Social media. Email. Website and SEO. Paid ads. If your marketing is happening across every platform going, you’re likely spread thin.
In a previous blog, we looked at the options many overlook. But how do you actually pick which ones to use, and what makes one channel different from another? Here’s my guide on how to choose marketing channels that suit your business.
TL;DR: Channels differ in three ways: whether your buyers are there, the job it does, and how much it costs (time, money, or both) to see results. Compare your options and keep the two or three that fit best and do them properly.
Why fewer marketing channels usually works better
HubSpot’s research on the top marketing channels found most brands now use five to eight channels. For a large team that can devote time to each channel, this is fantastic. They can be selective and double down on each channel to grow their results.
But for a one or two-person team, that’s a fast track to sporadic posts, missed opportunities, and burnout. It’s also a lot harder to spread a limited budget across that many.
That’s why depth and consistency beat coverage. Ehrenberg-Bass Institute research for LinkedIn found that up to 95% of B2B buyers aren’t “in the market” (i.e. actively looking) for your products/services at any given time. When they are, they choose the brands they already remember in channels they regularly visit. Having long term goals on selected channels often works better than quick wins.
What makes one marketing channel different from another?
The number one reason to choose a channel? It’s where your buyers are. You need to be marketing where your clients and customers are. In the same HubSpot report, the strategy marketers rated most effective was moving from broad platforms to niche communities (39.7%). Again, smaller and fewer doesn’t mean less results or success.
Each channel also has it’s own job to do. Some channels are best for getting your name out there. Others are great for nurturing people from casual lookers into paying customers.
Another thing is how much work and effort it needs. Paid ads can bring traffic quickly but usually stop when the budget stops. Content and SEO tend to build more slowly and keep working. Social media often takes a lot of time and effort but can lead to fantastic results. Events can be expensive but can lead to great results.
Usually the decision comes down to money. Even large companies feel the squeeze: in the Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey, 59% of marketing leaders said they lacked the budget to deliver their strategy. So deciding which ones you are going to use should take in these factors.
Common Channel Choices
- Social Media – usually builds reach and trust and mostly costs time
- Email newsletter – usually builds relationships and nurtures people into customers and mostly costs time with low email software costs.
- Website and SEO – usually for being found and converting people into clients. It’s slower, but compounds over time with varying costs depending on website, design, hosting, and SEO agencies etc.
- Industry events: relationship and conversion; costs money and time
- Paid ads: reach; fast, but only while you pay
What this looks like in practice
One client, an established tech company in the waste industry with over 60 staff, had one person covering several marketing roles, and marketing had become a tick-box exercise. Rather than adding anything, I stripped back what wasn’t adding value and focused on where their buyers actually were: LinkedIn for reach and industry events for conversations. The result was a 200% increase in social profile views from target buyers and a 100% uplift in meeting requests from events.
4 Steps To Choose Your Marketing Channels
Here’s how I usually identify channels for my clients.
- Start with your buyers. Ask your last ten clients how they found you and where they go for advice. If you are brand new to business and don’t have clients yet, look at where others in your industry seem to get leads. Or ask potential clients where they spend their time.
- Audit what’s working. I love a quick audit. Look at where your leads are coming from and your previous customers. This is why it’s vital to make sure you’re tracking where your ROI comes from (hint here’s how to measure your ROI automatically). Also audit how much time you’re spending on the platforms and if it’s worth your while.
- Give each a goal. What channel is going to work towards what goal? It doesn’t mean it ONLY does that (for example LinkedIn is fantastic for reach and engagement but can also convert people and build consistent relationships). By picking what you want each channel to do you can narrow down the choices. For example the HubSpot people ranked website and SEO (30.2%) and email (23.6%) among their highest-ROI channels, while for many founders LinkedIn and strategic social media management do the heavy lifting.
- Narrow down (ruthlessly) to the best channels for you. Taking into account what is already working or not, how much time money and effort you are willing to put in, and what each channel is going to do primarily, then you should have a good selection of researched and dedicated channels to focus your efforts on.
FAQ
How many marketing channels should a small business use?
How long is a piece of string? Normally I would say two or three is a sensible start. You can devote enough time to each platform without burnout but still see significant results.
What’s the difference between a marketing channel and a platform?
A channel is the route, such as social media or email. A platform is a specific place within it, such as LinkedIn. If you pick social media make sure you’re extra-selective as to which platform, again not going for multiple platforms unnecessarily.
Ready to stop spreading yourself thin?
Choosing channels is a strategy decision, and it’s hard to make objectively when you’re doing all the posting. If you’re wondering when to outsource marketing, this is often the tipping point. As your Fractional CMO, I’ll audit what you have, cut what isn’t earning its keep and build a focused plan your team can actually keep up.