407. Channel Menu 2023 👩🍳
A list of 50+ channels for growing your business
Hi there 👋
For those of you who have been subscribers for awhile now, you’ve heard me wax poetic about the impact that learning and development courses have had on my development as a marketer. I am completely self-taught. My journalism degree gave me deadline skills but did not teach me Product-Led Growth, brand strategy, leadership, measurement, etc. I picked this stuff up on the job and through places like Reforge. And Reforge just happens to be kicking off its next learning cohort. I’d highly recommend you checking it out whether you’re self-taught like me or if you just want to level up your marketing learning. Let me know if you need any recommendations on what courses to take.
Wishing you a great week ahead,
Kevan
(ᵔᴥᵔ)
Thank you for being part of this newsletter. Each week, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world and my time at Oyster, Buffer, and more.
Say hi anytime at hello@kevanlee.com. I’d love to hear from you.
Channel Menu 2023: Inspiration for where to grow your business
When it comes to questions about growing your brand, driving more growth, and getting your name out there in a meaningful and scaled way, you’re likely curious about the how, the when, and the where.
This particular newsletter issue will give you ideas about the where.
Check here for some of my thoughts on the how and the when. Thoughts like:
Assess channels according to product/channel fit, CAC payback, and the behavior of the channel — things like how mature it is, how competitive, how long it takes to see results
Prioritize with a framework like ICE - Impact, Confidence, Ease
Take a test-and-learn approach, and go into new channels with a Lean Viable Test
Once you find stuff that works, hooray! Keep those channels always turned on and then go test out some more
In the “Channel Surfing” newsletter I linked above, there are a couple of resources I mention that have helped me form the basis for the channel menu I use today: 1) the Bullseye Framework, and 2) the Against marketing landscape. In fact, you can see a list of 46 channels in the above newsletter … but that was written two years ago! #B2Btok didn’t even exist back then. I didn’t know what OTT stood for. No one was advertising on trucks. We’ve come a long ways :)
Two characteristics that I now apply to my menu of channel ideas are these:
How measurable is the channel
How costly is the channel
There are a lot of other ways to evaluate whether a channel makes sense for your business, but I find that these two characteristics are the best place to start. It should be mentioned: there are no wrong answers to the questions of measurability and cost. If something isn’t measurable and costs a lot, you can still use that channel. (For instance, billboard advertising can be expensive and opaque.)
In addition to these characteristics, I think it’s also useful to know where these channels tend to have the biggest impacti n your customer journey: awareness, engagement, conversion, loyalty, and/or advocacy.
OK, so without further ado, here is my Channel Menu 2023, a list of 50+ different channels, labeled with their customer journey impact, their measurability, and their cost.
If I left out a favorite channel of yours, feel free to let me know by replying to this email. Thanks & enjoy!
P.S. Another great channel resource that came my way recently was Breef’s 2023 marketing checklist. You can check out a version here. I’ve added a screenshot below for some of the ways that Breef categorizes its list of channels and programs, in case this method of organizing resonates with you and your marketing:
About this newsletter …
Hi, I’m Kevan, a marketing exec based in Boise, Idaho, who specializes in startup marketing and brand-building. I currently lead the marketing team at Oyster. I previously built brands at Buffer, Vox, and Polly. Each week, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world. Not yet subscribed? No worries. You can check out the archive, or sign up below:
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