbook is often more work than the old one. Even with AI fueling it.
And even “worse”, for most of us, it’s a much much more competitive world. AI has fueled the rise of 100s of new competitors in many categories. Even categories that used to be sleepy, like legal and contact center and voice. That means you have to work even harder again for the GTM playbook to work.
Having said all that, for start-ups with insane product-market fit, the AI ones going from $1m to $20m in a year … almost any playbook works.
That can be the confusing part. If your product itself is in such high demand that it truly does almost sell itself … then almost any playbook works. Or even if it doesn’t, it’s hard to even tell. For now.
Massive word-of-mouth and viral adoption work as well as ever. If you can invest more there.
