Turning customer research into a strategic launch plan for a new Amazon service.

Strategy | Market Research | Positioning | Go-to-Market | Partnerships

The Challenge

Launching a new service requires more than simply putting it in front of an audience.

The challenge was to understand the needs of the target market, identify the barriers preventing businesses from growing, and translate those insights into a compelling proposition and go-to-market strategy.

I worked as part of a team on a strategic project for Amazon, developing the launch approach for its KDP offering.

The Approach

01 — Research

We conducted primary research with 20 companies to understand the challenges businesses were facing and what was influencing their growth decisions.

The research highlighted marketing and HR as two of the biggest challenges, with businesses identifying gaps in the skills and knowledge needed to execute effectively.

This helped us move beyond assumptions and build the strategy around real customer insight.

02 — Identify the Opportunity

We analysed the key factors affecting startup performance, including:

• Marketing & management

• Finance

• Competition

• Macroeconomic factors

• Data-led decision making

• Growth risk

This allowed us to identify where a new service could create genuine value rather than simply adding another product to the market.

03 — Build the Go-to-Market Strategy

We developed a proposition centred around performance analytics and better data-driven decision-making, supported by a wider ecosystem of strategic partnerships.

The proposed partnership strategy included organisations such as Startups.co.uk, Looker, Startup Academy and the British Library's Business & IP Centre.

The result was a launch strategy that combined customer insight, positioning, partnerships and marketing rather than relying on a single acquisition channel.

The Result

The project delivered a strategic framework for taking the service to market, including:

Customer research
→ Understanding the audience and their challenges

Market opportunity
→ Identifying where the service could create value

Positioning
→ Developing a clear proposition around performance and data

Partnership strategy
→ Identifying organisations that could expand reach and credibility

Go-to-market planning
→ Connecting the proposition with the right audience and channels

What this says about my approach to marketing

I don't believe lead generation starts with an ad.

It starts with understanding the customer, the problem, the proposition and the journey that turns interest into action.

That's the approach I now bring to demand generation and lead generation projects, combining strategy, customer insight, messaging, paid media and conversion thinking to build marketing that has a commercial purpose.