---
title: Channel Strategy: Where to Show Up and Why
summary: A four-variable framework for choosing channels that match your customer instead of chasing platform trends.
est_minutes: 6
sort: 3
---

Every week, a business owner decides they need to be on a new platform.

Instagram is not working, so they start TikTok. TikTok does not produce results quickly enough, so they try LinkedIn. LinkedIn feels professional but slow, so they consider a podcast.

None of those decisions are wrong. All of them together, without a strategy, are a formula for being present everywhere and effective nowhere.

Channel selection is not a preference. It is a strategic decision.

And the strategy starts with two things you already built: your audit from Module 01 and your behavioral profile from Module 02.

This module gives you the framework for connecting those two documents to a channel plan you can actually sustain.

**Why Channel Selection Goes Wrong**

Most operators select channels the same way they select restaurants: by looking at what everyone else is doing and picking the one that feels right in the moment.

The result is a channel presence that reflects trends and peer pressure rather than the actual location, awareness stage, and behavior of the specific customer they are trying to reach.

There are four variables that should drive every channel decision. Not platform popularity. Not what your competitors are using. Not what feels comfortable. Four variables.

Where your customer actually is. What stage of awareness they are in. What type of content the channel is built to deliver. And what your operation can sustain consistently.

Every channel decision passes through all four. A channel that fails on any one of them is the wrong channel for you right now, regardless of how many impressions it generates for someone else.

**The Four-Variable Channel Selection Framework**

Variable one: Customer Location.

Where is the customer you described in your behavioral profile actually spending time? Not where you assume they are. Where are they verifiably present? For B2B service operators, this is often LinkedIn and direct referral networks. For consumer product businesses, it is often Instagram and YouTube. For local service businesses, it is often Google search and Nextdoor. Start with where they already are. Do not build the channel and hope they show up.

Variable two: Awareness Stage Alignment.

Go back to your behavioral profile. Where does your customer typically enter the decision journey? Unaware and Problem Aware customers are looking for education. They find it through search: Google, YouTube, podcast directories. They are not scrolling Instagram looking for a solution to a problem they have not named yet. Solution Aware and Most Aware customers are actively comparing. They respond to proof, specificity, and direct offers. Those customers convert on landing pages, in email sequences, and through referrals. The channel has to match the stage. Mismatches produce traffic that does not convert.

Variable three: Content Format Fit.

Every channel has a native content format. YouTube rewards long-form video. LinkedIn rewards written analysis and professional insight. Instagram rewards visual content with fast context. TikTok rewards short, high-energy video. Email rewards depth, personalization, and sequences. If your natural content strength does not match the native format of the channel, you will produce content that underperforms even when your message is strong. Align channel to content format before you commit to production.

Variable four: Operational Sustainability.

A channel you cannot publish on consistently is worse than no channel at all. Inconsistent presence on a platform signals to both the algorithm and the audience that you are not committed. Pick the number of channels your current team and time budget can sustain with high-quality, consistent output. For most operators building from scratch, that is one primary channel and one distribution channel. Not five. Not three. Two. Do those two with discipline. Add a third only when the first two are producing measurable output.

**Building Your Channel Plan**

The output of this module is a channel plan with three components.

First: your primary channel. This is where you create original content. It requires the most production effort and is the source for everything else. Pick the channel where your customer is most likely to be, your content format is strongest, and you can publish consistently.

Second: your distribution channel. This is where you extend reach with repurposed or adapted content from your primary channel. Lower production lift. Designed to reach the same customer in a different context or capture a slightly different awareness stage.

Third: your conversion channel. This is where interested prospects land after engaging with your content. Usually email, a landing page, or a direct booking link. This is not a content channel. It is the channel where marketing becomes revenue.

Every piece of content you produce should move a prospect along this path: primary channel creates awareness, distribution channel extends reach, conversion channel closes the gap.

Three channels. One plan. Built on four variables that are specific to your customer, not copied from someone else.

**Your Action Step**

Your worksheet for this module is the Channel Selection Matrix.

It walks you through the four variables for each channel you are considering and produces a documented rationale for every channel in your final plan. By the end of it, you will have a primary channel, a distribution channel, and a conversion channel with a clear reason for each.

Module 04 is Content Architecture. Once your channels are selected, the next question is what to create for them and why. The content decisions in Module 04 are built on your behavioral profile and your channel plan. Both need to be complete before you move forward.

Complete the matrix. Then we build the content architecture.
