Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Most businesses think distribution is about finding the right marketing channel. Facebook ads, SEO, cold email - pick one and master it, right? Wrong.
After working with dozens of SaaS and e-commerce clients, I've learned that the companies that actually scale are the ones that treat distribution like infrastructure, not tactics. They don't rely on a single channel - they build systems that create multiple pathways for customers to discover them.
The problem? Everyone's obsessing over the latest growth hack while ignoring the fundamental truth: distribution beats product quality every time. You can have the best product in the world, but if people can't find it, it doesn't matter.
In this playbook, I'll walk you through exactly how I helped clients build distribution networks that generated consistent, predictable growth - including one e-commerce store that went from 300 monthly visitors to over 5,000 in three months using a multi-channel approach.
Here's what you'll learn:
Why single-channel strategies are killing your growth potential
The framework I use to identify low-competition distribution opportunities
How to build distribution systems that compound over time
Real examples of cross-industry solutions that actually worked
When to focus on scale vs. when to focus on new channels
If you're tired of being dependent on one traffic source and want to build a business that grows consistently, this is for you. Let's dive into what actually works in 2025.
Industry Reality
What Growth Gurus Won't Tell You About Distribution
Walk into any marketing conference or browse through growth blogs, and you'll hear the same advice repeated over and over: "Find your one channel and double down." Pick Facebook ads, master SEO, or become the LinkedIn content king. Focus is everything, they say.
Here's the conventional wisdom that's being preached everywhere:
Channel focus strategy: Pick one channel, become really good at it, then scale
The bullseye method: Test multiple channels quickly, find the winner, abandon the rest
Platform dependency: Ride the wave of whatever's working now (TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.)
Growth hacking mentality: Find the one trick that unlocks exponential growth
Attribution obsession: Track everything back to the "winning" channel
This advice exists because it's easier to teach and it feels actionable. Agencies love it because they can specialize. Consultants love it because it creates clear KPIs. And founders love it because it promises a simple path to growth.
But here's where this conventional wisdom falls apart in practice: channels change, platforms update algorithms, and what works today might be dead tomorrow. I've seen too many businesses crash when their "one channel" stopped working. Facebook changes its algorithm, Google updates its ranking factors, or a key partnership ends - and suddenly your growth engine dies.
The companies that actually build sustainable growth? They think about distribution differently. They don't look for the perfect channel - they build systems that create multiple touchpoints and compound over time. It's less sexy than finding the "one weird trick," but it's what actually works when you need to build a business that lasts.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
Let me tell you about a project that completely changed how I think about growth. I was working with an e-commerce client who had built a solid product catalog - over 1,000 products, good quality, competitive pricing. On paper, everything looked great.
But they had a classic single-channel problem: complete dependency on Facebook Ads. They were spending thousands monthly to maintain a 2.5 ROAS, which kept them afloat but didn't leave much room for growth. More concerning? Their entire business model relied on Meta's algorithm staying friendly.
The client was convinced they just needed to optimize their ads better. "Maybe we need different creative, better targeting, higher budgets," they said. Sound familiar? That's the single-channel trap - when something isn't working perfectly, the solution always feels like doing more of the same thing.
I had a different hypothesis: their problem wasn't ad performance, it was distribution fragility. They had built their entire growth engine around one platform, and any changes to that platform could kill their business overnight.
Here's what I discovered when I dug deeper into their analytics: their "direct" traffic was almost non-existent, their organic presence was basically zero, and they had no owned media channels. Customers either came through Facebook ads or they didn't come at all. They were essentially renting their entire customer acquisition from one company.
The wake-up call came when Facebook's attribution tracking got hit by iOS 14.5 updates. Suddenly, their reported ROAS dropped to 1.8, and they couldn't tell which ads were actually working. Panic mode set in. They started cutting ad spend, which meant fewer customers, which meant less revenue to reinvest in acquisition. Classic death spiral.
That's when I realized we needed to completely rethink their approach. Instead of trying to fix their ads problem, we needed to build a distribution network that could survive platform changes, algorithm updates, and attribution chaos. The goal wasn't just to grow - it was to build anti-fragile growth systems.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of throwing more money at Facebook ads, I took a completely different approach. We treated their distribution challenge like building infrastructure, not optimizing campaigns. The framework I developed had three core principles:
Principle 1: Owned vs. Rented Channels
I mapped out every potential touchpoint into two categories: channels they owned (email list, website, content) and channels they rented (social platforms, ad networks). The goal was to shift as much growth as possible to owned channels while using rented channels to feed the owned ones.
Principle 2: Cross-Channel Reinforcement
Instead of treating each channel as independent, we designed them to work together. SEO content would support email campaigns, social proof from one channel would enhance conversion on another, and attribution wouldn't matter because everything was feeding the same funnel.
Principle 3: Compound vs. Linear Growth
We focused on channels that got better over time, not just bigger. Content that ranks and drives traffic for years, email lists that grow and become more valuable, systems that improve with scale.
Here's exactly what we implemented:
Step 1: SEO Foundation (Months 1-2)
We completely restructured their website to support organic discovery. Instead of thinking "homepage first," we redesigned around the concept that every page could be an entry point. We created 200+ collection pages, each optimized for specific product categories and search intent.
Step 2: Content-to-Email Bridge (Month 2)
For each of those 200+ collection pages, we created targeted lead magnets using AI automation. Someone browsing "vintage leather bags" got a style guide specific to vintage leather. Someone looking at "minimalist wallets" got tips on capsule wardrobes. Hyper-relevant, automated, scalable.
Step 3: Email-to-Purchase Optimization (Month 3)
We rebuilt their email sequences to feel like personal recommendations, not promotional blasts. Instead of generic "complete your purchase" emails, we sent newsletter-style content that happened to include relevant products. Much higher engagement, lower unsubscribe rates.
Step 4: Cross-Channel Attribution Fix (Ongoing)
We stopped trying to track which channel "got credit" and started measuring the health of the entire system. Email list growth, organic traffic trends, direct traffic increases, customer lifetime value improvements - metrics that actually matter for long-term growth.
The breakthrough came when we realized that Facebook's attribution model was claiming credit for organic conversions. The SEO strategy was driving significant traffic and sales, but Facebook's last-click attribution was taking credit for customers who had already discovered the brand through search. Once we understood this, we could optimize the real funnel instead of chasing fake metrics.
Channel Mapping
Identify all potential touchpoints and categorize them as owned, rented, or hybrid channels
Content Systems
Build content that works across multiple channels and compounds over time
Attribution Reality
Stop obsessing over last-click attribution and start measuring ecosystem health
Automation Bridge
Use technology to connect channels and create seamless customer journeys
The results spoke for themselves. Within three months, we achieved a 10x increase in organic traffic (from 300 to 5,000+ monthly visitors), built an email list of over 2,000 highly engaged subscribers, and most importantly, reduced their dependence on paid ads from 90% to about 40% of total traffic.
But here's what really mattered: when Facebook's algorithm changed again (and it always does), their business didn't crater. Organic traffic kept growing, email revenue stayed consistent, and they had multiple channels feeding their funnel. They went from fragile to anti-fragile.
The financial impact was significant too. Their customer acquisition cost dropped by about 35% because they weren't competing in the same paid auction for every customer. Their customer lifetime value increased because people discovering them organically showed higher engagement and retention rates.
Six months later, they were generating more revenue than before, but with much lower risk and better unit economics. More importantly, they had built a growth system that could adapt to platform changes instead of being destroyed by them.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After implementing this framework across multiple clients, here are the most important lessons I've learned:
Distribution beats product every time: A great product with poor distribution will always lose to an okay product with great distribution
Attribution is largely fiction: The customer journey is messy, and trying to track everything leads to optimizing for vanity metrics instead of business results
Owned channels compound: Every piece of content, every email subscriber, every organic ranking gets more valuable over time
Cross-channel synergy is real: Channels working together create results that are greater than the sum of their parts
Platform risk is business risk: Any channel you don't own can disappear overnight
Patience wins: Building distribution infrastructure takes longer than running ads, but the results last longer too
Generic advice is dangerous: What works for one business might be completely wrong for another - test everything
If I were starting this process over, I'd focus even more on building owned channels first and using rented channels primarily to feed them. The goal isn't to eliminate paid advertising - it's to make it optional instead of essential.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups building distribution networks:
Start with content-driven SEO to build long-term organic presence
Use founder personal branding on LinkedIn as a distribution channel
Build email nurture sequences that educate before they sell
Create use-case and integration pages for programmatic SEO at scale
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores building distribution networks:
Optimize collection pages and product categories for organic discovery
Build targeted lead magnets for each product category
Use email automation to create personalized shopping experiences
Focus on content that drives both traffic and conversions