The 8 Channels At a Glance
Welcome to Week 3!
We constantly preach the power of consistency, and knowing that you’re expecting a newsletter from us each week has been the best accountability tool! As a small business, sometimes you need to make the commitment and figure out the “how” later.
Now, for the good stuff. In part one, we built the case for treating marketing as a profit center. In part two, we introduced the PESO model. This week, we get specific! You’ll learn a breakdown of eight core marketing channels and an honest verdict on each.
LET’S GO →
Every marketing channel falls into one of the PESO buckets. Here’s where each one lives and what it’s actually good for:
Content & SEO (Owned): Builds long-term organic discovery. Slow, but compounds.
Social Media (Shared): Organic engagement and community. Pick one platform and own it.
Email Marketing (Owned): Highest ROI channel available. Start this on day one.
Search & Social Ads (Paid): Fast traffic, but only once you have a proven offer.
Influencers & PR (Earned): Borrowed trust. Micro-influencers and podcasts first.
Community (Shared): Deep loyalty, but resource-heavy. Wait for product-market fit.
Referral Programs (Earned): Underused by most startups. Simple to launch.
Account-Based Marketing (Paid): B2B only, high ACV, defined ICP required.
The Two You Should Start With
If you’re pre-revenue or early stage, these two channels should be non-negotiable before anything else.
1. Email Marketing. Build your list from day one. Even 50 subscribers is a start. It’s the only channel where you own the relationship outright–no algorithm or platform risk.
2. Social Media (one to two platforms max). Do not spread yourself thin. Pick the one (or two, at most) platforms where your buyers actually spend time and show up consistently. For most B2B businesses, that will be LinkedIn.
The full blog post this week includes an 8-row reference table with verdicts, timing guidance, and the one trigger question for each channel
Action of the Week
Look at the eight channels above and ask yourself: which ones are we using right now, and which ones are we using before we are ready? The right channel at the wrong time is just as wasteful as the wrong channel entirely
In Part 4, we draw a clear line between B2B and B2C marketing strategy–the channels, decision drivers, and sales cycles are fundamentally different, and the distinction changes everything about how you invest your marketing resources.
Subscribe to the newsletter to follow along each week!
About This Series: This post is part of The Startup Marketing Playbook, a 12-part newsletter and blog series for tech and SaaS founders. Each installment covers one core concept in depth, with actionable frameworks you can implement immediately.