Marketplace platforms · Other
Fill both sides of your marketplace before either side gives up.
A founder builds an app to match electricians with homeowners in Hyderabad. Forty electricians sign up in a week and fifteen jobs are posted.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
A marketplace platform connects sellers or service providers with buyers and earns a fee on each transaction. Marketplace marketing and sales has two jobs, bringing in supply and bringing in demand. GullySales builds the provider onboarding, buyer enquiries and off-platform leakage checks for service, B2B and local marketplaces in India.
Eleven electricians do not see a job in their area and stop opening the app. The jobs that did arrive were called back by phone and finished outside the platform. The company now has a supply problem, a demand problem and a leakage problem.
Every marketplace has this squeeze. Providers join for the work, buyers join for choice, and each waits for the other. A bigger ad budget does not fix it. The fix is picking one locality and one category, filling it, and making the first transactions so good that both sides come back.
Last updated 18 Oct 2026.
How buyers decide
How marketplace platforms are chosen.
Supply chooses a marketplace on one question: will I get paying work? A plumber, a tutor, a machinery trader or a caterer compares it with JustDial, IndiaMART, WhatsApp groups and word of mouth. The listing fee matters less than the first three leads.
Demand chooses on trust and speed. A buyer who has used the platform once and was served well by a verified provider comes back and tells others. A buyer who got three calls from unprepared providers does not return.
Both sides also test whether to deal off the platform. If the commission feels higher than the value delivered, they swap numbers and leave. That is why marketplace marketing is partly about showing, on every booking, what the platform added.
The problem
What usually goes wrong for marketplace platforms.
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“We have listings but nobody is buying”
Supply was easy to sign up. Buyers arrive from ads, find thin choice in their area and leave.
“Providers sign up and never take a job”
They registered on a field agent's request, never learnt how to respond, and now ignore the app.
“Transactions move to phone and cash”
After the first job, buyer and provider exchange numbers and the platform loses the repeat orders.
“We spread over too many cities”
Each city has a few listings and a few buyers, so none reaches the level where the experience is good.
“Our app store page and our website say different things”
A provider reads one story and a buyer another, and neither can tell what we are.
“Reviews are thin and unevenly trusted”
New buyers hesitate because providers have no ratings, and providers resent bad ratings they cannot explain.
What we do
What we do for marketplace platforms.
Everything included for marketplace platforms.
A provider onboarding kit
A short script, a WhatsApp message set and a first-job checklist that tells every new provider how to respond to a lead, set their areas and get their first review.
A locality launch plan
A plan for one locality or one category: how many providers are needed before buyers are invited, which buyers come first and which kinds of job the first bookings should cover.
Buyer landing pages by service and locality
A page for each job and neighbourhood, such as AC servicing in Whitefield or lathe job work in Peenya, showing real providers and how a booking works.
A leakage review
A look at repeat bookings, providers whose volume dropped after the first job, and the reasons behind it, with changes to the commission message and the follow-up after each job.
A review and rating routine
A request after every completed booking, a reply route for providers who dispute a rating and a rule about what is shown to new buyers.
A referral programme for both sides
A simple scheme where providers invite colleagues and buyers invite neighbours, with the reward and conditions set by you.
How the result is measured
- Providers onboarded and providers who took a first job
- Buyer enquiries by locality and service
- Response time to a lead
- Repeat bookings through the platform
- Reviews collected per completed job
- Providers gone quiet after the first month
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Every service, written for marketplace platforms
Each has its own page: what it involves for marketplace platforms, what you get, and what it is measured on.
- Lead generationGenerate provider leads and buyer leads as two separate jobs with two separate pitches.
- SEOTurn every service, product and locality you host into a page a buyer can find.
- Local SEOShow up for the service and the neighbourhood, in the map and in the results.
- Social media marketingSpeak to providers and buyers in the places each already spends time.
- Content marketingPublish guides that help a provider earn and a buyer choose, then link them to a booking.
- Buyer personasDescribe the buyer and the provider as real people with a real reason to use the platform.
- CRMKeep one record for every provider and every buyer, from first contact to repeat booking.
- Follow-up systemsFollow up the provider who has not answered and the buyer who has not rebooked.
- WhatsApp marketingUse WhatsApp where both sides already talk, and keep the booking on the platform.
- Digital marketingPlan search, ads, social and messages as one system that fills a locality.
- WebsiteGive providers and buyers each a clear way in, and show real choice on the first screen.
Worth a page and a campaign of their own
Choosing one locality and one category to fill first · Provider onboarding and first-job activation · Buyer demand by locality · Matching quality and response time · Off-platform leakage · Reviews and trust signals · Referrals from both sides · Field agent and telecalling teams · Pricing and commission explanation
Priority campaigns
Campaigns for what marketplace platforms most want to sell.
Each one planned around when your buyers decide, and measured against the baseline.
Single-locality launch campaign
A concentrated push in one area for one service, with telecalling to providers, hyperlocal ads for buyers and field visits.
Provider activation campaign
Calls and WhatsApp for newly signed providers, with a nudge on every lead they have not answered.
Repeat-booking campaign
Messages to buyers after a completed job suggesting the next booking, timed to the season the job comes round again, such as AC servicing before summer.
Search and map campaign
Google Business Profile for local presence, local pages and search ads for the services you host.
Trade association campaign
For B2B marketplaces, outreach to associations of manufacturers or traders to bring in verified suppliers in bulk.
Beyond search
Where we reach buyers of marketplace platforms, beyond Google.
Search matters, but it is rarely the only way this industry's buyers find a supplier.
Associations, unions and cooperatives of providers
A list of electrician unions, tutor groups, transport associations and trader bodies in your chosen locality, with a joining pitch their leaders can pass on.
Resident welfare associations and apartment groups
A note for the secretary or WhatsApp admin of each apartment complex in the launch area, saying which service is now bookable and how.
Training institutes and ITIs
Introductions to the ITI, polytechnic or skill centre that trains the electricians, technicians or beauticians you need, so graduates hear of you before they set up alone.
Industry bodies for B2B supply
Outreach to the chamber or trade body whose members you want as verified sellers, with a plain statement of what the commission covers.
Local influencers and community admins
A plan for the neighbourhood Facebook pages and city WhatsApp communities your buyers read, with a post the admin is willing to share.
Who it is for
This is written for these marketplace platforms.
- Home and local services marketplaces
- B2B sourcing and trade marketplaces
- Freelancer and professional talent marketplaces
- Rental and equipment-sharing platforms
- Tutor, coach and course marketplaces
- Used goods and vehicle marketplaces
- Farm produce and agri input marketplaces
- Event, wedding and vendor discovery platforms
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- You want a guaranteed Google ranking or a guaranteed number of leads. Nobody honest can promise either.
- You need enquiries by next week and have nobody to answer them.
- You want posts and reach reported, not enquiries and orders.
How it works
How the work runs for marketplace platforms
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Read your categories and drop-offs
Your categories, your localities and the points where providers and buyers drop off are read first.
- 2
Choose the first market
One locality and one category to fill, agreed with you, with entry numbers for each side.
- 3
Build onboarding and pages
The provider kit, buyer landing pages and review routine.
- 4
Run the launch
Telecalling, hyperlocal ads, field visits and partner introductions.
- 5
Check leakage and repeat
Repeat bookings and providers who go quiet are read side by side, and the follow-up message is changed to match.
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions marketplace platforms ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Is this the same as marketing an online store?
Should we launch in many cities at once?
How do we stop transactions moving off the platform?
Do you build marketplace apps?
Can you help us sign up sellers for a B2B marketplace?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
Part of Other. See the other industries in the sector.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.