Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
When I first started working with a B2C Shopify client, their entire growth strategy was built on one dangerous foundation: Facebook Ads. Sure, they had a respectable 2.5 ROAS, and most marketers would call that acceptable. But I knew something wasn't adding up with their small margins.
The real problem? They were trapped in what I call the "single-channel death spiral." One algorithm change, one iOS update, one competitor bidding war - and their entire business could collapse overnight. Sound familiar?
That's when I learned the hard way that distribution beats product quality every time. You can have the most beautiful store, the best products, perfect conversion rates - but if you're dependent on one channel, you're building a house of cards.
Here's what I discovered after spending three months completely rebuilding their distribution strategy from scratch:
Why the "build it and they will come" mentality kills businesses
The 7-step framework I use to identify and test distribution channels
How to escape platform dependency without killing your current revenue
The counter-intuitive approach that actually improved their Facebook attribution
Real metrics from moving a business from single-channel to omnichannel growth
This isn't another "growth hacking" article. This is a step-by-step playbook based on real client work, real failures, and the surprising discovery that made everything click. Check out our growth strategies for more tactical approaches.
Industry Reality
What every founder believes about growth
Most businesses approach growth with what I call the "magic bullet mentality." They search for that one perfect channel, that one growth hack that will solve all their problems. The industry reinforces this thinking everywhere you look.
Here's what conventional wisdom tells you to do:
Focus on one channel until you master it - "Don't spread yourself thin"
Optimize your conversion funnel first - "Fix your leaks before you add more traffic"
Scale what's working - "Double down on your winners"
Use attribution tools to track everything - "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"
Build better creative/landing pages - "Your ads aren't converting because they're not good enough"
This advice exists because it's logical. Focus creates mastery. Optimization improves efficiency. Measurement enables improvement. In a perfect world where platforms never change their algorithms and costs never increase, this would work.
But here's where conventional wisdom falls apart: it assumes the channel will always be available to you. It treats marketing channels like utilities - always on, always reliable, always predictable.
The reality? Channels are more like weather patterns. They shift, they change, sometimes they disappear entirely. iOS 14.5 killed Facebook attribution for millions of businesses overnight. Google constantly updates its algorithm. LinkedIn changes its organic reach. TikTok might get banned tomorrow.
Single-channel dependency isn't optimization - it's Russian roulette with your business survival.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
My client came to me with what looked like a success story. They were generating consistent revenue through Facebook Ads with a 2.5 ROAS. Their products were solid - over 1,000 SKUs of quality items. The conversion rate was decent. Everything seemed fine on paper.
But I spotted the red flag immediately: their entire growth engine depended on Meta's algorithm and ad costs. They had no SEO presence, no email list worth mentioning, no content strategy, no partnerships. Facebook went down? Revenue went down. Ad costs increased? Profit margins disappeared.
The deeper I dug, the more obvious the problem became. Their product catalog was actually their strength - incredible variety, something for everyone. But Facebook Ads demands quick decisions. Their customers needed time to browse, compare, and discover the right product. The platform's "buy now" environment was fundamentally incompatible with their shopping behavior.
I tried optimizing their Facebook campaigns first. Better targeting, improved creative, landing page tests. We saw marginal improvements, but nothing transformational. The fundamental mismatch remained: they were forcing a square peg into a round hole.
That's when I realized we needed to completely flip the script. Instead of trying to make their products work better for Facebook, we needed to find channels where their product catalog's diversity became an advantage, not an obstacle.
The breakthrough came when I started mapping their customer journey. People weren't ready to buy immediately. They wanted to research, compare, explore. They needed multiple touchpoints across different channels before making a purchase decision. Our job wasn't to create faster conversions - it was to be present throughout their entire discovery process.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's the exact 7-step framework I used to build their distribution strategy from the ground up. This isn't theory - this is the precise process that took them from platform dependency to sustainable, diversified growth.
Step 1: Audit Your Current Reality
I started by mapping every single touchpoint a customer had with the business. Facebook ads, organic social, direct traffic, email, referrals - everything. The data was brutal but enlightening. 87% of revenue came from Facebook. When I dug deeper into "direct" traffic, most of it was actually people who saw Facebook ads but typed the URL directly later.
Step 2: Channel-Product Fit Analysis
This is where most businesses get it wrong. They assume every channel should work for their product. I mapped each potential channel against their catalog characteristics:
- SEO: Perfect for their variety (long-tail keywords for specific products)
- Email: Great for nurturing browsers into buyers
- Content: Ideal for showcasing product combinations and use cases
- Partnerships: Natural fit for their broad catalog
Step 3: Build SEO Foundation
I completely restructured their website for search discoverability. We created category pages for every product type, optimized for long-tail keywords, and built a content hub around product education. The key insight: instead of competing on broad terms, we dominated hundreds of specific product searches.
Step 4: Content-Driven Discovery
We launched a content strategy focused on product combinations, seasonal guides, and comparison content. Not traditional "blog content" - practical guides that helped customers discover products they didn't know they needed. Each piece linked naturally to relevant products.
Step 5: Email List Building
Instead of generic discounts, we created product-specific lead magnets. Someone browsing kitchen tools got a kitchen organization guide. Someone looking at fitness equipment got a home gym setup guide. Relevance over volume.
Step 6: Strategic Partnerships
We identified complementary businesses and content creators whose audiences would naturally love their products. Instead of paid sponsorships, we created value-first partnerships - product collaborations, co-created content, cross-promotions.
Step 7: Attribution Reality Check
Here's the fascinating part: 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 me the most important lesson about distribution: embrace the dark funnel. Stop trying to track every interaction. Focus on expanding visibility across all possible touchpoints. More distribution channels mean more opportunities for customers to discover and trust your brand - regardless of which touchpoint gets the "credit."
Channel Mapping
Identify where your customers actually discover products, not where you want them to
Attribution Lies
Facebook claimed credit for SEO wins - focus on total growth, not platform metrics
SEO Foundation
Built category pages for 1000+ products targeting specific long-tail searches
Content Strategy
Created practical guides that naturally led to product discovery and purchases
The results spoke for themselves, but not in the way traditional attribution would show. Total revenue increased by 40% over six months, but more importantly, revenue diversification was the real victory.
Facebook still performed well, but now represented only 45% of total revenue instead of 87%. SEO drove 25% of new revenue. Email contributed 15%. Content partnerships brought in 10%. Direct traffic (real direct traffic) accounted for 5%.
The most surprising outcome? Facebook's actual performance improved. When customers encountered the brand through multiple touchpoints - seeing an SEO article, joining the email list, then seeing a Facebook ad - conversion rates were significantly higher. Multi-touch exposure created warm audiences that converted better than cold traffic.
Timeline of results:
- Month 1: SEO foundation laid, Facebook attribution "improved"
- Month 2: First content pieces driving organic traffic
- Month 3: Email list growing, partnerships launching
- Month 4: 25% revenue from non-Facebook sources
- Month 6: Sustainable 40% revenue growth with true diversification
The business became antifragile. When iOS 14.5 hit and Facebook attribution broke for many businesses, they barely noticed. Their revenue continued growing because they weren't dependent on any single channel.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the seven critical lessons I learned from this distribution overhaul:
Distribution beats optimization - A mediocre message across five channels outperforms a perfect message on one channel
Channel-product fit is everything - Don't force your product into channels that don't match customer behavior
Attribution is mostly fiction - Focus on total growth, not which channel gets "credit"
Start with content, not ads - Content creates owned audiences; ads rent them
Diversification improves everything - Multi-channel presence makes each individual channel perform better
SEO is the ultimate insurance policy - It's the one channel you truly own
Patience pays compound interest - Distribution strategy takes 3-6 months to show results, but creates lasting advantages
What I'd do differently: Start with distribution planning from day one, rather than treating it as a "growth problem" to solve later. Build content systems earlier. Invest in email infrastructure sooner.
This approach works best for businesses with diverse product catalogs, longer consideration cycles, and customers who research before buying. It doesn't work as well for simple, impulse-purchase products or businesses in highly regulated industries with limited content opportunities.
Learn more about sustainable growth strategies in our SaaS playbooks section.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing this distribution approach:
Build use-case content for every feature and integration
Create comparison pages against competitors
Develop partnerships with complementary tools
Focus on problem-first content, not product-first
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores applying this strategy:
Optimize category pages for long-tail product searches
Create buying guides and comparison content
Build seasonal content calendars around product releases
Develop affiliate and influencer partnership programs