{"id":309093,"date":"2025-02-25T07:10:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T15:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/?p=309093"},"modified":"2025-02-27T10:31:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T18:31:28","slug":"the-2021-gtm-playbook-is-mostly-dead-but-whats-replaced-it-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/the-2021-gtm-playbook-is-mostly-dead-but-whats-replaced-it-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2021 GTM Playbook Is Mostly Dead.  But What\u2019s The AI Era Replacement?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So the 2021 GTM Playbook is Dead. Almost all of us agree on that.<\/p>\n<p>That playbook was fueled by a desire to load up on 100s of new SaaS apps to fuel a pandemic-inspired buying spree.\u00a0 Today, SaaS and Cloud is back, and AI-fueled B2B spend is on fire.\u00a0 But we&#8217;re not expanding the total number of apps customers pay for by all that much.\u00a0 Our app count is staying flat.\u00a0 And competition has exploded.\u00a0 AI has ushered in 100s of new competitors in each category.\u00a0 And changed the game at the product level.\u00a0 Customers now expect so, so much more for their SaaS dollar.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"UCamhkfjr0\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/the-average-tech-company-pays-for-275-saas-apps-flat-from-last-year-but-its-paying-20-more-for-them\/\">The Average Tech Company Pays For 275 SaaS Apps, Flat From Last Year.  But It&#8217;s Paying 20% More For Them.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content lazyload\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;The Average Tech Company Pays For 275 SaaS Apps, Flat From Last Year.  But It&#8217;s Paying 20% More For Them.&#8221; &#8212; SaaStr\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/the-average-tech-company-pays-for-275-saas-apps-flat-from-last-year-but-its-paying-20-more-for-them\/embed\/#?secret=Uo6WOqfBx9#?secret=UCamhkfjr0\" data-secret=\"UCamhkfjr0\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>So if the 2021 GTM playbook is dead, what has replaced it? Or will replace it?<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s still murky.<\/p>\n<p>The reality is, the 2025 GTM Playbook is mostly the 2021 one done <em>much<\/em> more aggressively, with more effort (not less), with better tools, but tools and AI alone are not the answer. \u00a0Not yet at least.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-309103 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/aigtm2.jpg?resize=461%2C455&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"461\" height=\"455\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 461px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 461\/455;\" \/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-309103\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/aigtm2.jpg?resize=461%2C455&#038;quality=70&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"461\" height=\"455\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<h3>What doesn\u2019t work nearly as well today, but so many are still doing:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/its-2025-and-even-salesforces-sales-team-is-kind-of-phoning-it-in\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Endless generic outbound emails<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. \u00a0The hit rates here keep going down.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Low energy digital \u201cevents\u201d<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0No one comes anymore.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Break-up emails<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0It\u2019s not about you.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">2021 SEO strategies<\/span><\/strong>. \u00a0Still work, but in rapid decline in many cases.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>2021 mass-scale content strategies<\/strong><\/span> (1000s of pages of content). \u00a0Google doesn\u2019t like this anymore.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Spending all day on LinkedIn<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0No, for 95% of folks, this isn\u2019t \u201csocial selling\u201d.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Most traditional press and most basic PR strategies<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0Who reads to day?<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Customer Success\u201d teams that are just there to upsell and not help. \u00a0<\/strong><\/span>This might get you more revenue today. But it doesn\u2019t fuel the word-of-mouth engine and create more <em>new<\/em> customers and leads.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Endless price increases on the base<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0This may help you hit the plan in the short term but again does not fuel word-of-mouth.\u00a0 It certainly does not create new leads and customers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"OygmkLsL3L\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/its-2025-and-even-salesforces-sales-team-is-kind-of-phoning-it-in\/\">It\u2019s 2025 And Even Salesforce\u2019s Sales Team is Kind of Phoning It In (At Least Some Of It)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content lazyload\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;It\u2019s 2025 And Even Salesforce\u2019s Sales Team is Kind of Phoning It In (At Least Some Of It)&#8221; &#8212; SaaStr\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/its-2025-and-even-salesforces-sales-team-is-kind-of-phoning-it-in\/embed\/#?secret=ni95430iyU#?secret=OygmkLsL3L\" data-secret=\"OygmkLsL3L\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>What works a little that a lot are doing &#8212; but doesn\u2019t work enough to usually be worth it:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Lots of energy into social media that few really watch<\/li>\n<li>Lots of energy into your own podcast with few subscribers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What still works well today, but folks often lack the energy to run:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Accelerating word-of-mouth by being present everywhere<\/strong><\/span>. In the end, this is where the majority of everyone\u2019s leads come from once you have a mini-brand. \u00a0Word-of-mouth. \u00a0This has always been the case in software and still is.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N1gjCN6KA8c\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Highly targeted, <em>researched<\/em> outbound, that adds real value<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. \u00a0Everyone still opens email. \u00a0The good ones, at least.\u00a0 Email is hardly dead.\u00a0 In fact, it&#8217;s still magical. \u00a0But an outbound email that is opened with no research behind it \u2026 is almost always a waste of an open.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Using AI tools to ensure no emails are wasted<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0Email is still opened and it still works \u2014 done right. \u00a0But you can\u2019t <em>waste<\/em> an email open by a top prospect. \u00a0Too many are wasted. \u00a0The best use of AI here in the end is to make sure no opened email is wasted. \u00a0I bet most of yours are.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>High-energy IRL field event strategy (connecting with prospects and customers live).<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0The best buyers go to the top 1-2 events in their industries. \u00a0Not all of them, but a lot of them. \u00a0As true today as 5 years ago. \u00a0But you have to go harder here and do it for real. \u00a0If you send 3 SDRs that stare at their phones during the event, expect very low ROI. \u00a0Send your experts. \u00a0Send the ones you\u2019d want to talk to, if your time was precious at a big industry event.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Your own IRL big events (see Stripe, Figma, Canva, Procore, etc)<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0Yes, these have partially gone out of fashion \u2014 but are also back! \u00a0Many of the next generation of Cloud leaders are all-in here now. \u00a0Your Own Big Event has gone out of fashion not because of WFH, but mostly because they are an insane amount of work. \u00a0Marketers stopped wanted to do the hard work here when they didn\u2019t have to from 2020 to 2022. \u00a0But getting your customers and prospects together IRL has always worked.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Being \u201cdeflationary\u201d.<\/strong> <\/span>\u00a0The very best SaaS products often get cheaper each year. \u00a0I don\u2019t mean they literally lower prices, that\u2019s rare. \u00a0But they add so much more value each year than the year before, that the net effect is deflationary. \u00a0Canva is one classic example. \u00a0This was also true of HubSpot for many years. \u00a0Today it\u2019s also clearly true of OpenAI, Claude, Descript, Opus Clip, and so many other leaders in AI. \u00a0Adding more value per dollar each year (or even each quarter for AI leaders) turns your customers into champions. \u00a0Into an army of champions, really. \u00a0Raising prices with little to show for it \u2026 doesn\u2019t.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Weekly webinars<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0These always work and always have. \u00a0But you have to do them for real, and add real value and energy, each week. \u00a0Not just when you \u201chave time\u201d. \u00a0More <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/webinars-almost-always-work\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>here<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Visiting prospects and customers in person.<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0Ask anyone selling bigger deals or in vertical SaaS is this works. \u00a095% of them will say Heck Yes. \u00a0Your team might be comfy at home. \u00a0But visiting your top customers and prospects works as well today as ever. \u00a0Maybe even more so, because the competition often \u2026 isn\u2019t.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Aggressive brand awareness<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0Some brand marketing really is a waste of money. \u00a0But most deals require 2-3 touches at least to close. \u00a0Great brand awareness really can count as one of those. \u00a0When you\u2019re looking at two competitors, and it seems like you \u201chear about\u201d one all the time \u2026 that\u2019s often the one prospects pick. \u00a0It\u2019s just natural. \u00a0In many ways, this is brand marketing\u2019s job. \u00a0To make sure they\u2019re always \u201chearing about\u201d you. \u00a0Done poorly, it wastes so much money, with nothing to show. \u00a0Done well, it\u2019s that magical 2nd or 3rd touch that sales needs.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Aggressively doing partnerships<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0Selling 100% direct is often leaving 20%-50% of the revenue on the table. \u00a0But it\u2019s easier since most folks know how to do it, and partner and channel sales are even more work than direct selling. \u00a0Too many wait too long here. \u00a0And turn around and find out the competition has out hustled them with partners, agencies and channel sales.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Incredibly high-quality video content about the industry that truly add unique value. \u00a0They aren\u2019t just about \u2026 you<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0Do we need another YouTube channel? \u00a0No. \u00a0Another interview of the exact same folks? \u00a0No. \u00a0But if you can truly build epic content for your industry, S-tier content \u2026 the algo will find you. \u00a0YouTube has special reach, when used right.\u00a0 A good example from <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.saastrfund.com\">SaaStr Fund-backed<\/a><\/strong><\/span> Owner here:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe title=\"The 3 Menu Mistakes That Killed This Fast-Growing Restaurant\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OxjME_YsivU?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>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\u2019t solve for many fundamental challenges in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>You gotta do the work. \u00a0More so, and to a higher quality level, than in 2021. \u00a0That\u2019s the big difference. \u00a0Yes, even in the Age of AI.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Deep Dive: AI-Powered Marketing to Get More Leads and Customers with HyperGrowth Partners\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N1gjCN6KA8c?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Are we willing to do this? \u00a0A lot of teams \u2026 aren\u2019t. \u00a0To be direct:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We have a record number of <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.saastrannual.com\">SaaStr Annual<\/a><\/strong><\/span> sponsors that don\u2019t have anyone to man their booths<\/li>\n<li>Most sales executives I interview don\u2019t want to do in-person customer visits now<\/li>\n<li>Very few SDRs I talk to are running very targeted, very custom campaigns. \u00a0They are still just running automated cadences. \u00a0Just more AI-fueled ones.<\/li>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>Etc. Etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The New GTM Playbook is often <em>more<\/em> work than the old one. \u00a0Even with AI fueling it.<\/h3>\n<p>And even \u201cworse\u201d, for most of us, it\u2019s a much much more competitive world. \u00a0AI has fueled the rise of 100s of new competitors in many categories. \u00a0Even categories that used to be sleepy, like legal and contact center and voice. \u00a0That means you have to work even harder again for the GTM playbook to work.<\/p>\n<h3>Having said all that, for start-ups with insane product-market fit, the AI ones going from $1m to $20m in a year \u2026 almost <em>any<\/em> playbook works.<\/h3>\n<p>That can be the confusing part. \u00a0If your product itself is in such high demand that it truly does almost sell itself \u2026 then almost any playbook works. \u00a0Or even if it doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s hard to even tell. \u00a0For now.<\/p>\n<p>Massive word-of-mouth and viral adoption work as well as ever. \u00a0If you can invest more there.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"zgoCzKkWKe\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/is-ai-driving-a-freemium-renaissance\/\">AI is Driving a Freemium Renaissance.  Run Toward It.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content lazyload\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;AI is Driving a Freemium Renaissance.  Run Toward It.&#8221; &#8212; SaaStr\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/is-ai-driving-a-freemium-renaissance\/embed\/#?secret=AmjzIwNJrZ#?secret=zgoCzKkWKe\" data-secret=\"zgoCzKkWKe\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Era of HyperFunctional SaaS is Here l SaaStr CEO and Founder Jason Lemkin\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I5sPLOkAZPE?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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.\u00a0 Today, SaaS and Cloud is back, and AI-fueled B2B spend is on fire.\u00a0 But we&#8217;re not expanding the total&#8230; <br \/><a class=\"more-link fade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/the-2021-gtm-playbook-is-mostly-dead-but-whats-replaced-it-ai\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":309103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[24898,31,108,24987],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-blog-posts","category-marketing-topics","category-saastr-ai"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/aigtm2-scaled.jpg?fit=1000%2C986&quality=70&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5oib2-1ipn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/aigtm2-1095x1080.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309093"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309299,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309093\/revisions\/309299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}