Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Last year, I watched a client burn through €15,000 in Facebook ads with almost nothing to show for it. The targeting was perfect, the creative was solid, and the landing page converted well in tests. Yet somehow, we couldn't make the math work.
This wasn't an isolated incident. I've seen SaaS startups throw money at Google Ads expecting magic, only to discover their 1,000+ product catalog doesn't play well with Facebook's quick-decision environment. I've watched B2B companies chase LinkedIn's promise of quality leads, only to find their complex solution needs more nurturing than any paid channel can provide.
The problem isn't the ads, the budget, or even the targeting. It's something most marketers completely miss: product-channel fit.
Most businesses treat marketing channels like a buffet – grab whatever looks good and hope it works. But here's what I learned after working with dozens of clients across SaaS, e-commerce, and B2B: your product has physics, and each marketing channel has its own rules. When these don't align, you're essentially trying to sell a complex enterprise solution through TikTok ads.
In this playbook, you'll learn:
Why most channel strategies fail before they even start
The real framework for matching your product to the right channels
How I helped clients pivot from paid ads to organic growth (and 10x their results)
When to abandon expensive channels for distribution-led growth
The signs your current marketing approach is fighting against your product's nature
Reality Check
Why most marketing advice ignores the fundamentals
Here's what every marketing guru will tell you about channel selection: "Test everything! A/B test your way to success! Double down on what works!"
The industry has created this myth that all channels are created equal – that with enough optimization, any product can succeed on any platform. Facebook ads work for e-commerce, so they should work for enterprise SaaS, right? LinkedIn is great for B2B, so every business service should be running LinkedIn campaigns.
This advice sounds logical, but it misses a fundamental truth: every channel has its own physics, and your product either fits those physics or it doesn't.
Here's what the conventional wisdom looks like:
Channel diversity is always better – spread your budget across multiple channels to "diversify risk"
Paid ads can work for anyone – just need better targeting and creative
If it's not working, optimize harder – more A/B tests, better copy, different audiences
Channel success is about execution – anyone can make any channel work with enough skill
ROI is the only metric that matters – if you're profitable, you're doing it right
This advice exists because it's easier to sell than the truth. Marketing agencies want you to believe that their expertise can overcome fundamental mismatches. Tool vendors want you to think their platform works for everyone. Consultants want you to believe there's a universal playbook.
But here's where it falls short: it completely ignores the relationship between what you're selling and how people actually buy it. Facebook Ads demands instant decisions – perfect for impulse purchases, terrible for complex B2B sales. SEO rewards patient discovery – great for educational content, frustrating for time-sensitive offers.
The result? Businesses waste months and thousands of dollars forcing square pegs into round holes, convinced that if they just optimize harder, they'll crack the code.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
I learned this lesson the hard way with an e-commerce client who was convinced Facebook Ads was the answer to everything. They had over 1,000 SKUs – a massive catalog of quality products across multiple categories. Every marketing consultant they'd talked to said the same thing: "Facebook Ads are essential for e-commerce. You need to be running campaigns."
So that's what we tried first. We set up product catalogs, created dynamic ads, tested different audiences. The setup was textbook perfect. We had a 2.5 ROAS, which most marketers would call "acceptable." But with their small margins, "acceptable" wasn't sustainable.
The fundamental problem became clear after analyzing user behavior: Facebook Ads thrives on quick decisions, but this client's strength was variety and discovery. Their customers needed time to browse, compare, and find the right product for their specific needs. The quick-scroll, instant-decision environment of Facebook was fundamentally incompatible with how their products were meant to be sold.
Meanwhile, I had another client – a B2B SaaS startup – dealing with the opposite problem. They were burning money on Google Ads because "that's where businesses look for solutions." The ads were driving traffic, but the trial-to-paid conversion was abysmal. Why? Their product solved a complex problem that required education and trust-building. Paid search brings people looking for quick solutions, not prospects ready to integrate a new tool into their workflow.
Both clients were fighting against their product's natural physics. The e-commerce store needed channels that supported discovery and comparison. The SaaS needed channels that built trust and allowed for education over time.
But here's what really opened my eyes: when I started looking at my most successful client projects, none of them succeeded because we optimized paid channels harder. They succeeded because we found channels that aligned with how their products were naturally meant to be sold.
The SaaS client that grew through the founder's LinkedIn personal branding wasn't lucky – they were leveraging a channel (thought leadership content) that matched their product's need for trust and expertise demonstration. The e-commerce client that exploded through SEO wasn't just good at content – they were using a channel (organic search) that supported the discovery and research process their complex catalog required.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After seeing this pattern across multiple clients, I developed what I call the Product-Channel Physics Framework. It's not about testing everything and seeing what sticks – it's about understanding the fundamental nature of your product and matching it to channels that support, rather than fight against, that nature.
Step 1: Audit Your Product's Natural Physics
Every product has inherent characteristics that determine how it should be sold. With my e-commerce client, I mapped out these key dimensions:
Decision complexity: High (1,000+ products requiring comparison)
Purchase process: Research-heavy (customers needed to explore options)
Trust requirement: Medium (product quality and variety were key)
Education need: Low (products were self-explanatory)
Impulse factor: Low (thoughtful purchases, not impulse buys)
For the B2B SaaS client, the physics were completely different:
Decision complexity: Very high (required integration and workflow changes)
Purchase process: Education and trust-building focused
Trust requirement: Critical (founder credibility was essential)
Education need: High (needed to explain complex problem/solution fit)
Impulse factor: Zero (careful, considered purchases only)
Step 2: Map Channel Physics
Each marketing channel also has its own physics – the natural behavior patterns and decision-making processes it supports:
Facebook Ads Physics:
Optimized for quick decisions and impulse actions
Works best with 1-3 hero products, not complex catalogs
Scroll-based discovery, not search-based research
Visual-first, explanation-second
SEO/Organic Search Physics:
Supports patient discovery and research
Rewards comprehensive, helpful content
Intent-based (people actively looking for solutions)
Allows for education and comparison
LinkedIn Personal Branding Physics:
Builds trust and authority over time
Supports complex, nuanced messaging
Relationship-first, sale-second
Perfect for high-trust, high-consideration purchases
Step 3: The Pivot Strategy
Instead of fighting physics, I helped both clients pivot to aligned channels:
For the e-commerce client, we completely overhauled their SEO strategy. We built out comprehensive category pages, product comparison guides, and educational content that supported the discovery process their catalog demanded. We created multiple entry points for different search intents and buying stages.
For the B2B SaaS client, we shifted focus to the founder's LinkedIn personal branding. Instead of pushing product features, the founder shared insights, lessons learned, and industry observations. This built the trust and expertise demonstration the product needed to sell effectively.
Step 4: Channel-Product Alignment Testing
Rather than A/B testing creative variations, we tested fundamental alignment. We measured not just conversion rates, but engagement depth, user behavior patterns, and long-term retention. The goal wasn't just to get clicks – it was to find channels where our customers naturally wanted to engage with the product.
Physics Analysis
Every product has natural buying patterns that certain channels support better than others
Channel Audit
Most businesses are using channels that fight against their product's natural selling process
Pivot Strategy
Success comes from aligning with physics, not fighting them through optimization
Measurement Focus
Track engagement depth and retention, not just conversion rates
The results spoke for themselves, but not always in the way you'd expect from typical case studies.
For the e-commerce client, we achieved a 10x increase in organic traffic within 3 months using our AI-powered SEO content strategy. More importantly, the customers who found us through search showed much stronger engagement patterns – they explored more products, spent more time on the site, and had higher lifetime values than our paid ad traffic ever delivered.
The B2B SaaS client saw even more dramatic results, though they took longer to materialize. The founder's LinkedIn content didn't generate immediate leads, but it built a pipeline of highly qualified prospects who were already convinced of his expertise before they ever reached out. The "direct" conversions that seemed to come from nowhere? They were actually coming from people who had been following his content for months.
But here's what really surprised me: both clients spent less money and got better results once we stopped fighting their product's physics. The e-commerce client cut their paid ad budget by 80% and grew revenue by 60%. The SaaS founder stopped paying for expensive Google Ads and started getting inquiries from prospects who were pre-qualified and ready to buy.
The most important result wasn't the metrics – it was the sustainability. Instead of constantly feeding paid channels with budget, both clients built systems that supported their product's natural selling process. Their growth became self-reinforcing rather than budget-dependent.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After implementing this approach across multiple clients, here are the key lessons that fundamentally changed how I think about channel strategy:
1. Product-channel fit trumps optimization every time. I've seen mediocre execution in the right channel outperform brilliant execution in the wrong channel. Stop trying to make Facebook Ads work for enterprise software or LinkedIn work for impulse purchases.
2. "Direct" traffic is often misattributed success. When clients saw unexplained direct conversions, it usually meant we had found a channel that was working – we just weren't tracking it properly. Look for patterns in your best customers and trace back their actual journey.
3. Channel diversification can be a trap. Spreading budget across multiple misaligned channels is worse than focusing on one aligned channel. Better to dominate where your product naturally fits than struggle everywhere.
4. Your biggest constraint might be your channel choice, not your execution. Before optimizing conversion rates, optimize channel selection. The wrong channel will always underperform, no matter how much you tweak it.
5. Think distribution, not promotion. The best channels don't just promote your product – they support how your product naturally wants to be discovered, evaluated, and purchased.
6. Platform rules are non-negotiable. Facebook Ads will always favor quick decisions. SEO will always reward helpful content. LinkedIn will always prioritize relationships. You can't change these rules – you can only choose whether to play by them.
7. Channel switching is often the fastest growth lever. Instead of optimizing a misaligned channel for months, try switching to an aligned channel for weeks. The results will tell you everything you need to know about product-channel fit.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing this framework:
Audit your product's trust and education requirements before choosing channels
Consider founder-led content for high-consideration products
Test organic channels before paid if your product requires education
Focus on trial quality over trial quantity
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores applying these principles:
Match channel choice to catalog complexity and purchase behavior
Prioritize SEO for discovery-heavy products
Use paid ads for simple, impulse-friendly products only
Build product comparison and educational content for complex catalogs