13: Ways to nail your product positioning: Insights from Sjoerd Handgraaf, chief marketing officer at Sharetribe

Marketing Beyond with Alan B. Hart

How do you determine your product's market value beyond its features?

In today’s episode, Alan and Sjoerd Handgraaf, Sharetribe's chief marketing officer (CMO), discuss Sharetribe’s origins, product evolution, and how Sjoerd’s team identified its ideal product positioning by evaluating the true value it provides to marketplace founders. Sjoerd shares insights into the unique dynamics of building and branding two-sided marketplaces and explains how a “give first, ask later” philosophy has helped Sharetribe develop trust and lasting relationships with its community.

Sjoerd grew up as a do-it-yourself (DIY) punk rocker in a steel town in the Netherlands. He originally planned to become an English teacher, but love brought him to Finland, where he discovered the startup world. With his DIY background, Sjoerd joined Sharetribe as the first marketing hire in 2016 and became CMO in 2020. Sharetribe is a software as a service (SaaS) solution that aims to democratize the sharing economy by empowering marketplace founders with a no-code platform builder.

Key quotes:

“We just put value out in the world, and we hope that convinces people to at least give us a try.” - Sjoerd Handgraaf, chief marketing officer at Sharetribe

“Look at what your [product’s] unique benefits are compared to those [competitive alternatives] and then try to wrap those [benefits] in value, not features. A lot of tech marketers are quite fond of listing the features, but what is the value that [the feature] unlocks? What is the thing that it gives to customers?”” - Sjoerd Handgraaf, chief marketing officer at Sharetribe

In this episode, you'll learn:

Common pitfalls to avoid when starting a marketplace business

How to conduct an objective self-assessment to clarify positioning

Sjoerd’s tips for marketers on navigating AI

Key highlights:

[00:30] Introduction

[01:38] A punk record label mogul

[03:00] The Dutch directness

[05:15] Sjoerd’s path to Sharetribe

[09:17] Who does Sharetribe serve?

[10:40] Sharetribe’s origin story

[16:30] How to get the product positioning right

[33:27] The notion of “give first, ask later”

[28:25] Why marketing is moving back to basics

[31:15] Lessons learned from Two-Sided: The marketplace podcast

[36:15] An experience that defines you: Being a DIY punk

[37:20] Advice to your younger self: Be even more entrepreneurial

[38:05] A topic marketers need to learn more about: AI is unavoidable

[42:55] Subcultures and trends to follow: No-Code and Indie Hackers

[44:35] Largest opportunity and threat to marketers today: Leveling up with AI

Resources mentioned:

Sjoerd Handgraaf

Sharetribe

Two-sided: The Marketplace Podcast

The Lean Marketplace

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