How I decide which marketing channel to add next
One of the most common questions I get: "What marketing channel should I focus on?"
The answer isn't Reddit. Or X. Or content. Or cold emails.
The answer depends entirely on where you are right now.
1) Your first channel should give you conversations, not reach
When I started, I didn't create content or try to build an audience. That's too slow when nobody knows you exist.
Instead, I went directly to places where my ICP was already hanging out and started conversations. I'd find people who were clearly looking for a solution like mine and reach out to them 1:1.
For me, that was Reddit DMs. For you, it might be somewhere else.
The point isn't the platform. It's the format. Your first channel needs to be one where you can have real, two-way conversations with potential customers.
Posting is broadcasting. Conversations are learning. Early on, learning is everything.
2) Don't add a second channel until your first one is working AND your funnel is healthy
This is where most founders go wrong. They try one channel for a week, see slow results, and jump to the next thing.
Or worse, they stack channels on top of a broken funnel.
I made the same mistake. At $100 MRR, I wanted to scale up marketing. But users were churning as fast as I was acquiring them.
So I stopped all marketing for 3 months and focused entirely on fixing retention. I talked to every person who canceled. I rebuilt onboarding. I tightened positioning.
Only after my funnel was healthy did it make sense to layer on more marketing.
New channels on top of a broken funnel means wasted effort. New channels on top of a working funnel means compounding growth.
3) Systemize what works before stacking the next channel
Once a channel is working, your job isn't to immediately jump to the next one. Your job is to turn it into a system.
A system means you or someone else can run it every single day without thinking. Same steps, same time, same process.
When cold outreach was working for me, I built a repeatable daily routine around it: my tool finds me high-intent leads, prepares personalized DMs, I review and send them.
Once that system was running consistently, I didn't abandon it. I kept it going while I layered on the next channel.
And here's the important part: the next channel worked faster because I took everything I learned from the first one and applied it directly.
Each channel feeds the next. But only if you systemize the current one first so it keeps running while you build on top of it.
Don't abandon what's already working. Systemize, then stack.
Stop looking for the "best" marketing channel. There's no universal answer.
Instead, follow this sequence: start with conversations, fix your funnel, then add new channels only when the current one is working and you have validated insights to fuel the next.
That's exactly how I went from $0 to $2.5K MRR. Not by finding the perfect channel, but by stacking them in the right order.
If you want to see proof and the actual timeline of my growth, you can see it here.
Happy to answer any questions or go deeper so you can apply this to your SaaS!
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This is a solid framework. Too many founders jump between channels without first proving one can consistently generate customers.
I especially agree that conversations should come before content. Direct conversations give you real customer language, objections, and pain points that make every future marketing channel more effective.
From my experience in growth and digital marketing, founders often scale faster when they combine a proven outreach channel with a structured follow-up and nurturing system. Once the first channel is working, it's much easier to expand into content, partnerships, SEO, and community marketing.
If you're looking to accelerate growth, I'd be happy to share some customer acquisition strategies that can help turn a working channel into a predictable growth engine.
Strong framing. The part I would add is that the first channel should prove two things separately: can you find the person, and can you name the pain in their words.
I am doing this with two tiny products right now, one dev-tool-ish and one consumer nutrition app, and the useful signal has not been likes or waitlist count. It is which objection repeats after the third real conversation.
If three strangers independently say “I already track this manually” or “I only notice this when I hit the limit,” that becomes landing page copy, onboarding, and roadmap. A failed channel test is not always “wrong product”; sometimes it is “right pain, wrong moment to intercept them.”
Well said
The idea of the first channel focusing on conversions and not reach is pretty neat. Thanks for the idea.
Good luck man!
the systemize before stacking principle is right but there's a timing risk on the other side too. if you wait until a channel is fully systematized before exploring the next one you can end up very dependent on a single acquisition source that could change overnight. reddit algorithm, policy changes, or just saturation in your niche can kill a channel faster than you can build a replacement. at what point in the systemization process did you start exploring what the second channel would be
Once I systemize, I move on to the next channel. You can systemize a channel in a week or two once you prove it works, so a channel dying is not really an issue
The funnel-first point in step 2 is underrated. Most growth content skips straight to channel tactics, but you can’t out-market a leaky product.
One thing I’d add from my own experience: the “systemize before you stack” principle applies to learning too, not just execution. Before moving to a new channel, it’s worth writing down exactly why the current one worked — your ICP profile, the hooks that got replies, the objections that came up. Otherwise you start channel #2 from scratch instead of from a head start.
Curious what your retention fix actually looked like in practice — was it mostly onboarding changes, or did the positioning shift affect who you were targeting in the first place?
It was making my core offer more valuable and get users to see value faster
Love the framework on how to decide which marketing channel to add next. The point about avoiding a channel that forces you into content creation if you don't have the bandwidth is a major trap most early-stage founders fall into. Consistency over complexity, always. Great read!
Glad it was valuable
I like the "systemize before stacking" framing. One thing that helps avoid fooling yourself is writing down the channel's input/output loop before adding the next one: daily action, leading signal, lagging signal, and stop condition. If you can't name all four, it usually means the channel is still a bet, not a system.
Really useful breakdown.
One thing I’m struggling with is identifying when a channel is actually “working” versus when I simply haven’t given it enough time yet.
Looking back at your journey, what specific signals told you that a channel was worth doubling down on instead of moving on to something else?
Give a channel 1-2 weeks before deciding if it's worth pursuing. If it doesn't bring you any results, move on to experimenting with the next one.
A signal can be: feedback, traffic, paid customers (best signal)
That makes sense. I think one mistake I’ve made in the past is treating “no sales yet” as “no progress,” even when there were smaller signals like conversations or engagement.
Appreciate the perspective — gives me a better framework for evaluating channels instead of judging them too quickly.
No sales can be a funnel problem (bad activation, product not valuable enough etc.) but the channel can still work, it brings you traffic or gives you feedback
This is really helpful. Appreciate you writing this up
Glad it was helpful
The distinction between broadcasting and conversations early on is such an important mindset shift for developers. Spending time learning directly from users prevents you from building the wrong things too fast
yeah, as a builder you can focus on building too much instead of talking to users which is what moves the needle the most
Reddit can work really well if you treat it like listening first and not just blasting links. The best results I've seen come from tracking very specific pain-point keywords, jumping in early, and writing replies that would still be useful even if your product didn't exist
Automation helps with discovery, but the reply still needs a human touch or people can smell it a mile away
Yep, blasting links and pitching will never work. Just show up, and bring value
The best thing would be if this system were accessible to everyone, and IT IS??? What is it and how much does it cost? Does it do what we all need, automatically???
You can run the same system I do on Reddit with bazzly.ai
The 'systemize before you stack' point is the one most founders skip. At SocialPost.ai we wrote down the exact daily steps for our first channel before touching a second one, and that doc is what let us hand it off without losing output. One thing I'd add: define what 'working' means in numbers before you stack. If you can't say 'this channel gives X signups per week at Y% retention,' you don't have a system yet, you have a streak.
Well said
the "first channel = conversations not reach" point landed for me. learned it the hard way.
shipped a Ruby gem and went straight for the broadcast play. tried submitting to awesome-ruby (the big curated list in my niche). auto-rejected, they want 30k+ downloads. I had 700. closed PR, zero conversation, zero signal about whether anything was working.
what actually moved was the opposite shape. dropped into r/rails answering specific questions. sent 10 cold emails to founders who'd posted about logging pain. those 10 emails told me more in 48 hours than 3 months of "building visibility" ever would have.
one thing I'd add to your framework. the wrong first channel also lies to you about the product. broadcast returns silence whether the product is bad or the channel is bad, and you can't tell which. conversations return a sentence, and the sentence is usually the actual answer.
question for you. when you say "fix the funnel first," what was the signal that told you the funnel was broken vs the channel just being slow? that's the call I keep getting wrong.
Track conversion metrics for your core funnel: visitors, visitor to signup, signup to trial, trial to paid, churn.
Compare yours with your industry's average. Find the biggest bottleneck, fix it first
So enlightening. I tried reddit and it was brutal, i wanted to connect with developers and show a product, for me 1-1 is not an option. Lessons learnt. Then tried instagram only to realise app needs optimization to load in insta web view, people hate to open external app, so building trust was key. After fixing it, slowly users started coming to site. It's fun as long as you learn and improve.
Yeah, it's really just relentless iteration to get to a point where you've got a solid product with a solid funnel generating you revenue
'Systemize, then stack’ is a great rule of thumb. It's so easy to abandon a channel that is working passably well just to chase a shiny new one. For your automated Reddit system now, how much time do you still spend reviewing things manually to keep that authentic, human touch?
My system works like this:
- finding relevant threads that are great fit is automated
- got a system that replies to these on autopilot with 3rd party accounts
- sometimes I reply with my account to some threads with manual comments
- system finds me leads, generates personalized DMs, I just review, and then the system sends them
So I can spend anywhere from 0 to 30 minutes a day, depending how much involved I want to be
Wow! I need this and am signing up now. Amazing stuff. I have been battling with Reddit for days trying to find the right content and meet all of the different group requirements (I wasn't a user before).
Yeah Reddit is tough if you don't have an aged account. You need to spend at least a month warming it up.
Let me know how things go for you with the tool!
It's very helpful so far - I am just DM'ing though. For the opportunities section, to flag them for later to be considered to keep the queue with just fresh stuff. Even some kind of styling on it like a bookmark would help me know which I've reviewed by not taken action on.
Really is solving a problem I have been dealing with! Thanks!
'Systematize, then stack' is the line most people miss — they abandon the channel that's working to chase the next shiny one and end up with three half-built funnels. Went the same route with my WhatsApp agent: nailed one channel (being useful where buyers already complain) before touching anything else. The 'no audience needed' part scares people because building in public feels productive, but a system that runs without you compounds way harder. Solid breakdown.
Exactly
Really impressive approach to Reddit automation! I’m currently scaling my own project, which is a multilingual typing platform, and I’ve been navigating some similar technical challenges regarding performance and reliable automation. It’s great to see how you’ve tackled the marketing side of things. How are you handling the API rate limits or potential shadow-banning issues while scaling this? Would love to hear your thoughts!
I make sure the automation runs as if a human is running it, so respect rate limits, don't break subreddit rules, don't spam etc.
The three months fixing retention before adding more marketing is the part most founders skip because it feels like going backwards.
How would you adjust the conversations-first playbook for products where the ICP isn't visibly congregating anywhere? Some problems are too personal or low-stakes for people to post about publicly. They just quietly look for a solution or they don't.
Conversations is one of the best early channels to talk 1:1 with your ICP and get qualitative feedback, but if it's not a suitable channel for your niche then it's not, try to find the next best thing
Fairly tactical :) and do i agree to that approach as well.
2 definitely resonates, its also interesting when you are a part of your ICP and the narrowing down is still finicky.
Choose the next marketing channel by analyzing audience behavior, budget, performance data, business goals, and growth opportunities.
"I didn't build an audience. I built a system." — this framing is gold.
Most build-in-public advice is basically "just be consistent and your audience will come." You're saying the opposite and I think you're right. Distribution without manual grinding is the actual moat.
I'm on day 4 of launching Melororium publicly with 0 audience. Watching Reddit threads manually right now — the idea of systematising that is exactly what I need.
How long did it take you to get the Reddit targeting accurate enough to not feel spammy? That's the line I'm worried about crossing.
Try engaging manually first, see how people react. Once you find a pattern you can systemize this. For me it's fully automated now
Resonates - I shipped JobPilot AI 8 days ago without an audience and a key learning is that "system" wins over "personality-driven launch" especially when you're solo from a non-US market. Did you find the system works better for B2B or B2C? My experience: B2C still needs the personal hook on launch day, B2B can survive cold.
I stopped building B2C and only build B2B now because it's easier to bootstrap