Step 5: Grow Existing Channels or Build New Ones?

This content is for Fizzle members only.

Similar to the last step, this step is focused on helping you make one decision: should we keep growing our existing marketing channels or should we build new channels?

If what you’re currently doing is working, and if you feel there’s more space there to grow, then your efforts are probably best spent improving what’s already working. However, if the current channels are maxed out, or aren’t working well, or if you don’t feel great about them, then maybe you should explore other channels.

The first step in making this decision is to slice up our sales data to understand where customers are currently coming from. Then we’ll decide if the next step is doubling-down on those channels or pursuing new ones.

Breakdown your current channels

You have metrics on sales for each product. Now it’s time to break those sales numbers down by the channel that your customers came from.

For example, your sales channel breakdown might look something like this: Email list: 60%, Social media: 20%, Content: 20%.

Then you can take it a step further to say, of the customers who came from social: 80% came from Facebook (16% of total), 20% came from Twitter (4% of total).

And the same can go for content: Blog: 80% (16% of total), Podcast: 10% (2% of total), Video: 10% (2% of total).

You can do a few things to get this data:

  • You can setup some advanced tracking in Google analytics or another analytics tool.
  • You can survey your customers to see basic breakdowns in how they found you.
  • If all else fails, you can do some quick estimates based on what you know about your customers already. But there really is no substitute for the real data.

Now is the time to get this data on where your sales are currently coming from. Do the best you can with what you’ve got, spending a few hours if need be collecting and organizing the data however feels best to you.

Remember, you’re doing this work to answer one question: What is currently driving the growth of your business? Do that work now.

Other channels

In a moment we’ll ask you to decide if you’re going to build new marketing channels or focus on growing your current channels. But first, let’s look at all the other channels you could use.

(Please note, each channel below has sub-channels within it. E.g., “Social Media” can be broken down into Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

We created 2 podcast episodes to walk you through these 19 channels:

The Channels:

  1. Content Marketing
  2. Email Marketing
  3. Guest Posting / Guest Interviews
  4. Affiliate & Referral Programs
  5. Search Engine Optimization
  6. Social & Display Ads
  7. Search Engine Marketing
  8. Business Development
  9. Offline Events: Conferences, Meetups, & More
  10. Speaking Engagements
  11. Community Building
  12. Sales
  13. Public Relations
  14. Stunts
  15. Offline Ads
  16. Existing Platforms
  17. Trade Shows
  18. Engineering as Marketing
  19. Viral marketing

Decision time

It’s time to make a decision: are you going to double-down on the channels you’re currently using or are you going to pursue new ones?

This step is done when you’ve made that decision. If you have questions, this is a great time to bring them to the forums.

Stage 8: Growth