AMA: Etsy Senior Director, Product Marketing, Maureen Sitterson on Go-To-Market Strategy

Bundled product launches have been a focus for us at Etsy this year! We recently shared "what's new on Etsy" in our Seller Handbook and supported the launch across our seller marketing channels. In order to create a bundled launch, you can either take a "top down" approach (start with the messages you want to deliver, and find products that fit those messages) OR a "bottoms up" approach (start with the features you have, and determine what stories they can tell your customers). We often do a bit ...Read More

The key building blocks in a GTM are customer insights, building a strong value proposition and positioning, and developing a strong rollout or launch plan. Leading with what customers want and need is one of the most critical aspects of a GTM - without that foundation, it's much more difficult to deliver a strong launch to customers. At Etsy we focus on customer problems and how a feature or an experience is delivering on solving that customer problem. It's helpful to ask ourselves, why are we ...Read More

Post-launch analysis and adjustment/pivoting is key to being a successful product marketer. If we aren't seeing expected results post-launch, it's critical that we first understand why we're not seeing expected results. After we dig into why we're not seeing expected results, then we can develop a plan to pivot. One example of this was when we launched the Gift Mode feature on Etsy to help buyers give better gifts. After launch, we saw that buyers weren't easily finding the feature which was res ...Read More

Yes, we always create a risk and mitigation plan for a GTM strategy. For instance, if we expect that our audience may have feedback about a particular feature launch, we will give our audiences an opportunity to provide feedback. If there is a problem with an element of a feature, our seller community in particular is quick to let us know, and we can make improvements quickly! We also always develop reactive communications for our customer service agents to use so that we can quickly respond to ...Read More

Unbundling requires articulating the specific value of a feature -and why it's different and special. Asking yourself questions like, how does this ladder up to the brand? How does this align to our corporate and company narrative? How does this feature solve a specific user challenge? What magic does this feature create for the user? If you can ask and answer those questions, it will help you to unbundle a feature and position it on its own. Showing the unique customer value that a feature deli ...Read More