How to Choose a Marketing Channel Without Hurting Your Business Growth
Michael Knowles |
17 July, 2025 |
4 minute read |
Blog, Digital Marketing, PPC, SEO, Social Media
It’s tempting to pick your marketing channels off the shelf, quick, convenient, and seemingly safe. After all, if your competitors are doing it, it must work… right?
At ROAR, we’ve seen this mistake countless times. Experienced marketing leaders fall into the same trap, choosing channels simply because:
- Competitors are using them
- They assume they’re effective
- They feel pressured to pick something rather than nothing
But here’s the truth: this approach doesn’t drive sustainable growth.
We’ve helped many businesses refocus, and the results speak for themselves. Clients who shifted from imitation to strategy saw stronger engagement, higher ROI, and faster growth, without wasting their budget on ineffective channels.
If you’re serious about learning how to choose a marketing channel that drives results, this blog is your final nudge towards clarity.
Stop Guessing – Start Choosing Marketing Channels With Purpose
Many brands fall into the trap of picking marketing channels based on guesswork or industry trends. But there’s a smarter, simpler way to remove the uncertainty.
Step 1: Identify Clearly – Know Exactly Who You’re Targeting
Be brutally specific about who your ideal customer is, and equally clear about who they are not.
A great piece of advice from Kathryn Wharton recently summed it up perfectly: “Define who you are not targeting as clearly as who you are.”
When you know exactly who you’re speaking to, channel selection becomes far easier.
Step 2: Analyse Deeply – Where Does Your Audience Pay Attention?
Spoiler alert: It’s rarely where your competitors think.
Invest time in researching where your audience spends their time, both online and offline. Data from customer surveys, analytics, and even industry forums can reveal goldmines of insight that most brands overlook.
Step 3: Select Strategically — Align Channels With Your Customers, Not Trends
Once you’ve nailed down who your audience is and where they spend their attention, only then should you select your marketing channels.
Forget what’s ‘popular’ or ‘easy’. Focus on what connects with your specific audience – whether that’s SEO, PPC, social media, email marketing, or something else entirely.
Want to ensure your marketing channels are driving real results? Book a free discovery call, and we’ll review your current strategy, no obligation, just honest insight.
The Truth About Channel Selection Most Agencies Won’t Tell You
Here’s where we’re different from most agencies: we’ll always tell you the truth, even if it means recommending a service we don’t offer.
Why? Because integrity matters more than quick wins.
- Sometimes social media outperforms SEO, depending on your goals.
- Sometimes PPC needs to wait until your analytics are fully set up, this is always true.
- Copying competitors without a clear strategy is a fast track to wasted budget.
- Pushing services simply because they’re available doesn’t serve you.
If your business isn’t ready for SEO or PPC yet, we’ll say so, because when you are ready, you’ll remember who gave you honest, useful advice, not a sales pitch.
Our final thoughts
Think about it, if your sink was leaking, would you pick the first tool you saw, or would you select the right one for the job?
The same applies to your marketing strategy.
You deserve precision, clarity, and a marketing partner who advises, not just sells. Our approach is built around honesty, transparency, and long-term impact. We’ll help you build a strategy that makes sense for your business, not just our bottom line.
Ready to get strategic about how to choose a marketing channel for your business? Request a free discovery call and let’s make sure your channels are aligned to your goals, audience, and budget.
