Two customer sides, one discovery problem

A marketplace has to win supply and demand at once, and both sides now research the same way: they ask an engine which platform to trust, and they read what existing users say. Category definition is the prize; the platform that the engines describe as the standard answer for its niche compounds, while the second name pays for every user

Request the Business ScanAll software types

Three facts that shape the plan for marketplaces and platforms

69%of B2B software buyers chose a different vendor than initially planned because an AI chatbot recommended it.G2, The Answer Economy, March 2026.
95%of winning vendors were already on the buyer's day-one shortlist. For a platform, being the default name in the category is the whole game.6sense, 2025.
2 sidesof the market to convince, each with its own economics, objections and proof requirements, before liquidity does the marketing for you.Silvengate market analysis, 2026.

The problems that come up most

Niche B2B and B2C marketplacesSaaS-enabled marketplacesBooking and services platformsSupply-side acquisition and retentionDemand-side SEO, AEO and paidTake-rate and pricing architecture

What the plan has to account for

Marketplace economics forgive almost nothing: acquisition spend on one side is wasted if the other side thins. The plan sequences the constrained side first, measures liquidity rather than sign-ups, and builds the category page layer that makes the platform the cited answer for its niche.

The Business Scan, point by point

Where the scan usually points for marketplaces and platforms

AI visibility and SEO

Be named when a customer asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Google who to trust.

Landing pages and conversion

Get more customers from the traffic you already have.

Analytics and reporting

Know what is actually driving growth.

What we fixed. What changed

Software · Paid ads

Procurement software, Series A, Europe

−37%cost per qualified opportunity, five months

Search campaigns treated educational searches, pricing searches and direct software comparisons as equally valuable. We split campaigns by intent, introduced qualification before demo booking and imported CRM opportunity stages back into the ad platforms.

Cost per qualified opportunity fell 37% over five months. Lead volume decreased 18%, while qualified pipeline increased 24%.

Software · SEO and AI visibility

Data infrastructure platform, US

11 of 25tracked comparison questions where AI assistants name the product, up from 3

The documentation worked well for existing users, but there was little content explaining how the platform compared with established alternatives. We published technical comparison pages, migration guides and public benchmark methodology, then improved the structure of the documentation for crawlers.

The product appeared in 11 of 25 tracked comparison questions after seven months. Organic demo requests increased 18%.

Software · Landing pages and conversion

Accounting software, UK

15.8%trial activation rate, up from 10.9%

New users landed in an empty dashboard and had to configure the company manually before seeing useful output. We added accounting-platform import, sample data, a three-step setup flow and onboarding emails triggered by product activity.

Trial activation increased from 10.9% to 15.8%. Trial-to-paid conversion increased from 7.4% to 9.1%.

See all cases

Let’s shape outcomes

Let’s start building partnership
The market, once a month

Key shifts, emerging trends and what they mean for business