I used to believe in the "one channel" strategy.
Until a company I was head of marketing at lost $1M in revenue when LinkedIn's and Google's algorithm changed overnight.
That was a wake-up call.
Here's the reality about marketing channels:
They're like investment portfolios. Putting everything into one stock is dangerous. It's like the multipolar world we started living in.
Smart companies build a balanced mix:
• One primary revenue driver
• One growth channel
• One experimental channel
Take Surfer SEO's journey:
They dominated SEO traffic
Then added YouTube
8 months later? Two solid channels
The key is sequencing:
1. Master your first channel
2. Document what works
3. Add a second while the first still performs
4. Stabilize
5. Experiment with a third
But here's the catch:
Don't chase 5 channels at once.
Don't abandon what's working.
Don't expect immediate results.
Think of it like farming:
• Maintain your productive field
• Plant new crops in stages
• Let them grow at their own pace
The "law of shitty clickthroughs" means every channel eventually declines.
Smart founders prepare for this.
They build their next channel before they need it.
Your goal isn't to be everywhere.
Your goal is to have options when things change.
Because they will change.
Ask yourself:
Is your revenue stream built on a single point of failure?