Why do some marketplace launches make waves while others slip by unnoticed? The difference often comes down to marketing.
When marketing leaders shape the listing, guide campaign strategy, and frame the announcement, a Cloud GTM motion becomes a true growth lever rather than just another sales channel.
Here are five ways to bring your marketing team into the process and create a stronger, more visible cloud GTM strategy.
#1 Make your listing a storefront, not a spec sheet
Your product listing might be the first touchpoint a cloud buyer has with your company. Treat it as a marketing asset, not just a technical requirement.
Product marketing teams can help:
- Shape messaging
- Streamline value propositions
- Highlight differentiators that match what buyers expect to see in a marketplace
A listing that reads like a spec sheet won’t inspire confidence. Instead, think of it as a digital storefront. That means strong headlines, clear positioning, and proof points that match marketplace buyer priorities like speed, cost efficiency, and security.
Teams that build listings without marketing support often end up revisiting copy after launch. Involving product marketing upfront reduces rework and ensures your storefront speaks the same language as the rest of your brand.
#2 Segment smarter with marketplace insights
Once you’re building your Cloud GTM motion, the next step is knowing which audiences to prioritize. Tackle Prospect surfaces which prospects and customers already have committed cloud spend, helping teams decide where to focus co-sell efforts and how to target overall. That insight changes how marketing leaders plan segmentation and budget allocation.
Instead of running broad campaigns, you can prioritize accounts that have both a business need and an incentive to buy through a marketplace. Committed spend gives buyers a reason to purchase your software this way, and it gives your marketing team a way to explain why cloud routes matter.
For example, as you’re reviewing upcoming quarterly campaigns, leveraging cloudigraphic data can help surface accounts your marketing and sales teams should work on together. That saves spend and makes it easier for sales and marketing to align on messaging.
#3 Turn your listing launch into a moment
A marketplace launch is not a minor update. It’s an opportunity to showcase your cloud partnerships, your customer commitment and the new ways buyers can work with you. Marketing teams should treat the announcement like any other major milestone, with LinkedIn posts, press coverage, and coordinated blog content.
A strong launch announcement should answer:
- What does your product do and who is the right fit?
- Why are you selling on marketplace, and how does this help buyers?
- How does this support customer initiatives, such as cloud-first strategies or budget alignment?
Well-rounded announcements often include quotes from your executive team, a marketplace partner, and ideally a customer. If you’re not sure what this looks like, some strong examples include:
- Authomize highlighted buyer benefits with data
- CoreStack emphasized partnership with Google Cloud Marketplace
- Fastly focused on a selling point about being the first product of its kind to be listed on GCP
- OpsLevel explained how marketplace transactions support cloud commit burndown
Your marketing team can also plan follow-ups: trickle mentions into other blogs, link to the listing in press releases, or schedule drip campaigns that keep marketplace visibility high beyond day one.
#4 Stretch your budget with MDF
AWS and other cloud providers offer market development funds (MDF) to support co-marketing activities. These funds can reimburse up to 50% of eligible spend for campaigns tied to your marketplace offering.
For marketing leaders, this is a chance to stretch budgets while deepening partnerships. Examples of eligible activities include sponsored content, events, or digital advertising that features your AWS Marketplace listing.
The key is to build MDF into planning early. Marketing teams that wait until after launch often miss windows for reimbursement or don’t have enough lead time to design campaigns. By involving marketing from the beginning, you can map activities to MDF criteria and secure funds before campaigns go live.
#5 Put buy-with buttons where buyers can see them
A marketplace listing is valuable, but buyers still need reminders of how to transact. Adding “Buy with AWS,” “Buy with Azure,” or “Buy with Google Cloud” buttons to your product pages, landing pages, and campaign assets reduces friction and makes the transaction path clear.
This isn’t only a design choice. Marketing teams can help integrate calls-to-action, test placement across your website, and drive campaigns that direct traffic to those buttons. The goal is to normalize marketplace purchasing as one of several equal buying routes.
When buyers are already inclined to use their cloud commit, a missing or buried button can mean a lost opportunity. Keeping your website up to date ensures prospects know that marketplace is a simple, supported option.
Marketing as a core part of your Cloud GTM Strategy
A Cloud GTM strategy is more than just a sales channel—it’s a coordinated motion across sales, partnerships, product, and marketing. When marketing is engaged from the start, teams can influence how the listing is built, use data to target the right audiences, promote launches with intent, extend budget with MDF, and guide buyers toward seamless purchase paths.
By treating marketing as a partner, not an afterthought, companies position themselves to reach the right customers in the right way, and to realize the full impact of their marketplace strategy.
Ready to bring your marketing team into the marketplace motion? Discover how Tackle Prospect can guide campaign segmentation and help marketing teams reach the right accounts.
