Score marketing channels against buyer presence, intent, access, feedback speed, economics and your ability to repeat the work for a full 12-week test.
Short answer: Score each plausible channel from 0 to 2 on buyer presence, buying intent, repeatable access, feedback speed, affordable acquisition and your ability to execute it. Choose the highest option scoring at least 8 out of 12, with no zero for buyer presence or affordability, then give it 80 per cent of your marketing time for 12 weeks. Review at weeks four, eight and 12 without adding another full channel midway.
New founders often choose a channel because a successful business is visible there. Visibility does not reveal the cost, years of accumulated audience or sales generated elsewhere.
The purpose of your first channel is not maximum reach. It is enough repeated contact with suitable buyers to learn whether one acquisition mechanism can produce profitable customers. Spreading the same hours across five places makes weak results impossible to diagnose.
Use the 12-Week Channel Commitment Score
The 12-Week Channel Commitment Score gives every candidate 0, 1 or 2 points across six tests. Use current evidence, not enthusiasm. A score of 0 means the requirement is absent or unknown, 1 means plausible but unproven, and 2 means supported by observation or prior sales.
- Buyer presence: 0 points: Intended buyers are rarely there; 1 point: Some suitable buyers appear; 2 points: Buyers are concentrated or reliably identifiable
- Buying intent: 0 points: Activity is unrelated to purchase; 1 point: The problem is discussed; 2 points: Buyers use the channel near a decision
- Repeatable access: 0 points: Access depends on one favour; 1 point: Access is possible but irregular; 2 points: You can repeat a defined action weekly
- Feedback speed: 0 points: No meaningful signal within 12 weeks; 1 point: Leading signals appear; 2 points: Conversations or purchases can occur
- Affordable acquisition: 0 points: Cost cannot be estimated or repaid; 1 point: Economics may work; 2 points: A sale can repay repeated channel activity
- Founder execution: 0 points: You lack capacity or core skill; 1 point: You can learn with effort; 2 points: You can produce credible work consistently
Choose the highest score at 8 or above. Reject any option scoring 0 for buyer presence or affordable acquisition, even if its total looks attractive elsewhere. Those zeros mean you either cannot reach the market or cannot pay for doing so.
The score is a decision aid, not a scientific prediction. Its value comes from forcing comparable evidence across options.
Define a channel by how customers arrive
A channel is a repeatable route through which a suitable buyer discovers, evaluates and approaches you. “Online” is not one channel. Local search, marketplace listings, direct email and partner referrals have different economics and behaviours.
Supporting places do not automatically become extra channels. A simple website that helps a referred prospect verify you is sales infrastructure if you are not trying to attract traffic to it independently. A professional profile used to check a contact is not another campaign.
My view is that a new business with fewer than five marketing hours a week should operate only one active acquisition channel. Some marketers favour appearing everywhere so customers encounter a consistent brand. That can matter later. At the beginning, presence without sufficient repetitions creates maintenance, not evidence.
Build a shortlist from buyer behaviour
Start with three to five channels customers already use around the buying decision. Ask recent buyers where the problem first became urgent, where they looked for options and what they checked before contacting anyone. Observe actual behaviour where possible.
Include one direct route, one intent route and one trust route on the shortlist:
- a direct route reaches named prospects;
- an intent route captures people already investigating the problem;
- a trust route uses a relevant community, venue or complementary business.
This creates genuine alternatives without assuming that the most fashionable platform belongs on the list. A wholesale food producer may find buyers at trade events, through distributors or by direct account contact. Daily consumer social posting is not mandatory merely because it is visible.
Score each route using the same segment and offer. If you change the customer while scoring the channel, you are comparing two strategies rather than two routes.
Prove that you can afford enough repetitions
Estimate the complete 12-week input: fees, travel, media, samples, production time, prospect research, follow-up and sales conversations. Give founder time an hourly value.
Then define a meaningful repetition. One targeted batch, partner meeting, event, published answer or local visibility improvement may be a unit, depending on the channel. Specify how many units you can complete without damaging delivery.
Calculate the number of sales required to repay the channel input: 12-week channel cost ÷ contribution per first sale = break-even sales
Round the result up because part of a sale does not pay a bill. If the required number exceeds capacity or plausible demand, the channel fails affordability before the test starts.
Do not assume repeat purchases will rescue the calculation unless you have observed them. Early channels should have a credible path from the first purchase.
Run the 12 weeks in four phases
During weeks one and two, complete the minimum setup and make the first repetitions. Do not spend half the period designing a perfect presence.
During weeks three to six, repeat the same core activity and record the path from suitable exposure to conversation and sale. Correct factual or operational failures immediately, but keep the segment and offer steady.
At week four, check whether intended buyers are actually present. At week eight, change one weak part supported by evidence, such as the partner type or requested next action. During weeks nine to 12, repeat the improved version. At week 12, calculate contribution after all channel cost and decide to continue, change or stop.
A channel can fail honourably. The point is to obtain a clear result for an affordable amount, not to defend the original score.
Worked example: Harbour Bike Fit
Harbour Bike Fit is a new Plymouth appointment business charging £165 for a bike-fitting session. Delivery takes 2.5 hours at a founder-time allowance of £27 an hour, and direct consumables cost £12.50. Contribution before acquisition and general overhead is £165 minus £67.50 minus £12.50 = £85.
The owner scores three routes:
- Cycling club partnerships: Presence: 2; Intent: 2; Access: 2; Feedback: 2; Affordability: 1; Execution: 2; Total: 11
- Local search: Presence: 2; Intent: 2; Access: 1; Feedback: 1; Affordability: 1; Execution: 1; Total: 8
- General social posting: Presence: 1; Intent: 0; Access: 2; Feedback: 1; Affordability: 2; Execution: 2; Total: 8, rejected
Social posting reaches cyclists, but it scores 0 on buying intent and is rejected. Club partnerships win.
Across 12 weeks, meetings, demonstrations and follow-up take 22 hours, worth £594. Travel and event materials cost £186, making total channel input £780. Break-even is £780 ÷ £85 = 9.18, so the channel needs 10 bookings.
It produces 12 bookings. First-sale contribution is 12 × £85 = £1,020. After the £780 channel input, £240 remains before general overhead and tax. These illustrative results justify another cycle, but the owner should still test whether later referrals are being credited to the correct original source.
Keep one scoreboard
Record only stages that reflect the chosen route: meaningful repetitions, suitable buyers reached, commercial conversations, sales, first-sale contribution and channel cost. Followers, views or attendees can help diagnose reach, but they are not interchangeable with customers.
Use the same attribution rule throughout the 12 weeks. Ask customers how they first found you and what caused them to act. If a club introduction led to a website check and then an enquiry, the club remains the acquisition source while the website supported trust.
Do not move successful sales to the newest channel because it makes the report look better. Good channel decisions depend on an honest path.
Related guides
Make the commitment within two days
List up to five plausible channels today and score all six tests using one customer segment and offer. Tomorrow, calculate 12-week cash, time and break-even sales for the top three. Reject zeros in presence or affordability, choose the strongest score at 8 or above and schedule its weekly repetitions. Define the week-four, week-eight and week-12 reviews now. Keep basic trust information current elsewhere, but place 80 per cent of active marketing time into the chosen route until the final decision.
Frequently asked questions
Do I still need a website if it is not my chosen channel?
You may need a simple place where prospects verify your identity, offer, evidence and contact details, but that does not make the website an active acquisition channel. Build only what the chosen route's buyers require to make the next decision. If referrals consistently ask for examples, show those.
If a marketplace completes the purchase, avoid duplicating a full shop before you have a reason. Legal information requirements vary by business, buyer and jurisdiction, so check current rules. Supporting trust is necessary; launching a second traffic campaign is a separate commitment.
What if my chosen channel produces nothing in four weeks?
Check whether you completed enough meaningful repetitions and reached the intended buyers before abandoning it. A zero from two inconsistent attempts says little. A zero after the scheduled week-four activity, with verified buyer presence and correct execution, challenges the original score.
Identify the earliest failed stage and correct one assumption for weeks five to eight. Stop sooner when evidence disproves a non-negotiable fact, such as buyers not using the route or acquisition costing more than a sale can repay. Persistence should serve a test, not protect sunk time.
Can customer referrals be my one channel?
Yes, when you have enough customers to generate introductions at a repeatable rate and the referred work is suitable and profitable. With only one or two customers, referrals may be a useful source but too irregular to support a 12-week commitment by themselves.
Define the activity you control, such as asking after a measured result and responding promptly. Do not treat goodwill as guaranteed inventory. Track concentration around each introducer and develop another route before one relationship controls most demand. Referral fees, privacy and disclosure requirements vary, so obtain qualified local advice where relevant.
Should I choose the cheapest channel?
Choose the least expensive route that can reach enough suitable buyers and produce interpretable commercial evidence. A free channel can be costly when it consumes founder time, develops slowly or attracts poor-fit enquiries. A paid route can be economical when each sale carries substantial contribution and feedback arrives quickly.
Price all cash and time across the same 12 weeks, then calculate break-even sales. Do not choose an expensive channel merely because spending feels more serious. Affordability is one of six tests, and a route with no buyer intent remains weak at any price.
What if I serve two different customer segments?
Choose one segment for the first channel test. Different buyers may use different routes, respond to different proof and produce different contribution, so combining them makes the score hard to interpret. Select the segment with the clearest problem, reachable buyers and workable economics.
Keep servicing existing customers from the other segment, but do not run a second acquisition test unless capacity permits a genuinely separate budget and review. After 12 weeks, you can repeat the score for the second group using what you learned. One channel cannot be judged fairly against two changing markets.
Can I keep using a channel that loses money in the first 12 weeks?
Yes, when leading evidence is improving, later customer value is supported by real behaviour and the business can fund a defined second cycle. Separate setup cost from recurring cost, then calculate what the next 12 weeks would require. Do not erase the first loss or rely on assumed repeat sales.
State the change that should bring acquisition below the allowable level and set another stopping point. Continue neither because the channel is popular nor because you have invested heavily. A controlled extension is a new decision, not an automatic reward for completing the first test.
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