You’re checking off all the B2B SaaS marketing boxes. You’re launching campaigns. You’re running ads.
And still…
- You’ve got the sales team asking for “more leads” and leadership asking for “more pipeline”
- Attribution is a mess
- Your win rates are declining
- Teams aren’t aligned
- The content isn’t converting
- And every quarter feels like you’re gonna lose your job
You’re not lazy.
You’re not dumb.
And you’re definitely not alone.
Most B2B marketing and RevOps leaders are doing everything they’re “supposed to”, but still feeling like they’re sprinting on a treadmill with no scenery change. Campaigns go out, but results don’t come in. And when they do? It’s hard to tell why.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
It’s not your team. It’s your foundation, your baby. Your GTM strategy is cooked, and it’s likely because your baby is ugly. Nobody wants to be the one to tell you that, so instead, they stay quiet, and your customers are just not converting.
If your GTM strategy is an Asana board of half-baked ideas, duct-taped data, a brand that was never run first by your customer, and legacy tech debt, no campaign in the world is going to save you.
So, this is your wake-up call that you’ve got an ugly baby. Be honest, how would you rather hear that: in a blog where you can make a pivot behind the scenes, or talked about internally by every lead you’re losing?
We’re here to help you spot the “ugly” in your system, diagnose the gaps, and show you how to build a GTM foundation that makes people quiver.
What an Ugly Baby GTM Strategy Looks Like
Wouldja look at that baby.
I know, you don’t get paid enough to take all this from some anonymous nerd sitting behind a screen writing blogs. So here’s my face as I’m looking at:
- The budget you’re spending on channels that aren’t converting
- All the legacy technical debt that no one wants to untangle
- Lord knows how many Slack messages that have been dictating campaign priorities
- MQL dumps with 0 context
- A website that’s got no emotional substance
- Teams using different definitions of success
- Campaigns that don’t connect to each other (or to buyers)
You might think your GTM strategy just needs a quick haircut and a new outfit. But let’s be honest, if your system looks like this under the hood, it’s not a styling issue. It’s structural.
But if that list sounds familiar, don’t sweat it. You’re not alone, and you’re not broken. You’re just working inside a system that was never built to scale or align in the first place.
This is the “ugly baby” no one wants to acknowledge. But until you do, it’ll keep waking you up at night, screaming for leads you can’t deliver.
The Formula is Spoiled
You’re doing what you’re supposed to. You’re launching campaigns. You’re trying new channels. You’re writing content, running paid, maybe even hosting the occasional webinar with a mildly amused guest speaker.
And yet, it all feels… familiar. Not in a good way. More like “Haven’t I seen this plot before?” Same formats. Same results. Same “meh” pipeline.
Here’s why:
Campaigns Aren’t the Problem. Lack of Foundation Is.
You can’t campaign your way out of a broken GTM system.
A good campaign can’t fix:
- Confused ICPs
- Messaging that changes with the wind
- Content no one reads
- Handoffs that feel like a trust fall with no one behind you
Running campaigns without a real strategy is like changing the channel on a static-filled TV. You’re flipping, but there’s nothing good on.
The Chaos Tax — Here’s the Felt Cost of a Broken GTM
While it may not officially show on your P&L, a broken, chaotic GTM strategy is draining you anyway:
- Wasted spend on campaigns that were doomed from the start (e.g. higher CAC, blown budget)
- Missed targets because your teams didn’t have a shared definition of success
- Team burnout from trying to hit moving targets with dull arrows (e.g. higher key personnel churn, )
- Bad decisions from bad data, recycled assumptions, and wishful thinking
This isn’t about blaming anyone. It’s about being honest about where the foundation is cracked—so we can actually fix it.
Waaaah! Waaaaah! Your Ugly Baby’s Crying: How to Tell If Your GTM’s Ugly
When it comes to self-diagnosing a GTM strategy that needs fixing, the telltale sign is simple. You start by asking yourself this question:
If we paused every campaign tomorrow, would our pipeline survive?
If the answer is anything less than a confident “yes,” you’re not alone, but you are overdue for a reset.
From there, figuring out whether it’s time for an intervention and where to start focusing on becomes much easier to spot.
You know you’re overdue for an intervention if:
You can’t explain your ICP without pulling a deck from 3 years ago.
And when you do, nobody agrees on what it actually means.
Sales and Marketing are on the same Zoom, but not on the same page.
One’s talking pain points. The other’s talking product features.
Your content looks sharp, but never hits the mark.
It gets clicks. Maybe even traffic. But no one’s raising their hand.
Campaigns feel like a game of whack-a-mole.
No sequence. No warm-up. No strategy. Just another quarter, another spray-and-pray.
You’re busy, but not effective.
The team’s sprinting. The board is full. But nothing feels like it’s compounding.
Any of this starting to look familiar? You don’t just have an ugly baby, you’ve got an unsupported one. And that’s on the system, not the team.
What a Beautiful GTM Strategy Actually Looks Like
Let’s cleanse the palate for a second. A beautiful GTM strategy doesn’t mean shiny graphics or clever ad copy. It means something that actually works across every team, every touchpoint, every quarter.
Here’s what that looks like:
✅ Crystal clear targeting
You’ve got a shared ICP and buyer journey, and it’s being lived out of. Everyone knows who you’re for and who you’re not.
✅ Aligned messaging that compounds
No more one-off taglines or rogue campaigns. Every piece of content ladders up to a story that resonates.
✅ Campaigns that actually build on each other
You’re not reinventing the wheel every month. You’re stacking bricks, not tossing spaghetti in a dark meatball universe of chaos.
✅ Clean data that actually tells the truth
You don’t need to guess. You’ve got clear attribution, reliable signals, and feedback loops that close.
✅ Seamless handoffs that don’t drop the ball
Marketing ➝ Sales ➝ CS — everyone’s using the same playbook, and nobody’s left wondering what happened to that lead.
When the foundation is strong, campaigns become force multipliers, not bandaids.
We at Digital Reach have done a considerable amount of work for you in terms of where to start looking at your own GTM strategy. Check out our 11 GTM Essentials guide to get the skinny on what makes a great strategy, broken down into the areas you’re already familiar with.
How to Transform Your GTM Strategy
You don’t need a rebrand. You need a rebuild. Here’s a good place to start turning this thing around and getting Cinderella to the ball:
- Audit your GTM system to spot cracks and contradictions
- Clarify your ICP and get cross-functional alignment
- Map your real buyer journey (no, not the one from the pitch deck)
- Align your messaging to actual pain, not just product features
- Clean your RevOps architecture so data flows cleanly
- Design campaigns that spring from strategy, not just gut feels or quarterly panic
It’s not easy. But it’s worth it. Because when your strategy is sound, everything else flows from it, predictably, measurably, and with less chaos.
Ready for the Hard Truth (And a Real Fix)?
Ready to transform your ‘ugly baby’ into a GTM engine that actually works? Book your GTM Roadmap discovery call. We’ll help you build a system that aligns teams, resonates with buyers, and generates pipeline consistently.
We’ll help you build a system that aligns teams, resonates with buyers, and generates pipeline you can actually predict.
