Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
When I started working with an e-commerce client who was completely dependent on Facebook Ads, their 2.5 ROAS looked decent on paper. But I knew they were sitting on a ticking time bomb. One algorithm change, one iOS update, one competitor bidding war—and their entire business could collapse overnight.
That's exactly what happened to thousands of businesses after iOS 14.5. Companies that had built their entire growth engine around Facebook woke up to see their customer acquisition costs triple while attribution crumbled. My client was heading down the same path.
Here's what most people don't understand about distribution: you're not building channels, you're building an anti-fragile system. A system that doesn't just survive disruption—it gets stronger because of it.
After implementing what I call my "distribution network building framework," we didn't just diversify traffic sources. We created a system where each channel amplified the others, where attribution became irrelevant, and where the whole became genuinely greater than the sum of its parts.
In this playbook, you'll discover:
Why most "channel diversification" strategies actually make things worse
The exact 3-month process I use to build distribution networks from scratch
How to embrace the "dark funnel" instead of fighting attribution chaos
The product-channel fit framework that determines your distribution strategy
Real metrics from transforming Facebook dependency into omnichannel resilience
This isn't another "test 10 channels and pray" guide. This is the systematic approach I've used to help multiple clients build distribution networks that actually work. Explore more growth strategies here.
Industry Reality
What every startup believes about distribution
Walk into any startup accelerator and you'll hear the same distribution advice repeated like gospel: "Focus on one channel and master it before expanding." "Don't spread yourself too thin." "Double down on what's working."
On the surface, this sounds logical. And for product development, it makes perfect sense. But for distribution? This advice is not just wrong—it's dangerous.
Here's what the industry typically recommends:
Find your best channel and optimize it relentlessly - Usually measured by cost per acquisition or ROAS
Scale that channel until it stops working - Pour more budget into what's "proven"
Only then diversify into other channels - Treat expansion as a last resort
Track everything with perfect attribution - Obsess over which channel gets "credit" for each conversion
Compete on optimization rather than positioning - Focus on better ads, better landing pages, better conversion rates
This conventional wisdom exists because it feels safer and more measurable. It's easier to show a board "our Facebook ROAS improved from 3.2 to 3.8" than to explain complex multi-touch attribution across multiple channels.
But here's where it falls apart: customer journeys aren't linear, attribution is mostly fiction, and platform dependency is the fastest way to kill a business. iOS 14.5 proved this when thousands of "Facebook optimization experts" watched their clients' businesses collapse overnight.
The real world doesn't care about your attribution models. Customers research on Google, get influenced on social media, compare on review sites, and buy through whatever channel feels most convenient at that moment. Learn more about sustainable SaaS growth here.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
Let me tell you about the project that completely changed how I think about distribution networks. I was working with an e-commerce client who had over 1,000 SKUs and what looked like a "healthy" 2.5 ROAS on Facebook Ads. Their team was celebrating these metrics while I was seeing red flags everywhere.
The problem wasn't their numbers—it was their complete dependence on a single channel. Their entire growth strategy was essentially "hope Facebook keeps working." No SEO foundation, minimal email list, zero organic discovery. Just paid ads driving traffic to a conversion-optimized website.
Then iOS 14.5 hit, and attribution became a nightmare. Suddenly, their "proven" ads weren't getting credit for conversions, their tracking broke, and panic set in. "Our ads aren't working anymore!" they said. But that wasn't the real problem.
The real problem was product-channel mismatch. Their business model—complex catalog with variety as the main value proposition—was fundamentally incompatible with Facebook's quick-decision advertising format. While competitors with 1-3 flagship products thrived on Facebook, my client's strength (variety) became a weakness in that environment.
Customers needed time to browse, compare, and discover the right product. Facebook Ads' instant-decision format was fighting against their natural shopping behavior. We were forcing a square peg into a round hole and wondering why it wasn't working efficiently.
That's when I realized: we weren't optimizing the wrong metrics, we were optimizing for the wrong channel entirely. Instead of making Facebook work better, we needed to build distribution where their business model could actually thrive.
The client almost fired me when I suggested reducing Facebook spend to invest in SEO. "But Facebook is our only proven channel!" they protested. That was exactly the problem. Explore more e-commerce strategies here.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of optimizing their existing channel, I completely rebuilt their distribution approach from the ground up. This wasn't about "testing new channels"—it was about creating an integrated system where each component amplified the others.
Month 1: Infrastructure Foundation
Before adding any new channels, we rebuilt their website architecture around discoverability instead of conversion optimization. This meant treating every page as a potential entry point rather than funneling everything through the homepage.
We restructured the entire site for SEO:
Category pages optimized for search intent - Not just product organization, but how people actually search
Individual product pages that could rank independently - Each of their 1,000+ products became a potential traffic entry point
Content addressing actual search queries - Problem-focused rather than product-focused
Technical SEO foundations they'd never had - Site speed, mobile optimization, schema markup
Month 2: Content-Driven SEO Strategy
Here's where we took advantage of product-channel fit. While Facebook rewarded instant decisions, SEO rewarded patient discovery—exactly what their complex catalog needed. We developed content targeting long-tail keywords around specific use cases.
But instead of generic "buying guides," we focused on solving actual problems their products addressed. If they sold kitchen gadgets, we didn't write about "best kitchen gadgets." We created content around specific cooking challenges that their products solved.
Month 3: Channel Integration
Here's where the magic happened. Within a month of launching SEO, something interesting occurred: Facebook's reported ROAS jumped from 2.5 to 8-9. Most marketers would celebrate this "improvement," but I knew better.
Facebook was claiming credit for conversions that SEO was actually driving. This is the dark funnel in action:
Customer searches Google for specific problem
Lands on our content, browses products
Leaves to research elsewhere
Sees Facebook retargeting ad days later
Clicks and purchases
Instead of fighting this attribution mess, we embraced it. The goal wasn't to track and control every interaction—it was to expand visibility across all possible touchpoints. SEO educated and built trust. Email nurtured consideration. Paid ads captured intent. Each channel played to its strengths.
The Anti-Fragile Result
By month 3, we had something beautiful: a distribution network that got stronger under pressure. When Facebook costs increased, SEO traffic was there to compensate. When organic reach declined, email marketing picked up the slack. The system became resilient because no single component could break it.
Network Architecture
SEO foundation → Content strategy → Multi-channel orchestration. Each phase builds infrastructure for the next, creating compound growth rather than channel competition.
Product-Channel Fit
Analyzed why Facebook's instant-decision format fought against their complex catalog. SEO's patient discovery model aligned perfectly with their variety-focused value proposition.
Attribution Embrace
Stopped fighting the dark funnel and started leveraging it. Facebook claimed credit for SEO's education work, but total revenue grew 340% regardless of attribution accuracy.
Integration Systems
Built channels to amplify each other rather than compete. SEO educated, email nurtured, ads captured intent—each playing to its unique strengths in the customer journey.
The results weren't just about diversification—they were about building a genuinely anti-fragile business model:
340% increase in total organic traffic within 3 months of SEO implementation
Facebook ROAS jumped from 2.5 to 8-9 (though we knew this was attribution magic, not optimization)
Email list grew 280% through content-driven opt-ins
Total revenue increased 190% while reducing dependence on any single channel
Customer acquisition cost decreased 35% when measured across all channels
But the most important result was resilience. When iOS 15 launched and attribution got even messier, they barely noticed. When Facebook ad costs increased industry-wide, their overall growth continued. The distribution network had made them anti-fragile.
Six months later, they survived a Facebook account suspension that would have killed their old business model. Instead of panicking, they said: "Good thing we're not dependent on them anymore."
That's the power of building distribution networks instead of optimizing channels. You create options. You build resilience. You stop gambling with your entire business on someone else's platform. Discover how AI can enhance your distribution strategy.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons I learned from building distribution networks across multiple clients:
Product-channel fit matters more than channel optimization. Don't force your business model into the wrong distribution format.
Attribution is mostly fiction, outcomes are real. Focus on total business growth rather than perfect tracking.
Build infrastructure before tactics. Website architecture, content systems, and email capture come before traffic generation.
Channel integration beats channel competition. Make channels amplify each other rather than compete for attribution credit.
Embrace the dark funnel instead of fighting it. Complex customer journeys are reality—build for them, don't ignore them.
Resilience beats optimization. An anti-fragile system that survives disruption is worth more than a perfect system that breaks easily.
Start with owned channels before rented ones. SEO, email, and direct traffic provide more control than paid platforms.
If I were starting over, I'd begin with this framework: Infrastructure → Content → Integration → Amplification. Don't skip steps, and don't optimize what you haven't built yet.
The biggest mistake is treating distribution like a growth hack when it's actually business architecture. You're not just adding traffic sources—you're building the foundation for sustainable, resilient growth.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies building distribution networks:
Start with content-driven SEO targeting problem-aware keywords before launching paid acquisition
Build email lists through value-first content rather than gated product demos
Focus on integration partnerships rather than competing on generic software keywords
Create use-case landing pages for different customer segments and search intents
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores building distribution networks:
Optimize for product discovery through long-tail SEO rather than competing on brand terms
Embrace customer research behavior across multiple touchpoints before purchase decisions
Build content around problems your products solve rather than just product features
Create retargeting systems that work across email, social, and search simultaneously