Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Every marketing guru will tell you the same thing: "Test Facebook ads, optimize your SEO, and scale what works." Sounds logical, right? That's exactly what I believed when I started helping B2B SaaS companies grow their user base.
But here's what actually happened: I watched client after client burn through marketing budgets testing "proven" channels that worked for other companies, only to see mediocre results and frustrated founders wondering why their CAC was through the roof.
The breaking point came when I was working with a B2B SaaS client who had a solid product but was struggling with acquisition. We tried the textbook approach - multiple channels, audience targeting, the whole playbook. But something was fundamentally broken in their conversion funnel, and it took me diving deep into their analytics to realize we were optimizing for the wrong thing entirely.
That's when I discovered that distribution strategy isn't about choosing channels - it's about finding where your specific audience already pays attention and building your presence there. Most businesses fail at channel selection because they're copying strategies instead of understanding their unique market dynamics.
In this playbook, you'll learn:
Why the "test everything" approach kills your budget and momentum
My framework for identifying channels where your competitors can't follow
How to discover hidden growth engines that most companies miss
The real reason why LinkedIn personal branding outperformed paid ads for my client
A systematic approach to validate channels before you invest serious money
This isn't about following someone else's playbook - it's about building your own distribution strategy that actually works for your business. Let's dive into why most channel selection advice is broken and what I learned from helping startups find their real growth engines.
Industry Reality
What every startup founder gets told about marketing channels
Walk into any startup accelerator or read any growth marketing blog, and you'll hear the same advice repeated like gospel: "Test multiple channels, double down on what works, and scale aggressively." The conventional wisdom sounds something like this:
Test Facebook and Google Ads first - they have the most sophisticated targeting and largest audiences
Invest in SEO for long-term growth - organic traffic is "free" and compounds over time
Build a content marketing engine - establish thought leadership and attract inbound leads
Leverage social media - build community and engage with your audience where they hang out
Try email marketing and partnerships - low-cost ways to reach warm audiences
This advice exists because it's based on success stories from companies that scaled using these channels. When you read case studies about how Company X grew from zero to millions using Facebook ads, it's natural to think "I should try Facebook ads too."
The problem? This approach treats channel selection like a shopping list instead of a strategic decision. It assumes that what worked for one company will work for another, ignoring fundamental differences in product, market, timing, and competition.
Here's where conventional wisdom falls apart: most businesses end up spreading their resources too thin across multiple "proven" channels instead of dominating one channel that actually fits their business. They optimize for vanity metrics like impressions and clicks rather than understanding where their ideal customers actually make purchasing decisions.
Even worse, this approach ignores product-channel fit entirely. A complex B2B software solution that requires education and trust-building can't succeed with the same channel strategy as a simple e-commerce product. But somehow, everyone gets the same generic advice.
The result? Founders waste months and thousands of dollars testing channels that were never going to work for their specific situation, while missing opportunities in channels that could have been game-changers.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The wake-up call came when I was working with a B2B SaaS client who was spending significant budget on what looked like a solid acquisition strategy. They had multiple channels running - Facebook ads, Google ads, some SEO content, the works. On paper, everything looked right.
But when I dug into their analytics, I found something that completely changed how I think about channel selection. They had tons of "direct" traffic conversions with no clear attribution. Most consultants would have started throwing money at paid ads or doubling down on SEO to scale what seemed to be working.
Instead, I got curious about those mysterious direct conversions. After analyzing the data more carefully, I developed a hypothesis that nobody wanted to hear: a significant portion of their quality leads were actually coming from the founder's personal branding on LinkedIn.
The "direct" conversions weren't really direct at all. They were people who had been following the founder's content, building trust over time, then typing the URL directly when they were ready to buy. But because there's no attribution model for "I've been reading this person's insights for three months," it showed up as direct traffic.
This was frustrating because it meant their most effective channel was completely invisible in their analytics. Meanwhile, they were optimizing and spending money on channels that brought in users who signed up for trials but didn't convert to paid plans. The economics just didn't work.
That's when I realized something critical: we were treating their SaaS like an e-commerce product when it's actually a trust-based service. You're not selling a one-time purchase; you're asking someone to integrate your solution into their daily workflow. They need to trust you enough not just to sign up, but to stick around long enough to experience that "aha" moment.
Cold users from ads and SEO typically used the service only on their first day, then abandoned it. But warm leads from LinkedIn personal branding showed much stronger engagement patterns. The difference wasn't in the channel mechanics - it was in the relationship-building that happened before they ever clicked through to the website.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Once I understood that distribution is about relationship-building rather than traffic generation, I developed a completely different approach to channel selection. Instead of testing everything, I created a framework for identifying channels where you can build genuine competitive advantages.
Step 1: Audit Your Real Acquisition Sources
Don't trust "direct" traffic at face value. I spent weeks analyzing user behavior patterns, looking for signals that revealed the true customer journey. This meant:
Tracking time between first touch and conversion (often months, not days)
Surveying customers about how they actually discovered the product
Identifying patterns in your best customers' behavior and background
Mapping out where trust was actually being built in the customer journey
Step 2: Recognize the Trust Timeline
Most SaaS products are closer to services than products. This changes everything about channel selection. I learned that cold audiences need multiple touchpoints before converting, which meant focusing on channels where you can build relationships over time rather than optimizing for immediate conversions.
The key insight: your content should build expertise and helpfulness, not just awareness. This ruled out channels focused on interruption-based marketing and pointed toward channels where you could provide ongoing value.
Step 3: Apply the Product-Channel Fit Test
I developed a simple framework: if cold users drop off after day one, you have a trust problem, not a product problem. This meant prioritizing channels where you could:
Demonstrate expertise before asking for anything
Build relationships with decision-makers over time
Share helpful insights that solve real problems
Position yourself as a resource, not just another vendor
Step 4: Focus on Channels Where You Can Be Unique
Instead of competing in red oceans like Facebook ads where everyone has the same targeting options, I looked for channels where this founder's specific expertise could shine. LinkedIn personal branding worked because:
The founder had deep industry knowledge that competitors couldn't replicate
The platform rewarded authentic expertise over ad spend
Decision-makers were already active and looking for insights
Content had a long shelf life and compound effect
The entire acquisition dynamic changed when we shifted from selling features to sharing expertise. This approach can't be copied by competitors because it's based on genuine knowledge and relationship-building, not just budget allocation.
Pattern Recognition
Look for where trust is actually being built in your customer journey
Attribution Mapping
Track the full customer journey beyond last-click attribution models
Channel-Market Fit
Test whether your product naturally fits the channel's buying behavior
Competitive Moats
Focus on channels where your unique strengths create unfair advantages
The results were dramatic once we restructured the entire acquisition approach around relationship-building rather than traffic generation. Instead of optimizing for clicks and impressions, we focused on building genuine expertise and trust in the market.
Within three months of shifting focus to LinkedIn personal branding and educational content, we saw a complete transformation in lead quality. The founder went from being unknown in the industry to being recognized as a thought leader, which created a flywheel effect that paid advertising could never match.
More importantly, customers who came through this trust-building approach showed much higher engagement and retention rates. They weren't just trying the product - they were genuinely excited to implement it because they already understood its value through the educational content.
The most unexpected result was how this approach attracted not just customers, but also partnerships, speaking opportunities, and even potential investors. When you position yourself as a helpful resource in your niche rather than just another vendor, the entire business development dynamic changes.
This taught me that the best marketing channels aren't just about reaching your audience - they're about building relationships that compound over time. While competitors were optimizing ad campaigns, we were building a sustainable competitive advantage that couldn't be copied with budget alone.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After working through this channel selection process with multiple clients, I've learned some hard truths about what actually drives sustainable growth:
Most "proven" channels fail because businesses copy tactics without understanding strategy. What matters isn't the channel itself, but how well it aligns with your product, market, and competitive position.
Attribution is a lie, relationships are real. The best growth often comes from channels that can't be properly tracked but build genuine connections with your market.
Product-channel fit is more important than product-market fit. A great product in the wrong channel will always underperform a good product in the right channel.
Sustainable competitive advantages come from channels where your unique strengths matter. If any competitor can copy your approach with enough budget, it's not a real strategy.
Focus beats testing every time. It's better to dominate one channel that works than to be mediocre across five channels that sort of work.
The best channels often look like "not marketing" to your competitors. Educational content and thought leadership don't appear in competitive intelligence reports, but they drive the highest-quality leads.
Channel selection should be based on where your audience makes decisions, not where they hang out. There's a big difference between consumption and conversion.
The biggest lesson? Stop optimizing for metrics that don't matter and start building relationships that compound. The best marketing channel is the one where you can provide ongoing value while building trust with your ideal customers.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
Start with founder-led content where expertise can shine through authentic insights
Focus on educational content that solves real problems before pitching your solution
Build relationships with decision-makers through consistent value-driven interactions
Choose channels where trust-building happens naturally over time
For your Ecommerce store
Test product-channel fit by analyzing engagement patterns beyond first-day usage
Focus on channels where you can demonstrate products in action through visuals and use cases
Prioritize channels with strong attribution to track customer journey accurately
Build social proof and reviews in channels where purchase decisions happen