Which channel sells the most toilet paper?

With 25+ channels, chances are there are a few you have never even considered!

We all have that one friend. He says things like; “every company should do SEO!!”

Let’s call that friend Jonathan. 

In a way, Jonathan is on to something. After all, SEO probably really worked well for his case—that’s why he is so enthusiastic and vocal about it. He’s just launched a new company around a successful SEO-based business model. 

But claiming that **every company** should invest in SEO… is a bit much!

• What if you’re selling toilet paper—do people ever Google anything related to toilet paper online?

• What if you sell enterprise products to Fortune 500 companies—is SEO really the easiest way to get in front of busy top executives?

• What if you’re in a niche that’s already crowded with SEO-optimised companies—should you just follow the herd and do the same?

Not every company needs the same distribution strategy.
That would be too simple.

Instead, there turns out to be a plethora of channels — many more than you might think. The real question is: 

Which one is the right one, for your unique case?

There’s one thing Jonathan did get right: he understands that it’s often only one channel that drives the bulk of your traffic. In his case, that was SEO. 

He understood a simple law of acquisition: 

No matter what type of business you're in, it's usually just one channel — and one channel alone — that generates over 80-90% of all your traffic volume and thus acquisition.

It's not equally spread across a bunch of channels. One channel brings almost all the growth, and most of the other channels look bleak in comparison.

But it's not the same channel for every business.

For one business it might be SEO.

For another it's paid ads. Yet another unlocks referral and word-of-mouth growth.

But not multiple channels.

Only one.

To drive 80-90% of your growth.

Below, we'll give you a list of 25+ distribution channels, to get the creative juices flowing. Consider each of them, and then double down on what works best!

Here goes:

The 25+ most popular distribution channels

Search

• SEO / organic search

• Youtube search

• Amazon search

Social media

• Facebook

• Twitter

• LinkedIn

• Instagram

• Pinterest

• Quora

• Audience-specific platforms and forums (e.g. StackOverflow)

• Snapchat

Paid ads

• AdWords / paid search

• Facebook ads 

• Twitter ads

• LinkedIn ads

• Quora ads

• Reddit ads

• Youtube ads

• Programmatic / display

• Newsletter sponsorships

• Billboards

• Magazines & offline

• Radio & television

Publicity

• Publicity & PR

• Non-traditional PR

Content marketing

• Blogging

• Podcasting

• Youtube

• Engineering-as-marketing (free tools)

• Influencer marketing

• Guest posting / guest appearances

Sales-based

• Outbound sales (cold calling)

• Street sales

• Telemarketing

Partnerships

• Affiliate marketing

• Joint Ventures (e.g. Snoop Dogg)

• Business development  (e.g. resellers, distributors, etc.)

• API integrations

User-get-user

• Virality  (e.g. “powered-by”)

• Word-of-mouth

• Referral marketing

Others

• Messenger apps

• Non-global platforms (e.g. WeChat, QQ, VK, etc.)

• Voice

• Aggregator listings (e.g. Google Maps, TripAdvisor)

And are these all the channels?

No!

The list is practically endless.

When we talk about acquisition and distribution, it's good to remember that there is a wide spectrum of options available to you. With 25+ channels, chances are there are a few you have never even considered!

But almost any company succeeds by only truly working one channel at any point in their growth.

So spend some time selecting the right one for your unique situation.

In our next email, we'll argue why most startups should start with one type of channel: outbound channels.

Stay tuned! 

Cheers, 

—Team Double