Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
When I started working with an e-commerce client two years ago, they had what looked like a successful business on paper. Their Facebook Ads were generating a respectable 2.5 ROAS, sales were consistent, and everything seemed to be working. But there was a hidden vulnerability that almost killed their business during iOS 14.5 - they were completely dependent on a single channel.
This is the reality for most businesses today. While everyone talks about "diversification," most companies are secretly addicted to one or two channels that drive 80% of their growth. When those channels hiccup - algorithm changes, increased competition, policy updates - the entire business suffers.
After spending six months building a true multichannel distribution system for this client, I learned that multichannel marketing isn't about being everywhere at once. It's about creating interconnected touchpoints that amplify each other's effectiveness.
Here's what you'll discover in this playbook:
Why most "multichannel" strategies are actually just fragmented single-channel efforts
The dark funnel reality that makes attribution lies irrelevant
How I built a distribution system that survived iOS updates and economic downturns
The distribution framework that turned dependency into resilience
Real metrics from a complete channel overhaul (spoiler: Facebook's reported ROAS jumped to 8-9)
Industry Reality
What every marketer thinks they know about channels
Walk into any marketing conference and you'll hear the same tired advice: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Every growth guru preaches channel diversification like it's some revolutionary insight. The standard playbook goes something like this:
Audit your current channels - Look at where your traffic comes from
Identify gaps - Find channels you're not using yet
Test everything - Spread budget across multiple platforms
Double down on winners - Scale what works, kill what doesn't
Optimize attribution - Use fancy tools to track every touchpoint
This approach exists because it feels logical and measurable. It gives marketers something concrete to present in board meetings. "Look, we're on 8 different channels now!" But here's the problem with this conventional wisdom: it treats channels like isolated experiments rather than interconnected systems.
Most businesses following this advice end up with what I call "channel fragmentation" - scattered efforts that compete for the same audience without amplifying each other. They're running Facebook Ads while simultaneously trying to rank for the same keywords in SEO, sending email campaigns that contradict their social media messaging, and wondering why their cost per acquisition keeps climbing.
The worst part? When one channel inevitably changes its algorithm or increases costs, businesses scramble to "diversify" by throwing money at random platforms, hoping something sticks. This reactive approach is why 73% of businesses report feeling "extremely vulnerable" to platform changes, despite claiming to have multichannel strategies.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The wake-up call came during my client consultation when I discovered something that would change how I think about distribution forever. This e-commerce client had been running Facebook Ads for two years with consistent results - about 2.5 ROAS with average order values around €50. Nothing spectacular, but steady enough to build a business on.
But when iOS 14.5 rolled out and attribution became messy, they panicked. Their reported ROAS dropped to 1.8 almost overnight. The first instinct? Blame Facebook, increase budget, try new creative angles. The classic single-channel optimization mindset.
That's when I proposed something different. Instead of fighting the attribution wars or immediately jumping to other paid platforms, we were going to build what I called an "omnichannel distribution ecosystem." The client was skeptical - they'd heard promises about SEO taking "6-12 months" and weren't sure they could survive that long with declining Facebook performance.
But here's what made this situation unique: they had over 1,000 SKUs across multiple product categories. This wasn't a simple dropshipping operation selling one hero product. They had catalog depth that most businesses only dream of. The problem was that Facebook Ads, designed for quick decision-making, was fundamentally incompatible with how their customers actually wanted to shop.
Think about it - when someone is looking for a specific type of artisanal kitchen tool, they don't want to be interrupted by an ad. They want to discover, compare, research. They want time to browse through options. Facebook's format forces immediate decisions, but this client's strength was in offering choice and discovery.
We had a product-channel fit problem disguised as an attribution problem.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's exactly what we implemented over six months, and why each piece was critical to the overall system:
Phase 1: Foundation Building (Month 1-2)
First, we completely restructured their website architecture. Not for design reasons, but for distribution. Every page needed to become a potential entry point. We implemented what I call "discovery-first navigation" - instead of forcing users through a homepage funnel, we created category-specific landing pages optimized for different search intents.
The breakthrough came when we mapped their 1,000+ products to actual search behavior. Instead of broad categories like "Kitchen Tools," we created specific clusters around problems: "Tools for Small Apartment Kitchens," "Professional-Grade Home Equipment," "Gift Sets Under €50." Each cluster got its own optimized entry point.
Phase 2: Content Ecosystem (Month 2-4)
While everyone talks about "content marketing," we built what I call a "content distribution network." Every piece of content served multiple purposes:
SEO-optimized blog posts that ranked for long-tail product searches
Social media content that drove engagement without direct selling
Email newsletter content that educated rather than pitched
Retargeting ad creative that acknowledged the research journey
The key insight: instead of creating separate content for each channel, we created content themes that adapted to each platform's strengths while maintaining message consistency.
Phase 3: The Attribution Breakthrough (Month 3-5)
Here's where it gets interesting. Within a month of implementing the SEO strategy, Facebook's reported ROAS jumped from 2.5 to 8-9. Most marketers would celebrate their "improved ad performance," but I knew better. SEO was driving significant traffic and conversions, but Facebook's attribution model was claiming credit for organic wins.
This taught us the most important lesson about multichannel marketing: attribution is a lie, but distribution isn't. Instead of fighting over who gets credit, we focused on expanding touchpoints. More visibility = more opportunities for customers to discover and trust the brand, regardless of which touchpoint gets the "last click."
Phase 4: System Integration (Month 4-6)
The final phase was where everything clicked. We stopped thinking in terms of separate channels and started building feedback loops:
Email subscribers became our audience for testing new Facebook ad creative
Popular blog posts informed our social media content calendar
Search query data guided our paid search expansion
Customer feedback improved both organic content and ad messaging
Channel Mapping
Identified 12 touchpoints across the customer journey, from awareness through advocacy, ensuring no gap in coverage.
Attribution Reality
Stopped chasing perfect tracking and focused on overall business growth - revenue increased 40% while attribution became impossible to track.
Content Distribution
Created one content theme that adapted to 5 different platforms, reducing production time by 60% while increasing reach.
Feedback Loops
Built systems where each channel informed and improved the others, creating compounding effects rather than competing efforts.
The results were dramatic, but not in the way we expected. Instead of Facebook Ads "performing better," the entire business became more resilient:
Overall Revenue: Increased 40% over six months
Channel Dependency: Reduced from 85% Facebook to 45% across all channels
Organic Traffic: Grew from 500 monthly visitors to 5,000+
Email List: Expanded from 2,000 to 12,000 engaged subscribers
Customer Lifetime Value: Increased 25% due to better customer education
But the real victory wasn't in the numbers - it was in the business's resilience. When Facebook costs increased industry-wide in Q4, this client's overall acquisition costs actually decreased because other channels were carrying more weight.
The most surprising result? Customer feedback improved significantly. Instead of impulse purchases driven by ads, customers were arriving more educated and committed. Return rates dropped by 30% because people understood exactly what they were buying.
Six months later, when iOS 15 brought more attribution challenges, this client didn't even notice. Their distribution system was attribution-independent.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After implementing this approach with multiple clients, here are the key lessons that apply universally:
Product-Channel Fit Trumps Everything: Your product's complexity should determine your channel strategy, not industry best practices. Complex products need time and research; simple products can thrive on interruption-based advertising.
Attribution is the Enemy of Growth: The more you obsess over tracking individual touchpoints, the less you focus on expanding overall visibility. Build coverage, not measurement.
Content Should Connect, Not Compete: Create themes that adapt across platforms rather than separate content for each channel. Your message should feel consistent even if the format changes.
Start with Customer Journey, Not Channel Audit: Map how your customers actually discover, research, and purchase. Then build touchpoints around their behavior, not available advertising inventory.
Embrace the Dark Funnel: Accept that most customer interactions happen where you can't track them. Focus on being present in more places rather than measuring everything perfectly.
Build Feedback Loops, Not Silos: Each channel should inform and improve the others. Your email insights should guide your social strategy; your search data should influence your ads.
Timing Matters More Than Budget: A small, consistent presence across multiple channels beats large, sporadic investments in single channels. Compound effects require time, not just money.
The biggest mindset shift? Stop thinking like a marketer optimizing campaigns and start thinking like a business owner building distribution infrastructure. Your goal isn't to find the "best" channel - it's to create a system where customers can't avoid encountering your brand.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing multichannel distribution:
Start with content marketing and SEO for long sales cycles
Use paid ads for retargeting educated prospects, not cold acquisition
Build email nurture sequences that demonstrate product value over time
Focus on thought leadership to build trust in complex purchase decisions
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores building multichannel presence:
Optimize for discovery across search, social, and marketplace channels
Use paid ads for seasonal boosts and retargeting, not primary acquisition
Create content that helps customers make better purchase decisions
Build email and social communities around product categories, not just promotions