How to structure and execute your Go-to-Market strategy for France and Québec
Welcome to this series! Here we help you assess whether your business is prepared to enter francophone markets strategically and sustainably. Each article explores one of six essential question to help you decide if, when, and how to take your next international step.
This series has guided you through the essential preparatory work for expanding into France and Québec. In the first article, you assessed whether you’re truly ready to expand (readiness foundations). In the second article, you learned how to understand the cultural realities of France and Québec without relying on clichés. The third one walked you through how to adapt your value proposition to resonate locally.
Now comes the critical moment: How to take this localized strategy and turn it into a market-entry playbook.
A localized value proposition is powerful only if it’s delivered:
on the right channel,
by the right people,
in the right sequence,
with the right expectations.
The goal of this blog post is to provide a step-by-step, practical framework to build a Go-to-Market (GTM) plan that aligns channels, budget, people, and metrics with the expectations and behaviors of each distinct market, whether you target France, Québec or beyond.
1/ Market segmentation and target definition
Before choosing channels, you need to know who you’re targeting locally. Too many companies copy-paste their home-market Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This often leads to wasted budget and low-quality leads because the local business ecosystem differs drastically.
A/ Local ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) refinement
You must define your French or Québec ICP in detail.
Here are some local attributes to consider:
Company Size Distribution: Is your target market mostly SMEs or large enterprises? France has a larger concentration of mid-market and enterprise-level organizations with formal, structured procurement processes. Québec’s business ecosystem is more heavily driven by SMEs, making relational sales and community presence more influential.
Regional Hubs: Your strategy must adapt. Paris is not Lyon; Montréal is not Sherbrooke. Local economic activity, and therefore your target density, varies regionally.
Procurement Norms and Buying Committees: How many people are involved in the typical purchasing decision? For example, French B2B often involves more structured, hierarchical validation than North American B2B.
B/ Vertical prioritization
France: The market is often more enterprise-mature with formal procurement processes and structured, highly competitive verticals (Finance, Luxury, Industry). This requires a targeted, authoritative approach.
Québec: You will find a strong Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) base. This market is highly relational; early traction is often easier to achieve with a human touch, but building sustainable depth requires entrenched trust.
C/Local competitive landscape
Identify 3–5 key local competitors in each market. A localized GTM plan must assess:
How they position themselves: Are they selling "simplicity" (Québec) or "rigor" (France)?
Pricing norms: Is the local price floor/ceiling different from your home market?
Tone and market maturity: Does the local market feel saturated or open to disruption?
2/ Channel selection: Finding the audience where they already are
Once you know who you’re talking to, you need to know where they listen.
A/ Local digital channel realities
Search & SEO
Google dominates both territories, but search behavior does not:
France: Users prefer precise, technical search terms. Search Engine Results Page (SERP) competition can be dense, rewarding detailed, authoritative content.
Québec: Search phrasing is often more conversational. While less common than in the past, English-French code-switching can occasionally influence long-tail keywords.
Social Media
France:
LinkedIn: Essential for B2B authority, thought leadership, and networking.
Twitter/X and specialized industry forums remain influential in technical or highly specific B2B sectors.
Québec:
Facebook still plays a surprisingly strong role—especially with SMEs and B2C—reflecting the market’s relational and community-focused nature.
LinkedIn is growing but used more for relationship-building than strictly for formal credentialing.
Paid Media (CPC and CPL Differences)
France often has higher Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) due to denser competition, especially in enterprise software and financial services.
Québec offers lower CPCs but smaller overall volume, meaning your focus must be on quality > quantity.
B/ Partnerships, channels and local multipliers
Local partners are often essential multipliers for trust and legitimacy.
Partnership models: This includes local resellers, distributors, system integrators, or consulting partners.
Benefits: Instant legitimacy, market-specific sales expertise, and local compliance shortcuts.
Critical check: Local partners must agree to use the adapted value proposition. If they revert to generic or translated messaging, your GTM fractures, and your brand suffers.
Key events & conferences
France: Add France-specific events (e.g., VivaTech for tech, big vertical expos). These are important for signaling seriousness and capability.
Québec/regional: Focus on smaller, relational events (e.g., Expo Entrepreneurs, local industry fairs) that allow for genuine networking.
C/ Physical presence: When (and if) you need It
France: For large enterprise deals, a local presence, a French legal entity, or at least a dedicated, locally based Account Manager signals commitment and longevity.
Québec: A local team member focused on building relationships and being present in the community is often more valuable than a fancy, vacant office.
D/ Channel sequencing
Avoid launching all channels at once. A phased approach ensures you learn and iterate before scaling.
At L2 Consulting, we recommend the following sequence for a first-year GTM:
Foundation: Local SEO, website localization, and creation of core pillar content.
Test: Paid search campaigns to gauge initial resonance and find winning messages.
Build: Community-building, attending local events, and vetting partnerships.
Scale: Personalized outbound sales (often more effective in Québec first, and later in France once authority is established).
Brand: Investment in PR and broader brand-building channels.
Of course, channel sequencing should always reflect your own growth model and market dynamics. If you’d like a customized GTM roadmap for France or Québec, I’d be happy to help!
3/Orchestrating the marketing mix (localized & prioritized)
The right mix ensures your limited budget is spent on activities that yield the best results based on local consumer attitudes.
A/ Inbound vs. outbound attitudes
France: Customers are often skeptical of cold outreach. Investment should lean toward inbound content marketing and thought leadership that establishes authority and earns the initial conversation. Mastery of inbound is required.
Québec: Warm, relational outbound works well when personalized and culturally aligned (focusing on collaboration and time-saving).
B/ Local content strategy
Tone & Format: Apply your "Tonal Register" consistently: polished and structured for France; friendly, clear, and conversational for Québec.
Local Case Studies: They must be local. International ones often feel irrelevant. If you have none yet:
Implement an early customer pilot program.
Exchange discounted pricing for case study usage to build an initial portfolio.
Content Priorities: Do not translate your entire blog. Transcreate only high-intent, bottom-of-funnel assets first: Product pages, landing pages, pricing guides, and demo paths.
C/ KPIs & performance expectations
Each francophone market behaves differently, and your measurement framework needs to reflect that from day one.
In France, sales cycles tend to be longer because decisions usually pass through more layers of validation. Instead of chasing speed, focus on indicators that show you’re earning credibility: high-quality MQLs, deeper content engagement and repeat interactions with your brand.
In Québec, you’ll often see quicker initial engagement thanks to its more relational business culture, but the total market size is smaller. That means your KPIs should highlight depth over breadth: customer retention, average deal size, and the quality of early relationships.
To guide your rollout, here’s a realistic KPI timeline:
First 3 months: Awareness & discovery
Local traffic growth, search impression share, brand recall and early engagement signals.6 months: Intent & validation
High-quality MQLs, time on page for localized content, demo completion rates and qualified pipeline creation.12 months: Proof of traction
Your first 3–10 local customers, pipeline velocity specific to France or Québec, and early customer lifetime value (CLV) patterns.
4/ People, structure, processes: Building the execution engine
The best GTM strategy will fail if the internal engine isn't ready.
A/ Who should you hire first?
Choosing your first local hire is a pivotal GTM decision, but hiring alone won’t cover all the early strategic and cultural gaps. The most successful launches combine a local internal hire with a specialized external consultant to accelerates the first 6–12 months.
Local hire
Bicultural, fluent in both your HQ culture and the French or Québécois market
Close to the customer: sales, partnerships, or marketing
Able to execute while translating HQ strategy into local reality
External consultant or agency
Immediate cultural and market expertise
Ready-to-use localization and GTM frameworks
Faster rollout while the local hire ramps
A cross-functional bridge between HQ and local needs
+
Success
You gain presence, speed, and strategic accuracy without overburdening your team or guessing your way through the cultural nuance.
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B/ Organizational alignment
The local feedback loop
Set up recurring internal workflows so local insights shape global decisions:
Feedback areas: Product gaps, compliance blockers, messaging friction, and competitor insights.
Process: The local team needs a formal, direct channel to report these findings to Global Product and Global Marketing.
Reporting & autonomy
Local team needs autonomy to adapt tactics (e.g., changing social post timing).
HQ needs visibility to ensure strategy consistency (brand, product roadmap).
Balance is essential to prevent the local team from taking too many liberties while allowing them to succeed.
C/ Playbooks & processes
Create GTM playbooks that formalize your adapted strategy:
Messaging: Standardized tone and approved Tu vs. Vous sequences.
Outreach: Localized email and cold call sequences that respect local formality.
Partner management: Clear rules on pricing and value proposition usage.
Content approval workflows: Ensuring localized content passes both HQ brand checks and local compliance/quality checks.
4/ Conclusion: GTM is the moment where strategy becomes reality
Your Go-to-Market plan is the moment where your readiness, cultural understanding, and localized value proposition finally get tested in the real world.
It’s a disciplined, iterative process, not a one-time "launch event." By approaching your GTM with the right sequencing, the right budget allocation, and the right local people, you create the sustainable momentum needed for success.
The work of execution will generate awareness, but to convert that awareness into loyal customers, you need the final ingredient: Trust.
Now that you’ve reached your audience, the next challenge is the hardest one:
👉 Article 5: How do you inspire trust in customers who don’t know you yet?
Want some help? At L2 Consulting, we help brands move from “we want to go international” to “we’re ready to do it right.