604. Channel menu, 2025 🍛
The complete list of digital marketing channels to build into your strategy
Hellooo 👋 So happy to have you here. I’m Kevan. I have spent 15+ years as a head of marketing for some cool tech startups. Now I’ve co-founded a brand storytelling business called Bonfire. We do coaching, advisory, and content. If you identify with creativity and marketing, we’d love for you to join us.
A complete list of all the best marketing channels for 2025
For B2B, B2C, and everything in between
In what has become an annual tradition, I’ve updated the list of top marketing channels that you can choose from as you build your marketing strategy.
New this year:
EGC (Employee-Generated Content)
GEO (Generative Engine Marketing)
I took “content marketing” and broke it into a discrete set of activities like blogging and premium content
And a few others.
Grab your copy of the menu of all the best marketing channels to try in 2025.
How to use this channel menu:
Choose from the menu of channels as you’re putting together your marketing strategy. Channels are labeled with characteristics of their impact on the customer journey, their cost, and their measurability.
When you’re evaluating channels, you’ll typically prioritize across a number of variables:
What goal will this channel contribute to? i.e. Awareness, Acquisition, Loyalty
How expensive is this channel? Advertising on the Las Vegas Sphere may be cool, but it won’t be cheap!
Can I measure the results and attribute impact to the channel? Some teams / companies care a lot about ROI
You may also want to think about factors like speed (how long does it take for this channel to ramp to its full impact), scale (how big can this channel get for us), fit (does our target audience hang out here), and effort (how many resources will it take to get this set up and maintained).
One of the most successful ways I’ve found to use this channel menu is to combine channels into different types of programs within my marketing strategy. For instance, here are two popular ones I’ve used to good effect:
Thought leadership program: Includes channels like PR / comms, social media, influencers, spokespeople, and events
Lifecycle program: Includes channels like email marketing, website chat, retargeting, and SMS
What’s the difference between a program, a channel, and a campaign?
It can get confusing when people (aka marketing bosses) start using terms like programs and channels and campaigns interchangeably. While I’ve yet to encounter a universally “right” definition for these things, here is how I generally try to think about it:
Programs are collections of channels.
Campaigns are time-bound activities that involve a set of channels.
1 - Programs
A marketing program is a high-level strategy or framework that encompasses various channels to achieve a discrete goal, to reach a particular target audience, and to deliver certain messaging.
Examples:
A customer loyalty program with email campaigns, promotions, and personalized offers.
A brand awareness program that combines content marketing, influencer partnerships, and PR strategies.
2 - Channels
A marketing channel is a specific medium or a platform where you communicate with your audience.
Examples:
Social media platforms like Instagram or LinkedIn
Email newsletters
Search engines (SEO and paid ads)
TV, radio, or print advertising
Basically, see the huge list of channels in the Google Doc linked above
3 - Campaigns
A marketing campaign is a time-bound and goal-specific initiative that is part of your marketing strategy. Campaigns are typically narrower in focus and use one or multiple channels to achieve a particular objective, such as driving sales or promoting a product.
Examples:
A seasonal sale promotion on Facebook and Google Ads
A product launch campaign with a hashtag on Instagram and email newsletters
A holiday-themed giveaway using email, social media, and influencers
P.S. Here’s last year’s channel menu if you want to look back!
About this newsletter …
Hi, I’m Kevan, a marketing exec based in Boise, Idaho, who specializes in startup marketing and brand-building. I previously built brands at Oyster, Buffer, and Vox. Now I am cofounder at Bonfire, a brand storytelling company.
Each week on this substack, 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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