The Art of Marketing Channel Strategy: Maximising Impact and ROI

What is a marketing channel?

A marketing channel is simply the path your product or service takes to reach your customers. It’s the bridge between what you create and the people who need it.

Getting your channel strategy right is everything. The right channels amplify your efforts, while the wrong ones waste your time and resources.

Most businesses actually get zero distribution channels to work. Poor distribution - not product - is the number one cause of failure"

Peter Thiel, PayPal Founder & Investor

Read more in our article on what is a marketing channel.

Strategy before channels

Before diving into channel strategy, it’s essential to understand what strategy truly means. Strategy is about having a clear understanding of your goal, the choices you’ve made, and how you plan to succeed. At its core, strategy is choice—explicitly deciding what to do and, just as importantly, what not to do. It’s about building your business around these deliberate decisions.

“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” — Michael Porter

With this in mind, we can agree that activities like posting on LinkedIn, running Google search ads, sponsoring podcasts, sending outbound emails, speaking at events, or doing SEO are not strategies on their own. They’re tactics. A strategy requires focus and intent, not a scattergun approach.

Your channel strategy is about choosing the marketing channels that will give you the best chance to win in your market. It’s a deliberate decision-making process to prioritise the channels that align with your goals, resources, and audience—while ignoring those that don’t. By making these choices, you can focus your efforts where they matter most and maximise your chances of success.

Your channel strategy is about choosing which marketing channels you plan to use in order to win in the market. Making this choice (and choosing what not to do) creates focus and focus is one or our guiding principles at Growth Method.

Focus on one channel for maximum impact

If you study the world’s most successful companies, a clear pattern emerges: 90% of their growth often comes from just 10% of their efforts.

“Don’t diversify yourself in too many channels; it’s like a death sentence. You should be focusing on the single and most efficient one.” — Brian Balfour, VP of Growth at Hubspot

Early-stage marketing teams might start with a variety of bets to explore opportunities, but over time the goal is to identify and double down on your one big growth lever. That’s right—ONE.

Here’s our rule of thumb for acquisition channels based on business size:

• Small business or startup: 1

• Medium business: 2

• Large enterprise: 3

Startups and small businesses should focus on a single, high-impact channel, while larger enterprises can manage up to three core acquisition channels, depending on team size and resources. Trying to do too much leads to diluted results. The power law and the Pareto principle apply to marketing—most of your success will come from a small number of high-performing channels.

“Products mostly have one or two major growth channels, which they optimise into perfection.” — Andrew Chen, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz

The only exception to this focus are low-touch, automated supporting channels. Examples include:

• Automated social media posts using tools like Buffer.

• Retargeting ads for visitors to your blog content.

• Always-on paid ads targeting competitor terms.

These supplementary activities require minimal effort and can support your primary channel without detracting from your core strategy.

How to evaluate marketing channels

When evaluating potential marketing channels, it’s important to prioritise based on a range of key variables. Here’s how to approach this process effectively:

1. Start with Customer Fit

Your primary consideration should always be customer fit—does your target audience spend time on this channel? No matter how strong your marketing efforts, you can’t generate demand where it doesn’t exist, and you can’t acquire customers on a channel they don’t use.

Begin by identifying the channels where your customers are most likely to be. If 90% of your audience can be reached through a single channel, it’s logical to focus your energy there. This concept is often referred to as "channel market fit."

2. Leverage Your Unique Advantages

Your second priority should be identifying any unique advantage you or your company can bring to the table. This could be a specific skill set, expertise, or even passion that gives you leverage in a particular channel.

Ask yourself: where do you have a marketing advantage, and how can you create leverage? Here are some examples:

• A team member with exceptional skills in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) who already runs a successful blog that dominates search rankings.

• Leveraging your product’s unique data or features to create standout marketing opportunities, such as showcasing exceptional UI/UX that sets you apart in the market.

3. Consider Additional Variables

Once you’ve addressed customer fit and unique advantages, evaluate other key variables to refine your channel strategy:

• Cost: How expensive is this channel? For example, advertising on a billboard in central London might look impressive but comes with a hefty price tag. Assess both the cost of acquisition and the expected payback period.

• Resources: Does this channel require external resources, or can it be managed in-house? External dependencies can increase costs and slow down execution (see theory of constraints)

• Urgency: How quickly do you need results? Channels like SEO often take months to deliver ROI, while paid advertising can generate leads almost immediately.

• Competition: What does the competitive landscape look like? For example, competing in paid ads against VC-backed competitors can make it difficult to succeed without substantial funding.

• Channel Maturity: Is this channel well-established with proven best practices, or is there still room for innovation and experimentation?

• Scaling Potential: Can this channel scale to meet your growth goals? If scalability is critical, ensure the channel can handle the volume you need.

• Effort: How much time and effort are required to set up and maintain this channel? High-touch channels demand constant activity, while others can be more hands-off.

• Measurability: How easy is it to track results and attribute ROI to this channel? For instance, podcast advertising often comes with opaque attribution compared to digital ads.

• Goal Fit: Does the channel align with your current growth objectives? Consider whether it targets awareness, engagement, conversion, loyalty, or advocacy.

• Product Channel Fit: Does the channel match your product’s price point or model? For example, high Annual Contract Value (ACV) products often require different channels compared to freemium or low-ACV offerings.

4. Ask Key Questions

To guide your evaluation further, consider the following questions:

• How many conversions (leads, MQLs, SQLs, demo requests, etc.) do you currently generate, and what is your goal?

• Which channels are currently delivering the best traffic, engagement, or conversion results?

• How broad is the appeal of your product?

• Is your product or service simple or complex? Is it self-serve or high-touch?

• Does the product have high switching costs for customers?

• Are there geographic constraints or advantages to consider?

Evaluating channels through these lenses will help you make informed decisions and prioritise the channels most likely to deliver meaningful, scalable growth.

Channel strategy frameworks

There are a lot of channel strategy frameworks out there. Below, we’ve highlighted one of the most widely used and impactful approaches:

1. Channel Model Fit

Channel model fit refers to how well your marketing and sales channels align with your target audience and overall business objectives. It’s about ensuring that the channels you use to reach and engage customers are not only effective but also efficient for your specific business model.

A key factor to consider is the relationship between your ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) and CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost). This balance determines which channels make the most sense for your business:

• Low ARPU: If your business has a low ARPU, you’ll need to focus on low-cost acquisition channels like virality, organic content, or community-driven growth.

• High ARPU: If your ARPU is high, you can justify investing in higher-cost channels like outbound sales, account-based marketing (ABM), or paid advertising.

By aligning your channel strategy with your ARPU and CAC dynamics, you can create a sustainable and scalable approach to customer acquisition that fits your business model.

2. Product Channel Fit

Product channel fit refers to the alignment between your product and the distribution channels used to reach customers. The core idea is simple: products should be designed to fit with channels, not the other way around.

Achieving product channel fit means tailoring your product or service attributes to maximise the potential of a specific distribution channel. When your product is designed to take full advantage of a particular channel’s strengths, it creates a seamless and efficient path to your audience.

For example, if your primary channel is social media, your product might need visually compelling features to stand out. Conversely, if your channel is outbound sales, you’ll likely need a clear and quantifiable value proposition tailored to decision-makers.

For more information see product channel fit will make or break your growth strategy.

• Marketo: Outbound Sales — Targeting Enterprise hence used Outbound Sales motion

• HubSpot: Inbound Sales (Content) and Partnerships — HubSpot still requires a fair amount of setup and education to work

• Mailchimp: Virality — MailChimp is focused on simplicity and self-serve signups via a free tier

3 The Traction (Bullseye) framework

The Bullseye Framework, developed by Gabriel Weinberg, is a strategic approach that helps businesses identify and focus on the most effective traction channels for driving growth. It’s a systematic way to prioritise marketing efforts by zeroing in on the channels that deliver the highest impact.

4 Channel portfolio strategy

The Channel Portfolio Strategy framework was devised by Gaurav Agarwal, Chief Growth Officer at ClickUp, and is rooted in finance portfolio theory.

Gaurav argues that teams should treat marketing channels like an investment portfolio, and that the same thinking should apply.

5. The Barbell Strategy

The Barbell Strategy, when applied to marketing channels, involves splitting your efforts and budget between two extremes: low-risk, reliable channels and high-risk, experimental ones.

This approach balances the stability of proven methods with the opportunity to capitalise on innovative or emerging channels that have the potential for significant returns.

For more information see https://beomniscient.com/blog/barbell-content-strategy/.

A note for solo marketers

Paul Graham, in his essay on Great Work, encourages finding work that aligns with both your natural aptitude and genuine interest. For solo marketers, this is especially relevant.

When in doubt, optimise for what you find interesting. As Graham notes, fields often transform as you dive deeper into them. What may seem mundane or uninspiring at first can become fascinating as your understanding grows. But if a field doesn’t become more engaging over time, it may not be the right fit for you.

Don’t be afraid if your interests differ from those around you. Unconventional tastes often lead to stronger passions, which in turn fuel productivity and creativity. By exploring areas others overlook, you’re more likely to discover new opportunities and unique perspectives.

One clear sign that you’re suited for a particular type of work? You find joy even in the tasks that others consider tedious or challenging. Lean into that energy—it’s a key to thriving as a solo marketer.

About Growth Method

Growth Method is the only work management platform built for growth marketers. We help companies implement a systematic approach to grow leads and revenue.

“We are on-track to deliver a 43% increase in inbound leads this year. There is no doubt the adoption of Growth Method is the primary driver behind these results.” Laura Perrott, Colt Technology Services

To date customers have recorded over 1000 marketing experiments in Growth Method. Learn more about us on our homepage or book a call with us here. We’re here to help you grow.