Growth & Strategy
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Here's a harsh truth that most businesses discover too late: you can build the most incredible product in the world, but if nobody can find it, it's worthless.
I learned this lesson the hard way while working with an e-commerce client who had built a solid business but was completely dependent on Meta's algorithm. They had a decent ROAS of 2.5, consistent revenue, and what seemed like a stable foundation. But there was a hidden vulnerability lurking beneath the surface—their entire growth engine depended on a single platform they didn't control.
That's when I realized something fundamental about business growth: distribution trumps product quality every single time. It doesn't matter how amazing your product is if customers can't discover it through multiple pathways.
Most founders obsess over building the perfect product while treating distribution as an afterthought. They believe in the "build it and they will come" mythology. But in reality, customers need multiple touchpoints across different channels before they trust your brand enough to buy.
In this playbook, you'll learn:
Why single-channel dependency is a hidden business risk
How to build an omnichannel distribution system that compounds over time
The reality behind attribution lies and why "dark funnel" thinking matters
A step-by-step framework for expanding distribution without breaking your budget
How one client 10x'd their visibility while their Facebook ROAS mysteriously "improved"
This isn't about abandoning what's working—it's about building antifragile distribution that grows stronger with each new channel you add. Ready to break free from single-platform dependency?
Reality Check
The "single golden channel" myth that's killing businesses
Every marketing guru has their favorite distribution channel. Facebook ads experts swear by Meta. SEO consultants preach organic search. LinkedIn thought leaders push social selling. And they're all partially right—but dangerously wrong about the bigger picture.
The conventional wisdom sounds logical enough:
"Master one channel first" - Focus all your energy on the platform that's working best
"Don't dilute your efforts" - Spreading across channels means weaker performance everywhere
"Attribution tells the truth" - Whatever platform reports the conversion gets the credit and budget
"Scale what works" - If Facebook ads are profitable, just spend more on Facebook ads
"ROI is king" - Always invest in the channel with the highest immediate return
This advice exists because it's easier to measure, manage, and explain to stakeholders. Single-channel focus provides clean attribution data, predictable costs, and clear optimization paths. It's the comfortable choice.
But here's where conventional wisdom falls apart: customer journeys are messy, and attribution models are lying to you. The reality is that most customers interact with your brand across multiple touchpoints before making a purchase decision. They might see your Facebook ad, google your company name, check your reviews, visit your website directly, and finally convert through an email campaign.
The last-click attribution model gives all the credit to email, but Facebook planted the seed. Google search showed intent. Reviews built trust. Your website sealed the deal. Single-channel thinking ignores this complex reality and leaves you vulnerable to algorithm changes, policy updates, and platform instability.
More importantly, it caps your growth potential. When you max out one channel's capacity, you're stuck—unless you've built parallel distribution systems that can pick up the slack.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The client came to me with what seemed like a straightforward challenge. They were an established e-commerce business with over 1,000 SKUs, generating consistent revenue through Facebook Ads with a 2.5 ROAS. On the surface, everything looked healthy. But I could see the warning signs.
Their entire customer acquisition strategy relied on Meta's algorithm. Every morning, they'd wake up hoping their ad account was still active, their costs hadn't spiked overnight, and their targeting still worked. It was like building a house on rented land—functional until it wasn't.
The business owner knew they needed to diversify but didn't know where to start. They'd tried hiring different agencies to run Google Ads and TikTok campaigns, but nothing came close to matching their Facebook performance. Every other channel felt like starting from zero.
That's when I proposed something counterintuitive: instead of trying to find another "silver bullet" channel, we'd build a comprehensive distribution ecosystem that would make them platform-independent. The goal wasn't to replace Facebook ads but to create multiple pathways for customers to discover their brand.
But first, I had to understand their real customer journey. When I dug into their analytics, I noticed something interesting. Their "direct" traffic was substantial but unexplained. People were typing their URL directly into browsers, but we couldn't trace where they'd first heard about the company.
This is what I call the "dark funnel"—all the touchpoints and interactions that happen outside trackable attribution. A customer might see your Facebook ad at lunch, mention it to a colleague, who later googles your brand and makes a purchase. Facebook gets zero credit, but the ad was the crucial first touchpoint.
Most businesses are flying blind to this reality, making budget decisions based on incomplete data.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of optimizing their existing Facebook campaigns or testing new ad platforms, I took a completely different approach. We were going to build what I call "distribution coverage"—ensuring their brand could be discovered through every possible customer pathway.
Phase 1: SEO Foundation (Month 1)
We started with a complete website restructuring for SEO. This wasn't just about adding blog posts—we rebuilt their entire site architecture around search intent. Every product category became a content hub. Every product page was optimized for both conversion and discovery.
The key insight: their Facebook ads were bringing in customers who already had purchase intent. But there were thousands of people in the "awareness" and "consideration" phases who would never see their ads. SEO would capture these earlier-stage searchers.
Phase 2: Content Distribution (Month 2)
We developed content that served the customer journey, not just search engines. Instead of generic "Top 10" posts, we created buying guides that matched their best-selling product categories. Each piece of content was designed to funnel readers toward their product pages naturally.
But here's the crucial part: we didn't just publish on their website. Every piece of content was distributed across multiple platforms—Medium, LinkedIn, Reddit, industry forums. The goal was brand visibility, not backlinks.
Phase 3: Channel Integration (Month 3)
Instead of treating each channel as separate, we integrated them strategically. Facebook ads drove traffic to content pieces that educated prospects. Email sequences referenced blog posts that answered common questions. SEO content linked to landing pages optimized for conversion.
We also implemented proper tracking to see the full customer journey. UTM parameters, pixel tracking, and customer surveys revealed how people actually discovered their brand versus what attribution showed.
The Surprising Attribution Discovery
Within a month of implementing the SEO strategy, something fascinating happened. Facebook's reported ROAS jumped from 2.5 to 8-9. Most marketers would celebrate this "improvement," but I knew what was really happening.
SEO was driving significant traffic and conversions, but Facebook's attribution model was claiming credit for organic wins. Someone would discover the brand through Google search, research products on the website, then see a Facebook retargeting ad and make a purchase. Facebook got the conversion credit, but SEO did the heavy lifting.
This attribution overlap wasn't a bug—it was a feature. Multiple channels were working together, creating a compounding effect that made each individual channel more effective.
Attribution Lies
Facebook was claiming credit for SEO wins, revealing how channels actually work together
Coverage Strategy
Built visibility across all customer discovery pathways instead of optimizing single channels
Dark Funnel
Tracked the unmeasurable touchpoints where customers actually discover your brand
Channel Integration
Connected all platforms strategically rather than running them as separate campaigns
The results spoke for themselves, but not in the way most businesses measure success. Yes, Facebook's reported ROAS improved dramatically—but that was partly because other channels were doing the groundwork.
More importantly, total website traffic increased by 300% within three months. Direct traffic doubled, indicating stronger brand recall and word-of-mouth referrals. Organic search traffic grew consistently month-over-month, providing a stable traffic base independent of ad spend.
But the real victory was resilience. When iOS 14.5 updates disrupted Facebook tracking for many e-commerce businesses, our client barely felt the impact. Their diversified distribution system kept growing while competitors scrambled to adapt.
The business owner told me: "For the first time in years, I don't wake up worried about Facebook shutting down our ad account." That peace of mind? That's what true distribution optimization delivers.
Customer acquisition costs decreased across all channels because prospects were encountering the brand multiple times through different touchpoints, arriving more educated and ready to purchase. The compound effect of multi-channel distribution created exponential returns that single-channel optimization never could.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
This experience taught me seven crucial lessons about distribution that most businesses learn too late:
Attribution models lie - Customer journeys are complex webs, not linear funnels
Channel integration beats channel optimization - Make channels work together instead of competing
Brand recall compounds - Multiple touchpoints create exponential recognition effects
Platform risk is real - Algorithm changes can destroy single-channel businesses overnight
SEO provides stability - Organic search creates consistent traffic that compounds over time
Distribution coverage beats channel mastery - Better to be present everywhere than perfect somewhere
Dark funnel awareness is crucial - Measure brand mentions, direct traffic, and customer surveys, not just attribution
The biggest mistake I see businesses make is treating distribution channels like isolated experiments instead of integrated systems. Start thinking about your entire distribution ecosystem, not individual channel performance.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups, implement this distribution approach by:
Building SEO around product use cases and integration pages
Creating content that serves the entire customer journey, not just top-of-funnel
Using trial conversions to fund broader distribution experiments
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores, focus distribution efforts on:
Product-focused SEO content that captures high-intent searches
Multi-platform content distribution to build brand awareness
Integrated tracking to understand true customer acquisition paths