Growth & Strategy
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
When I started working with an e-commerce client who was completely dependent on Facebook Ads, everything looked decent on paper. They had a 2.5 ROAS and consistent revenue—most marketers would call that acceptable.
But I knew there was a hidden vulnerability lurking beneath those numbers. Their entire growth engine depended on Meta's algorithm and ad costs. One policy change, one account suspension, or one algorithm update could destroy their business overnight.
That's when I realized something most businesses get wrong: they're optimizing for the wrong metrics. Everyone talks about ROAS and cost per acquisition, but nobody talks about distribution resilience. You know what's scarier than a 2.0 ROAS? Having all your eggs in one basket.
So I did something counterintuitive. Instead of trying to improve their Facebook performance, I spent three months building what they'd been missing: a comprehensive distribution system. The result? Their Facebook's "reported" ROAS jumped from 2.5 to 8-9. But here's the twist—it wasn't because Facebook got better.
In this playbook, you'll learn:
Why single-channel dependency is a business killer (even when it's working)
The "dark funnel" reality that destroys attribution models
My exact 3-month distribution overhaul process
How to embrace messy customer journeys instead of fighting them
The shift from control to coverage that actually drives growth
This isn't about finding Facebook alternatives. It's about building antifragile distribution that gets stronger under pressure.
Industry Reality
What marketers think cross-channel means
When most marketers hear "cross-channel advertising," they think about running the same campaign across Facebook, Google, and maybe LinkedIn. They're missing the point entirely.
Here's what the industry typically recommends:
Multi-platform campaigns - Run similar creatives across Facebook, Google Ads, and Instagram
Attribution modeling - Use fancy tools to track which channel gets "credit" for conversions
Budget allocation - Shift spend based on last-click attribution data
Creative consistency - Maintain brand coherence across all touchpoints
Unified reporting - Dashboard everything into one clean view
This conventional wisdom exists because agencies need to show clear ROI to clients, and attribution tools give them pretty charts to point at. It feels scientific and controlled.
But here's where this approach falls apart in practice: real customer journeys aren't linear. People don't see your Facebook ad, click, and buy. They see your ad, Google your brand, read reviews, visit your site, leave, see a retargeting ad, check your Instagram, get an email, and maybe—maybe—make a purchase two weeks later.
Traditional cross-channel strategies try to control and track this chaos. My approach? Embrace the chaos and build distribution everywhere they already are.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
This e-commerce client came to me with what looked like a success story. They were doing consistent revenue through Facebook Ads with a 2.5 ROAS, which isn't terrible for e-commerce. But I could see the writing on the wall.
Their business model was essentially "rent customers from Facebook." Every month, they paid Meta for access to their audience. The moment they stopped paying or Meta changed something, their business would flatline. I'd seen this movie before, and it doesn't end well.
The client had tried other channels before I arrived. They'd thrown money at Google Ads without success. Their SEO was basically non-existent. Their email list was tiny. They had zero organic social presence. Classic case of putting all their eggs in the Facebook basket because it was working—until it wouldn't be.
Here's what they were doing wrong: treating each channel as an isolated campaign. They'd run Facebook ads, then separately try Google Ads, then wonder why Google "didn't work." They were thinking in silos instead of thinking about customer touchpoints across their entire journey.
The breaking point came when their Facebook ad account got restricted for a week due to a policy violation that wasn't even their fault. Their revenue dropped to almost zero overnight. That's when they realized they didn't have a marketing strategy—they had a Facebook dependency.
I knew I had to approach this differently. Instead of optimizing their existing Facebook campaigns or finding "alternatives," I needed to build them a distribution system that would make their business antifragile.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's exactly what I did during that three-month distribution overhaul. This wasn't about replacing Facebook—it was about building a system where Facebook became one piece of a larger puzzle.
Month 1: SEO Foundation
I started with complete website restructuring for SEO optimization. Not just adding blog posts, but thinking about every page as a potential entry point. We mapped out their entire product catalog and created landing pages targeting specific search intent.
The key insight? Your website architecture should follow search behavior, not company org charts. Instead of the typical homepage → category → product flow, we built pages around how people actually search for their products.
Month 2: Content Distribution Engine
We developed a full e-commerce SEO strategy focused on search intent, not just brand messaging. Every piece of content had multiple jobs: rank for keywords, educate customers, and serve as ad landing pages.
But here's the crucial part—we designed this content to work across channels. The same blog post that ranked on Google became the foundation for Facebook ad creative, email newsletters, and social media posts. One piece of content, multiple distribution channels.
Month 3: The Attribution Reality Check
Within a month of implementing the SEO strategy, something interesting happened. Facebook's reported ROAS jumped from 2.5 to 8-9. The client was celebrating their "improved ad performance," but I knew better.
Here's what was really happening: SEO was driving significant traffic and conversions, but Facebook's attribution model was claiming credit for organic wins. People were seeing Facebook ads, then Googling the brand, finding our new SEO content, and converting. Facebook saw the conversion and took credit.
This taught me the most important lesson about cross-channel advertising: forget about attribution. Focus on coverage.
Attribution Lies
Facebook was claiming credit for conversions that started with organic search. The dark funnel is real—embrace it instead of fighting it.
Coverage Strategy
Built touchpoints across Google, email, social, and retargeting. More channels = more opportunities for customers to discover and trust your brand.
SEO Integration
Structured content to work across channels. Same blog post ranked on Google, became Facebook ad creative, and filled email newsletters.
Antifragile Distribution
When Facebook had issues, revenue stayed stable because customers could find us through multiple channels. No single point of failure.
The real results weren't just in the numbers—they were in the business resilience. Within 90 days, we had transformed a fragile, single-channel business into an antifragile distribution machine.
Quantitative Results:
Facebook's "reported" ROAS increased from 2.5 to 8-9 (due to better attribution overlap)
Organic traffic increased by 300% over 3 months
Email list grew from 500 to 5,000 subscribers
Direct traffic doubled as brand awareness improved
Qualitative Changes:
More importantly, the business became recession-proof. When Facebook had issues or costs increased, revenue stayed stable. Customer acquisition wasn't dependent on any single platform's algorithm or policy changes.
The client could now negotiate from a position of strength with ad platforms instead of being held hostage by them. They had options.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons from building antifragile distribution systems:
Stop believing in attribution models - Customer journeys are messy. Focus on covering all touchpoints instead of tracking credit.
Think touchpoints, not channels - Map where your customers spend time, then show up there consistently.
Content should work everywhere - Create once, distribute many times across different formats and channels.
Build for resilience, not optimization - A 2.0 ROAS across five channels beats a 4.0 ROAS on one channel.
Organic compounds, paid doesn't - SEO and content marketing get stronger over time. Paid ads stop working when you stop paying.
The dark funnel is your friend - People research before buying. Make sure they find you during that research phase.
Distribution beats optimization - It's better to be good everywhere than perfect somewhere.
This approach works best for businesses with longer consideration cycles and repeat purchase potential. If you're selling impulse purchases to new customers every time, single-channel optimization might still make sense.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies implementing cross-channel distribution:
Map your customer research journey—B2B buyers evaluate 3-5 solutions before deciding
Create comparison and alternative pages for SEO while running paid campaigns
Use retargeting to nurture long sales cycles across multiple touchpoints
Build thought leadership content that works for both organic discovery and ad creative
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores building omnichannel presence:
Start with product-focused SEO while running social commerce campaigns
Create category and comparison pages that serve both search and paid traffic
Build email flows that nurture customers across their entire lifecycle
Use customer reviews and UGC across all channels for social proof