Most companies treat Marketplace go to market like a launch campaign.
They assign it to marketing, publish a listing, run a few ads, post on LinkedIn, and wait for leads. When leads do not arrive, the conclusion is usually “Marketplace does not work for us.”
That conclusion is wrong in most cases.
Marketplace can work extremely well, but only when you operate it as a revenue channel with its own product, sales, and delivery mechanics. Marketplace GTM is not a marketing project. It is a cross functional operating system that ties together positioning, packaging, procurement, co sell, and post sale execution.
This article explains why Marketplace GTM fails when it is run like marketing, what the right model looks like, and how to build the operating cadence that turns a listing into pipeline.
The core misunderstanding: a listing is not demand gen
A listing is not a landing page. A listing is a purchase path.
In the buyer’s mind, Marketplace exists to reduce friction:
- Faster procurement and vendor onboarding
- Budget alignment through cloud spend
- Centralized billing and spend governance
- Shorter security and compliance cycles
- Private offers, term flexibility, and renewals that fit procurement rules
Marketing can drive attention, but attention alone does not create closed won Marketplace revenue. Marketplace revenue is created when your listing, offer model, and internal workflows make it easy for a buyer to say yes.
If your Marketplace motion does not change your ability to transact, then marketing effort will simply send more people into a broken buying experience.
What happens when Marketplace GTM is treated as marketing
When marketing owns Marketplace end to end, the work tends to cluster around surface level activity:
- Listing copy updates and visuals
- Top of funnel campaigns
- Product announcements and social posts
- Web traffic and impressions reporting
Those things are not bad. They are just incomplete.
The failure mode is predictable:
- Leads show interest
- Sales cannot explain the Marketplace buying path
- A private offer takes too long or requires too many approvals
- Procurement asks questions no one can answer quickly
- Delivery is unclear, so the buyer pauses
- The deal moves off Marketplace or dies entirely
Marketing cannot fix steps 2 through 5 alone. Those steps are where Marketplace deals are won or lost.
Marketplace GTM is a commercial system, not a campaign
Marketplace GTM touches every part of revenue operations. Here is what it actually includes:
1) Product and packaging decisions
Marketplace forces clarity. You need to define:
- What exactly is being purchased
- What the buyer gets in the first 30 days
- What the success criteria are
- What the implementation scope includes and excludes
- What optional add ons exist
If the product team does not participate, your listing will be vague, your promises will be hard to fulfill, and your delivery will be inconsistent.
2) Pricing, private offers, and approvals
Marketplace is often private offer led, especially for mid market and enterprise. That means:
- Discount bands and rules
- Approvals and turnaround time targets
- Standard terms that procurement expects
- Clear negotiation levers beyond price
This is not marketing work. It is commercial design plus ops discipline.
3) Sales enablement and field execution
Your sellers must know how to sell through Marketplace. That includes:
- The “why Marketplace” talk track
- How to qualify for Marketplace fit
- How to position private offers
- How to coordinate with partner teams
- How to run a mutual action plan that includes procurement
If sales is not trained and measured, Marketplace becomes “the link we send after the deal is closed,” which defeats the entire purpose.
4) Partner and co sell motion
For many companies, the Marketplace deal flow is partner assisted. It may involve:
- A cloud provider seller
- A services partner
- A distributor or reseller model
- A co sell opportunity registration process
This requires a defined workflow, shared reporting, and follow through. If partner teams are not actively involved, the co sell motion stays theoretical.
5) Delivery, onboarding, and retention
Marketplace customers expect speed. They also expect accountability.
You need:
- A standard onboarding plan
- Defined time to first value
- A support model that matches what you sold
- A renewal and expansion path that fits Marketplace procurement realities
If customer success is not part of the GTM, you will see high churn and poor references, which kills Marketplace momentum.
The better ownership model: a Marketplace pod
The strongest Marketplace motions use a small cross functional “pod” model.
Not a committee. A working team.
A simple version looks like:
- Marketplace owner (GM mindset, accountable for revenue)
- Marketing lead (positioning, campaigns, listing optimization)
- Sales lead (enablement, pipeline, deal execution)
- Deal desk or RevOps (offers, approvals, process)
- Solutions or delivery lead (onboarding, scope, success metrics)
- Partner lead (co sell workflow and seller engagement)
Marketing still plays a critical role, but it is one part of a system designed to close deals.
What to measure when Marketplace is treated correctly
If Marketplace GTM is run like marketing, the default metrics are views and clicks.
If Marketplace GTM is run like a revenue channel, the metrics change:
Acquisition and conversion
- Listing view to inquiry conversion rate
- Inquiry to meeting conversion rate
- Meeting to offer conversion rate
- Offer to close conversion rate
- Deal cycle time by stage
Commercial performance
- Private offer turnaround time
- Discount band usage and variance
- Average contract value and term length
- Win loss reasons tied to procurement and packaging
Execution and retention
- Time to first value
- Onboarding completion rate
- Support ticket volume in first 30 days
- Renewal rate and expansion rate
- Reference readiness
When you track these metrics weekly, you will see exactly where the channel is leaking.
The most common “marketing led” Marketplace mistakes
- Publishing a listing without a private offer process
- No response SLA for Marketplace inquiries
- Sellers do not know how to position Marketplace value
- Procurement and security questions create delays
- Delivery scope is unclear, so buyers hesitate
- Reporting focuses on traffic, not conversion and revenue
- Co sell is discussed but not operationalized
- No proof points or reference plan
Any one of these will break the channel.
A practical shift: treat Marketplace GTM like a product launch plus a sales motion
If you want Marketplace to become a serious revenue channel, the shift is simple:
- Marketing drives attention and clarity
- Product ensures the offer is real and deliverable
- Sales drives pipeline and deal execution
- RevOps makes offers fast and consistent
- Partners amplify reach through co sell
- Delivery ensures outcomes and references
Marketplace GTM is the orchestration of all of the above.
When it works, it looks less like a campaign and more like an operating cadence. Weekly reviews. Tight feedback loops. Fast offers. Clean onboarding. Proof points and references that build compounding trust.
That is not a marketing project.
That is a revenue system.
Closing
If your Marketplace motion has been disappointing, do not assume the channel is broken. Most of the time, the operating model is.
The first step is to stop asking “what campaigns should we run” and start asking:
- Can we transact quickly and confidently through Marketplace?
- Do we have an offer model that matches buyer procurement reality?
- Are sellers enabled to sell this path, not just mention it?
- Can we deliver outcomes fast enough to earn references?
Answer those, then marketing spend starts to compound.
If you want, share your current listing type (product or service), your target buyer, and your typical deal size. I will convert that into a Marketplace pod structure, weekly metrics dashboard, and a 60 day execution plan you can run without guesswork.
