Zero-to-One Launch · Hybrid GTM Motion · Gojek
Gojek is Southeast Asia's leading super app, offering transportation, food delivery, payments, and commerce services
Transforming SMB Advertising Through a Product-Led Self-Serve Platform
Led the go-to-market strategy for Gojek's first self-serve advertising platform, transforming advertising from a sales-led service into a scalable product-led growth motion through customer research, product strategy, positioning, and lifecycle activation
- Role
- Product and Growth Marketing Manager
- My ownership
- Led customer research, ICP definition, positioning, messaging, GTM strategy, launch planning, and sales enablement — partnering with Product, Engineering, Sales, Lifecycle Marketing, Customer Success, Design, and Analytics to launch and scale the self-serve advertising platform
THE CHALLENGE
Despite SMBs representing the majority of Gojek's merchant base, advertising adoption remained at just 5%, leaving 30–40% of advertising inventory underutilized.
The initial assumption was that SMBs weren't interested in advertising. Customer research revealed a different reality. Merchants wanted to grow but perceived advertising as complicated, expensive, and designed for large brands. At the same time, the sales-assisted model couldn't scale to support thousands of SMB merchants.
The challenge wasn't creating demand; it was removing friction and giving merchants the confidence to advertise independently.
THE INSIGHT
Growth-oriented SMBs didn't need more sales support. They needed a product that felt simple enough to use on their own.
The biggest adoption barrier wasn't awareness; it was confidence.
This shifted our strategy from scaling sales capacity to scaling product adoption.
THE APPROACH
From evidence to execution.
- 01
Define the Right Customer
Partnered with Sales, Customer Success, and Analytics to identify merchants most likely to adopt self-serve advertising, prioritizing digitally mature SMBs actively investing in business growth.
- 02
Reduce Adoption Friction
Worked with Product and Engineering to prioritize features that directly addressed customer barriers, including guided campaign creation, pre-configured campaign bundles, and an ROI dashboard.
- 03
Build Positioning Around Simplicity
Positioned the platform as an accessible business growth tool by emphasizing simplicity, affordability, and merchant empowerment instead of advertising features.
- 04
Launch an Education-Led GTM Motion
Designed a lifecycle-led launch strategy combining webinars, product demos, merchant success stories, onboarding journeys, in-product education, and sales enablement to build merchant confidence before driving adoption.
- 05
Align the Organization
Aligned Product, Sales, Marketing, Lifecycle, Customer Success, Design, and Analytics around a shared launch strategy while positioning self-serve as an account expansion opportunity rather than a replacement for the sales motion.
POSITIONING & MESSAGING ARCHITECTURE
STRATEGIC ARTIFACT / RECONSTRUCTED
"Now you can run ads yourself, like a big brand in just a few clicks"
THE OUTCOME
The self-serve platform increased SMB advertising adoption from 5% to 17.5% in three months, exceeding the 15% launch goal, improving inventory utilization by 23%, and generating 8,000+ incremental merchant orders
Measurement note: SMB adoption figures reflect the first three months post-launch. Inventory utilization and merchant orders were measured across the self-serve platform launch period.
WHAT I CARRY FORWARD
Customers don't adopt products simply because they're available. They adopt them when they feel confident using them. For self-serve products, success comes from reducing friction, simplifying the experience, and building customer confidence through the right combination of product, positioning, and education.