Growth & Strategy
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
I was staring at a client's dashboard showing a respectable 2.5 ROAS on Facebook Ads. "Looks good," they said. But I knew we had a hidden vulnerability—their entire growth engine depended on Meta's algorithm and ad costs that could change overnight.
This is the trap most businesses fall into. They find one channel that works and double down, forgetting that true organic fit isn't about which channel converts best today—it's about which channels create sustainable, compound growth over time.
After working with dozens of e-commerce stores and SaaS companies, I've learned that the best organic channels aren't always the obvious ones. Sometimes a catalog of 1000+ products needs a completely different approach than a simple service business. Sometimes what looks like "direct" traffic is actually the result of a founder's LinkedIn personal branding efforts.
Here's what you'll learn from my experience building omnichannel strategies:
Why Facebook's attribution lies about your true organic channels
The hidden growth engine that drives "direct" conversions
How to identify product-channel fit mismatches before wasting budget
My framework for building distribution that compounds
When to abandon paid channels entirely (and when not to)
This isn't about choosing one channel over another—it's about building a distribution strategy that doesn't collapse when algorithm gods decide to change the rules.
Industry Reality
What most growth experts won't tell you about channel selection
Walk into any marketing conference and you'll hear the same playbook repeated: "Start with paid ads for quick validation, then build organic channels for sustainable growth." Every growth guru has their favorite framework—some swear by the Bullseye Method, others push content-first approaches.
The conventional wisdom goes like this:
Paid ads for immediate results - Facebook, Google, LinkedIn ads to get quick feedback
SEO for long-term growth - Build content, rank for keywords, capture organic traffic
Social media for brand building - Post consistently, build followers, engage your audience
Email marketing for retention - Build lists, nurture leads, convert over time
Partnerships for expansion - Find complementary businesses, cross-promote
This framework exists because it's logical, measurable, and fits nicely into quarterly planning cycles. VCs love it because they can track progress through familiar metrics. Agencies sell it because each channel requires specialized expertise.
But here's where conventional wisdom breaks down: it assumes all products and markets behave the same way. It treats channel selection like a universal recipe instead of recognizing that the best organic fit depends entirely on your specific product-market-channel combination.
The real problem? Most businesses optimize for attribution and immediate measurability rather than sustainable growth. They choose channels based on what's easy to track in Google Analytics, not what actually drives long-term value. This leads to the Facebook dependency trap I see everywhere—looking successful on paper while building on quicksand.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When I started working with this e-commerce client, their setup looked textbook perfect. They had 2.5 ROAS on Facebook Ads, decent traffic numbers, and what appeared to be a healthy mix of paid and "direct" conversions. Most consultants would have recommended optimizing their ad creative and scaling spend.
But something felt off. The client had over 1,000 SKUs across multiple product categories. Their customers needed time to browse, compare, and discover the right product for them. Yet they were trying to force quick decisions through Facebook's instant-gratification environment.
I dug deeper into their analytics and discovered something that changed everything: those "direct" conversions weren't really direct. They were people who had discovered the brand through other touchpoints, done their research, then typed the URL directly when ready to buy.
The real wake-up call came when I analyzed their customer journey data. Facebook's attribution model was claiming credit for conversions that happened days or weeks after the initial ad exposure. Meanwhile, the actual discovery often happened through:
Google searches for specific product categories
Word-of-mouth recommendations
Comparison shopping research
Industry forum discussions
This was a classic case of product-channel fit mismatch. Facebook Ads demands instant decisions, but their product catalog required patient discovery. We were essentially trying to sell encyclopedias through billboard advertising.
The breakthrough moment came when I realized we needed to stop fighting against their product's natural buying behavior and instead build channels that aligned with how customers actually wanted to shop.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of continuing to pour money into Facebook's black box, I convinced my client to try something different: a complete SEO overhaul designed specifically for their complex catalog.
Here's exactly what we implemented:
Month 1: Website Infrastructure Overhaul
I restructured their entire site architecture around discoverability rather than conversion optimization. Every category page became a potential entry point. Every product page was optimized for long-tail search terms that matched how customers actually searched for their products.
The key insight: customers weren't searching for brand names—they were searching for specific solutions. Someone looking for "waterproof hiking boots size 11" cared more about finding the exact product than discovering a new brand.
Month 2: Content Strategy Aligned with Search Intent
Instead of creating generic "buying guides," we built content around the actual questions customers asked during their research phase. This meant:
Detailed comparison pages between similar products
Category-specific sizing and fit guides
Use-case focused product collections
Technical specification comparisons
Month 3: Multi-Channel Attribution Setup
The most important change: we stopped trusting single-source attribution. Instead, I set up a system to track the complete customer journey across multiple touchpoints. This revealed the true story of how customers discovered and converted.
The results were eye-opening. Within 90 days, we went from complete Facebook dependency to a diversified traffic portfolio where organic search drove 60% of revenue, despite Facebook's ROAS "improving" to 8-9 (which was really just attribution theft).
The lesson: the best organic channels aren't the ones with the highest immediate ROI—they're the ones that align with your customers' natural discovery and decision-making process.
Attribution Lies
Facebook claimed credit for organic wins, inflating ROAS from 2.5 to 8-9 while organic search actually drove the growth.
Product-Channel Fit
Complex catalogs need patient discovery channels. Facebook's instant-decision format fought against natural browsing behavior.
Discovery Mapping
Customers found products through specific searches, not brand awareness. SEO aligned with actual search patterns.
Infrastructure First
Website architecture for discoverability beat conversion optimization for sustainable channel growth.
The numbers told a completely different story than what we initially saw:
Within 3 months of implementing the omnichannel strategy:
Organic search traffic increased 10x - from minimal to 60% of total revenue
"Direct" traffic doubled - revealing the true compound effect of organic discovery
Customer LTV increased 40% - organic customers stayed longer and bought more
Facebook dependency dropped to 20% - from 80%+ of revenue to a supplementary channel
But the most surprising result? Facebook's reported ROAS jumped to 8-9 even as we reduced spend. This wasn't improved performance—it was attribution stealing credit from the organic channels we'd built.
The timeline breakdown:
Month 1: Infrastructure changes, minimal traffic impact
Month 2: First organic traffic spikes, Facebook ROAS begins inflating
Month 3: Organic search becomes primary revenue driver
Month 6: Sustainable 60/40 organic-to-paid ratio established
The unexpected outcome: we discovered that "paid vs organic" was a false dichotomy. The best organic channels actually made paid channels more effective by creating multiple touchpoints throughout the customer journey.
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 insights that actually matter:
Product complexity determines channel fit - Simple products can work with instant-decision channels. Complex catalogs need patient discovery channels like SEO.
Attribution lies, customer behavior doesn't - Don't trust last-click attribution. Map the actual customer journey to understand true channel contribution.
Organic channels compound, paid channels don't - A well-ranking page continues driving traffic. A paused ad campaign stops immediately.
"Direct" traffic reveals organic success - When people type your URL directly, it usually means your other channels are working.
Infrastructure beats tactics - Website architecture matters more than channel tactics for sustainable growth.
Search intent beats demographics - What someone searches for matters more than who they are for organic channel success.
Diversification prevents collapse - Single-channel dependency is always fragile, no matter how well it's performing today.
The biggest mistake I see: businesses choosing channels based on what's easy to measure rather than what actually drives sustainable growth. Facebook's detailed analytics make it feel more "scientific" than SEO's longer feedback loops, but delayed gratification often delivers better results.
When this approach works best: Products with research phases, complex buying decisions, or naturally discoverable through search. When it doesn't work: Time-sensitive offers, impulse purchases, or highly visual products that benefit from social proof.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups looking to reduce paid acquisition dependency:
Build content around specific use cases, not generic features
Focus on search terms your prospects actually use
Track true attribution across multiple touchpoints
Optimize for trial quality over trial quantity
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores with complex catalogs:
Structure site architecture around product discovery
Create category-specific landing pages for search
Build comparison content for research-phase customers
Monitor "direct" traffic as an organic success indicator