Marketing and growth for marketplaces
Marketing tactics and growth strategies for two-sided marketplace businesses. From marketplace founders, growth marketers, investors, and sharing economy experts inside and outside Sharetribe.
Marketing & growth
Marketplace funding: The complete guide
Struggling with funding your marketplace? This guide helps you decide how much marketplace funding you need – and when and where to source it.
by Juho Makkonen
First things first
The first marketing activities for an early-stage marketplace: make sure your marketplace value proposition is crystal clear, plan your launch strategically, and start tracking your most important marketplace success metrics.
Marketing & growth
11 marketplace metrics you should be tracking to measure your success
The most important metrics that anchor all your marketing and growth activities.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
Business Model
How to launch your marketplace
Strategies that bring demand to your freshly opened marketplace platform.
by Cristóbal Gracia
Marketing & growth
How to communicate your marketplace value proposition
Making sure every visitor knows how your marketplace can help them.
by Cristóbal Gracia
Marketing tips for early-stage marketplaces
Time to start experimenting with marketplace growth tactics! Here are some tips and recommendations for finding the right mix for you.
Marketing & growth
What to do if your marketplace business slows down
Five recommendations to consider for your marketplace during times of slower business. Some can help you make it through these difficult times, others prepare your business for better ones ahead.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
How to start with branding your marketplace
Use the brand strategy canvas to find your unique marketplace positioning.
by Sjoerd Handgraaf
Marketing & growth
How to grow your marketplace on a budget
The road to 1,000 customers starts with 10 happy ones (that you didn’t have to pay for).
by Jaime Arredondo
Marketing & growth
How to do local content marketing for marketplaces
Content marketing and local marketplaces are a perfect match.
by Sjoerd Handgraaf
Marketing & growth
How to get started with Google Ads for your marketplace
The basics of setting up your first-ever Google Ads campaign.
by Sjoerd Handgraaf
Marketing & growth
How to find the best marketplace growth strategies
Choosing the early-stage marketing mix for your marketplace.
by Juho Makkonen
Expert tips for continuous growth
More often than not, marketing and growing a marketplace business is cumulative work. These articles help you find ideas and inspiration – and sources to follow for up to date marketplace growth wisdom.
Marketing & growth
Platform technology
Marketplace SEO: the complete guide
Get a comprehensive introduction to the world of SEO, tailored specifically to online marketplaces.
by Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
Marketplace funding: The complete guide
Struggling with funding your marketplace? This guide helps you decide how much marketplace funding you need – and when and where to source it.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
The top 40 + 10 marketplace investors and VC firms
The title says it all. Here are the people to keep an eye on in the marketplace investment scene.
by Sjoerd Handgraaf
Marketing & growth
“Make your marketplace unit economics work,” says Fabrice Grinda
When one of the world’s most successful angel investors talks marketplaces, we listen.
by Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
Sarah Rose at the Marketplace Conference: UrbanSitter's playbook for Geographic expansion
This talk by UrbanSitter’s COO is a must for any marketplace entrepreneur planning on launching new markets.
by Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
"Network effects are key to successful marketplaces," says James Currier
The managing partner of NFX Guild believes a new class of businesses—ones that combine aspects from marketplaces and social networks—is being created.
by Juho Makkonen
More on marketing & growth for marketplaces
More insights and success stories about marketing and growing marketplace businesses.
Marketing & growth
Platform technology
Weave SEO into your marketplace right from the start – An interview with Michael Caldwell
Michael Caldwell shares how to take both users and search engines into account when creating your website.
by Katri Antikainen & Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
Platform technology
SEO can drastically improve a marketplace’s bottom line – An interview with Mike van der Heijden
Mike van der Heijden shares how investing in SEO can considerably increase a marketplace’s traffic and valuation.
by Katri Antikainen & Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
Link building for marketplaces
Backlinks are key to your marketplace's SEO authority. Here's how you can build backlinks – and the tactics you should avoid.
by Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
Keyword-targeted content marketing for marketplaces
Marketplace content marketing with an SEO mindset.
by Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
Keyword research for marketplaces
How to find your initial set of keywords and get started with a marketplace keyword strategy.
by Mira Muurinen
Platform technology
Marketing & growth
Technical SEO for marketplaces
This article introduces the basics of technical SEO and suggests ways to tackle common technical marketplace SEO issues.
by Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
Starting a marketplace
Marketplace businesses that thrive in a recession
A recession is a challenge for any business. But a downturn can also offer tremendous opportunities for marketplaces
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
Platform technology
Opportunities and challenges of marketplace SEO
How to avoid common marketplace SEO pitfalls – and tap into the unique opportunities.
by Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
How to crowdfund your marketplace
Your marketplace startup funding options aren’t limited to bootstrapping or raising venture capital. Read on for our CEO Juho’s best tips on a funding method close to all our hearts at Sharetribe: crowdfunding.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
Why raise venture capital for your marketplace – and why not
Should you raise VC funding for your marketplace? If you want to build a unicorn, yes. If you want to get rich – maybe not.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
How to bootstrap your marketplace
Can you build a successful marketplace business without funding? Absolutely! Bootstrapping might even help you become profitable faster.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
The science of customer loyalty, and how to leverage it for your marketplace
Learn three science-backed tactics for increasing customer loyalty on your marketplace. Written by Chatra co-founder and CEO Yaakov Karda.
by Yaakov Karda
Marketing & growth
Why Canon Australia ventured into the sharing economy
Kyōyū, Canon's first-ever gear-sharing marketplace, was built on Sharetribe Flex. What benefits does the Fortune 500 company see in the sharing economy?
by Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
How to promote your online marketplace with email marketing
Email marketing has the highest ROI of all digital marketing channels. In this guest article, Emil Kristensen shares five concrete tactics to promote your marketplace with email marketing.
by Emil Kristensen
Marketing & growth
Brian Rothenberg at the Marketplace Conference: Driving growth via buyer/seller overlap
Trust Eventbrite’s VP of Growth: if customers are turning to providers on your marketplace, you’re on to something magical.
by Mira Muurinen
Marketing & growth
Three ways to use messaging to optimize marketplace operations
The right message at the right time can help onboard users, facilitate transactions from start to finish and provide leakage. This article shows in detail how to achieve this.
by Charles Costa
Marketing & growth
How to do influencer marketing for your marketplace platform
A guest post by Michael Quoc, founder and CEO of Dealspotr, on how influencer marketing can be done for marketplace platforms.
by Michael Quoc
Marketing & growth
Growing with content - An interview with Simon Powell
The founder of TransferTravel reveals how creating content helped them build supply and awareness about their marketplace, up to 30,000 visitors per month, without spending anything on ads.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
From bootstrapping a marketplace to $1M in funding
Arash Shiva and Marius Ciocirlan of Sharegrid reveal how they went from bootstrapping to $1M in funding, using Sharetribe.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
Ten Lessons Learned Investing in early-stage Marketplaces
Investor Mathias Ockenfels’ insightful lessons are worth every marketplace entrepreneur’s time.
by Mathias Ockenfels
Marketing & growth
How to use PR to grow your online marketplace business
Learn how to transform your sharing economy business with PR, and get a free professional press release template.
by Eve Laird & Elle Tucker
Marketing & growth
Do one thing well – An interview with Mike Williams
The founder of Studiotime shares how he built a profitable marketplace business by bootstrapping.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
Conquer one city at a time – An interview with Tristan Pollock
The founder of Storefront advises entrepreneurs to build manual-first marketplaces and to not scale too rapidly.
by Juho Makkonen
Marketing & growth
Adapt to the local context – An interview with Joel Serra
Quality over quantity—an essential part of EatWith's success.
by Cristóbal Gracia
Marketing & growth
Make your members happy – An interview with Jim Pickell
Member satisfaction is the ultimate marketplace key performance indicator.
by Thea Sørvig Østbye
Marketing & growth
Vacate the VCs – An interview with Jeremiah Owyang
Advice on alternative ways to fund your marketplace startup.
by Thea Sørvig Østbye
Marketing & growth
Design transformational experiences – An interview with Neal Gorenflo
Neal Gorenflo thinks you should start small and replicate grassroot movements.
by Thea Sørvig Østbye
Marketing & growth
Empower your providers – An interview with Shelby Clark
Shelby Clark advises marketplace entrepreneurs to focus on high-quality supply from the very beginning.
by Thea Sørvig Østbye