Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
When I started working with a B2B SaaS client who was burning through their marketing budget on Facebook ads with mediocre results, they asked me the question every founder eventually faces: "What marketing channel should we focus on?"
Sound familiar? Most founders I work with are either throwing money at the obvious channels (paid ads, content marketing) or jumping between tactics without any systematic approach. They're essentially playing marketing roulette with their runway.
That's when I introduced them to something that completely changed how we approached their growth strategy: the Bullseye Method. Instead of guessing or following what competitors were doing, we systematically tested channels to find their unique growth engine.
The result? We discovered that founder-led content on LinkedIn was driving 10x better conversion rates than their expensive Facebook campaigns. Something they would have never prioritized based on "industry best practices."
Here's what you'll learn from our systematic channel discovery process:
Why the conventional "spray and pray" approach to marketing channels wastes 80% of your budget
The step-by-step Bullseye Method framework I use with clients to find their hidden growth channels
Real examples of unconventional channels that outperformed "obvious" choices
How to run quick, cheap experiments to validate channels before committing serious resources
The common mistakes that make the Bullseye Method fail (and how to avoid them)
If you're tired of watching competitors succeed with channels you dismissed or wondering why your marketing feels like throwing spaghetti at the wall, this systematic approach will give you the clarity you need to focus your efforts where they'll actually move the needle.
Industry Reality
What every startup founder thinks they know about growth channels
Walk into any startup accelerator or scroll through any growth marketing blog, and you'll hear the same advice repeated like gospel:
"Focus on 1-2 channels and master them."
Sounds logical, right? The problem is, most founders pick their channels based on what they've heard works for other companies, not what actually works for their specific business, audience, and market timing.
Here's the typical approach I see everywhere:
Content Marketing - Everyone needs a blog, right? Start writing helpful articles and the leads will come
Paid Ads - Facebook and Google ads are the "fastest way to scale"
Social Media - Build a following on Twitter/LinkedIn and convert followers to customers
Email Marketing - Build a list and nurture leads with sequences
SEO - Rank for keywords your customers are searching for
This conventional wisdom exists because these channels have worked for someone, and success stories get amplified. Every unicorn startup has a story about how they "cracked" one of these channels.
But here's what the case studies don't tell you: for every success story, there are hundreds of companies that failed with the exact same approach. The difference isn't the channel itself - it's whether that channel aligns with their specific business model, target audience, and competitive landscape.
The real problem with this "pick the obvious channels" approach is that it skips the most crucial step: systematic validation. Instead of testing what actually works for your unique situation, you're betting your entire marketing budget on assumptions.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
Let me tell you about Sarah, founder of a B2B SaaS tool for HR teams. When I started working with her, she was following the startup playbook to the letter: burning $3,000/month on Facebook ads, posting daily on Twitter, and publishing weekly blog posts.
The numbers looked "decent" on paper - decent click-through rates, some trial signups, a few conversions. But decent wasn't going to get them to their next funding milestone. They needed to find their 10x channel.
Sarah's assumption was simple: "HR managers are on Facebook, so Facebook ads should work." Logical, but wrong. The ads were bringing in trial users, but they weren't converting to paid plans. The cost per acquisition was too high to be sustainable.
Here's what we discovered when we dug deeper into their "direct" traffic in analytics: a significant portion of their highest-quality leads weren't coming from ads at all. They were typing the URL directly after seeing Sarah share insights about HR challenges on LinkedIn.
The breakthrough moment: Sarah had been posting about HR trends on her personal LinkedIn for months, not as a marketing strategy, but just sharing her expertise. Those posts were building trust and authority with her exact target audience - HR directors and VPs who had budget authority.
But because these conversions showed up as "direct traffic" in analytics, she had no idea this was her best performing channel. She was essentially optimizing the wrong channel while ignoring her best one.
This is exactly why the Bullseye Method exists. Without a systematic approach to test and measure all possible channels, you end up like Sarah - throwing money at the obvious choices while your real growth engine goes unnoticed.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After seeing this pattern repeat with multiple clients, I developed a systematic approach to implement the Bullseye Method. Here's the exact process I use:
Phase 1: Channel Brainstorming (Week 1)
First, I create what I call the "Channel Universe Map" with the client. We list every conceivable way their target customers might discover them - not just the obvious digital channels, but everything from industry events to cold email to partnership referrals.
For Sarah's HR SaaS, our list included 23 potential channels, including some unconventional ones like:
Speaking at HR conferences
Guest posting on HR industry publications
LinkedIn personal branding (which we almost missed!)
Partnerships with HR consultants
Direct mail to HR departments
Phase 2: The Three-Circle Prioritization (Week 2)
This is where most people get the Bullseye Method wrong. They try to test everything at once. Instead, I use three circles to prioritize:
Inner Circle (Test First): Channels where we can run meaningful experiments in 2-4 weeks with less than $500 budget. For Sarah, this included LinkedIn content, direct outreach, and guest posting.
Middle Circle (Test Second): Channels requiring more time or budget but still feasible to test in 1-2 months. This included speaking at virtual events, podcast guesting, and partnership outreach.
Outer Circle (Test Later): Channels requiring significant investment or longer timeframes. This included conference speaking, content marketing SEO, and product-led growth features.
Phase 3: Rapid Experiment Design (Week 3-6)
For each Inner Circle channel, we designed specific experiments with clear success metrics:
LinkedIn Personal Branding Experiment:
Sarah would post 3x/week for 4 weeks about HR challenges and solutions
We'd track profile views, connection requests, and website visits with UTM parameters
Success metric: 10+ qualified demo requests attributed to LinkedIn content
Direct Outreach Experiment:
Personalized emails to 100 HR directors at companies fitting our ideal customer profile
A/B test two different email approaches
Success metric: 5% response rate and 2+ demo bookings
Phase 4: The Measurement Framework
Here's the critical part most people miss: you can't just track "leads." You need to track quality and full-funnel impact. For each experiment, we tracked:
Top-of-funnel: Reach, engagement, traffic
Middle-of-funnel: Lead quality score, demo booking rate
Bottom-of-funnel: Trial conversion, time to upgrade, LTV
The LinkedIn experiment didn't just generate more leads - it generated better leads. HR VPs who discovered Sarah through her LinkedIn content converted to paid plans 3x faster than leads from Facebook ads.
Channel Mapping
Brainstorm all 20+ possible channels before testing anything - most founders miss 60% of viable options
Experiment Design
Structure quick 2-4 week tests with clear success metrics and budget caps under $500
Quality Metrics
Track lead quality and full-funnel impact - not just volume. LinkedIn leads converted 3x faster than ads
Resource Focus
Concentrate 80% of resources on your proven channel while testing 20% on new experiments
The results from our systematic channel testing were dramatic and immediate:
LinkedIn Personal Branding Results (4 weeks):
Sarah's LinkedIn posts generated 47 demo requests
12 converted to paid trials (25% conversion rate vs 8% from Facebook)
Average time from demo to paid plan: 12 days vs 31 days from ads
Cost per acquisition: $23 (time investment) vs $340 from Facebook ads
The Unexpected Discovery: We found that HR executives were much more likely to book demos when they felt like they "knew" Sarah through her content. The trust-building aspect of personal branding created a completely different buying dynamic than cold ads.
Within 8 weeks, Sarah shifted 80% of her marketing efforts to LinkedIn content and strategic partnerships (another winning channel we discovered). She was able to cut her Facebook ad spend from $3,000 to $500/month while doubling her monthly recurring revenue.
The most important result wasn't the metrics - it was the clarity. Instead of spreading efforts across multiple "best practice" channels, Sarah could focus intensely on the channels that actually worked for her specific business and audience.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here's what I learned about implementing the Bullseye Method after working with dozens of startups:
Most founders test too few channels: They stick to the "obvious" 3-4 digital channels and miss opportunities. Always brainstorm 15+ possibilities first.
Speed beats perfection in testing: A rough 2-week experiment teaches you more than 6 months of "planning the perfect campaign."
Attribution is broken but patterns aren't: Don't trust analytics alone. Look for patterns in your best customers' discovery stories.
Channel-message fit matters more than channel selection: The same channel can fail with the wrong message and succeed with the right one.
Timing affects channel viability: A channel that doesn't work today might work in 6 months when your product or market position changes.
Personal founder brands often outperform company marketing: Especially in B2B, people buy from people they trust.
The best channels often feel "too simple": Founders dismiss effective channels because they seem obvious or unglamorous.
The biggest mistake I see? Abandoning the method too early. Channel discovery is an ongoing process, not a one-time project. What works changes as your product evolves, your market matures, and new channels emerge.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing the Bullseye Method:
Start with founder-led personal branding on LinkedIn - often the highest ROI channel for B2B
Test direct outreach with personalized messaging before scaling paid campaigns
Track trial-to-paid conversion rates by channel, not just lead volume
Consider partnership channels with complementary SaaS tools in your space
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores using the Bullseye Method:
Test influencer partnerships before scaling social media ads
Experiment with email marketing to existing customers before acquiring new ones
Consider marketplace channels (Amazon, Etsy) as potential testing grounds
Track customer lifetime value by channel to optimize for quality over quantity