A bit of a cold marketing hack I stumbled upon recently: marketplaces where your target customers are selling are also places where they can buy. I always presumed that sellers in a marketplace are there only to sell, and consumers only to buy. But sellers are also buyers outside of their selling jobs. They need to consume stuff too.  And a marketplace, in it’s most traditional form, is a place where people gather, sell some, buy some. There’s no strict separation.

This might come as plain obvious perhaps, but personally when it comes to cold marketing I had always struggled to find good sources of leads. Even when I do find a community, forum, or chat group, there are strict community rules that prohibit most forms of selling and self-promotion. Bringing value to the community by participating in it as a member is a long game, and sometimes that’s not always possible. Like in this case, I’m offering to build real estate listings websites for property agents and realtor firms, but I’m not in the industry nor have anything to contribute to the community. Then what? 

That’s the part when the free space of the marketplace helps. It’s not like a community group where self-promotion is rejected. People are there to buy and sell, so the expectations are already there, and hearts potentially more open to cold emails and messages.

So far I had tried this approach on Fiverr—a global marketplace for gigs—and on Carousell—a local marketplace for all things. I’m looking to buy some copywriting services on Fiverr, but also selling web design. On Carousell, a graphic design firm messaged me to offer design services, and in reply I messaged back my offer to develop their website. And marketplaces are a great source of leads, all available for you to cold message them directly! In just today, I reached out to 43 property agents on Carousell to sell them a web design service to build a listings website for their property portfolio. What freedom! No annoying community rules! Not having to feel bad too, because people are not strictly against it. 

So, need to cold call people? Look for marketplaces where your customers are selling. They might just be open to buying as well.