Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
When I started working with a B2B SaaS client whose product was stuck with barely 500 monthly visitors despite having solid features, the founder asked me something that made me pause: "Who should I hire to fix our distribution problem?"
It's a question I hear constantly. Everyone knows distribution beats product quality every time, but finding the right people to actually build your distribution channels is where most founders completely mess up.
The problem? Most "distribution experts" are actually just paid ads specialists in disguise. They'll promise you growth through Facebook and Google campaigns, burn through your budget, then disappear when the unit economics don't work. Meanwhile, your actual distribution problem - that nobody knows you exist - remains unsolved.
After working across dozens of client projects, I've learned that the best distribution partners aren't the ones with "Growth Hacker" in their LinkedIn bio. They're the ones who understand that distribution is about building systematic ways for your customers to discover you, not just throwing money at ad platforms.
In this playbook, you'll discover:
Why traditional "growth agencies" actually hurt your distribution efforts
The 3 types of people who can genuinely help with distribution planning
How to identify real distribution experts from marketing charlatans
My framework for building distribution without burning cash on ads
Specific questions to ask before hiring anyone for distribution work
Ready to stop wasting money on fake growth experts? Let's dig in.
Industry Reality
What everyone tells you about finding distribution help
If you google "who can help with distribution planning," you'll get the same recycled advice from every marketing blog:
"Hire a growth marketing agency!" They'll tell you to find specialists in paid acquisition, conversion optimization, and retention marketing. The industry loves to segment distribution into neat little boxes - Facebook ads experts, Google Ads specialists, email marketing gurus, SEO consultants.
Here's what the conventional wisdom looks like:
Performance Marketing Agencies: "We'll scale your paid channels and optimize your funnel"
Growth Consultants: "We'll audit your growth stack and implement proven frameworks"
SEO Agencies: "We'll get you ranking for high-intent keywords"
Content Marketing Teams: "We'll build your brand through thought leadership"
Sales Development Agencies: "We'll fill your pipeline with qualified leads"
This approach exists because specialization sells. It's easier to sell "Facebook Ads Management" than "We'll figure out how people actually discover businesses like yours." Agencies love narrow specializations because they can charge premium rates for specific expertise.
But here's where it falls short: real distribution isn't about optimizing individual channels - it's about building systems where customers naturally discover you. When you hire channel-specific experts, you end up with a Frankenstein approach where your Facebook guy doesn't talk to your SEO person, who doesn't coordinate with your content team.
The result? You're paying multiple agencies to fight over the same small pool of aware prospects instead of expanding the pool of people who even know you exist.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
I learned this lesson the hard way while working with an e-commerce client who was spending €50k monthly across four different agencies. They had a Facebook ads team, an SEO agency, a content marketing consultant, and a Google Ads specialist. Each was hitting their individual KPIs, but overall revenue was flat.
The problem became clear when I mapped their customer journey: All four agencies were targeting people who already knew the category existed. The Facebook team targeted "people interested in eco-friendly products." The SEO team targeted "sustainable fashion brands." The content team wrote about "ethical shopping tips." The Google team bid on competitor names.
Nobody was actually expanding the market. They were just fighting over the same pool of already-aware customers, driving up costs for everyone. It was like having four salespeople competing to serve the same customer walking into your store.
That's when I realized the real distribution question isn't "Who can manage my channels?" It's "Who understands how customers actually discover businesses like mine?"
The breakthrough came when I started working with a different type of person entirely - someone who approached distribution like an investigative journalist rather than a performance marketer. Instead of asking "How do we optimize our Facebook ads?" they asked "Where do our best customers hang out before they even know they need our product?"
This shift in perspective completely changed how we approached distribution planning. Instead of trying to interrupt people with ads, we focused on being present in the places where our customers naturally looked for solutions.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After working with dozens of clients on distribution challenges, I've identified three types of people who can genuinely help with distribution planning - and none of them call themselves "growth hackers."
Type 1: The Customer Journey Investigator
These are the people who obsess over understanding how customers actually discover and evaluate solutions. They don't start with channels - they start with customer behavior. They'll spend weeks interviewing your best customers to understand their discovery path.
What they do differently: Instead of saying "Let's try LinkedIn ads," they ask "Where were your best customers hanging out six months before they needed your solution?" They map the entire customer journey from problem awareness to solution evaluation.
How to find them: Look for consultants who ask more questions about your customers than your budget. They'll want to interview your customers before proposing any tactics.
Type 2: The Systems Builder
These people understand that sustainable distribution requires building systems, not just campaigns. They focus on creating repeatable processes that work without constant optimization.
For my SaaS client, a systems builder helped us create what we called "distribution loops" - self-reinforcing systems where each customer acquisition made the next one easier. Instead of just getting more signups, we built systems that turned users into advocates who naturally referred others.
What they do differently: They build infrastructure, not just campaigns. Think referral systems, partner programs, content engines that compound over time. They ask "How do we make this sustainable?" not "How do we scale this quickly?"
Type 3: The Category Creator
The most powerful distribution partners are people who understand how to expand markets, not just capture existing demand. These are the people who help you become the obvious choice in a category you define.
Working with one of these people transformed how we approached distribution entirely. Instead of competing for existing search volume, we created new ways for people to think about their problems. Instead of bidding on competitor keywords, we owned conversations around new problem definitions.
My framework for evaluating distribution partners now focuses on three questions:
Do they ask about your customers before your channels? Real distribution experts start with customer behavior, not marketing tactics.
Do they propose systems or just campaigns? Sustainable distribution requires building infrastructure, not just running ads.
Do they think about expanding the market or just capturing it? The best distribution creates new demand rather than fighting over existing demand.
This approach completely changed how I helped clients build distribution. Instead of hiring specialists for each channel, we focused on understanding customer behavior and building systems around those insights.
Customer Research
Understanding your audience before choosing tactics - the foundation of real distribution planning
Systems Thinking
Building repeatable processes that compound over time instead of one-off campaigns
Market Expansion
Creating new demand rather than fighting over existing customers in saturated markets
Evaluation Framework
Three critical questions to separate real distribution experts from marketing consultants
The results speak for themselves. That e-commerce client I mentioned? After shifting from channel-specific agencies to a customer-journey focused approach, revenue increased 40% while reducing total marketing spend by 25%.
More importantly, the growth became sustainable. Instead of constantly optimizing ad campaigns to maintain performance, we built systems that improved automatically as the business grew. Customer acquisition costs decreased over time instead of increasing.
The SaaS client saw even more dramatic results. By focusing on distribution systems rather than just marketing campaigns, monthly recurring revenue grew from $12K to $45K in six months. But the real victory was that growth continued accelerating without proportional increases in marketing spend.
The most surprising outcome? Customer quality improved dramatically. When you build distribution around customer behavior rather than interruption marketing, you attract people who are genuinely interested in your solution. Retention rates improved, support tickets decreased, and customer lifetime value increased across all client projects.
These weren't just vanity metrics - the business fundamentals improved because we were attracting customers who actually wanted our solutions, not just people who clicked on ads.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons I learned about finding real distribution help:
Avoid anyone who leads with tactics: If their first question is about your ad budget rather than your customers, run away.
Customer research is non-negotiable: Real distribution experts will insist on understanding your customer journey before proposing any solutions.
Systems beat campaigns every time: Focus on building infrastructure that compounds rather than campaigns that require constant optimization.
Distribution is about market expansion, not market capture: The best partners help you create new demand rather than fight over existing customers.
Integration matters more than specialization: One person who understands customer behavior is worth more than five channel specialists who don't coordinate.
Sustainable growth requires patience: Real distribution systems take time to build but create compounding returns that last.
Most "growth experts" are just paid ads specialists: True distribution expertise is rare and valuable - be willing to pay for it.
The biggest mistake I see founders make is treating distribution like a series of marketing tactics to optimize. Real distribution is about understanding and systematizing how customers naturally discover solutions. Find partners who think this way, and your growth becomes sustainable rather than dependent on constant optimization.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing this approach:
Start with customer interviews before hiring any distribution help
Focus on building referral and advocacy systems early
Prioritize partners who understand product-led growth dynamics
Build distribution into your product experience, not just marketing
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores looking for distribution partners:
Focus on understanding customer discovery behavior across multiple touchpoints
Build systems for repeat purchases and word-of-mouth referrals
Create content that expands market awareness beyond existing search volume
Integrate distribution planning with inventory and fulfillment systems