Marketing channel charts are useful, but they are not the strategy

Before you double down, ask: will it endure and convert?

I recently came across a GTM visual in my LinkedIn feed titled the “best GTM channels” chart, a data highlight from the 2025 State of B2B GTM report from Growth Unhinged that shines a light on the specific paths companies use to reach and acquire customers. It shows the most effective channels by ARR and ACV. In that data, companies under $1M ARR most often name LinkedIn and warm outbound as top channels, with 40 percent saying each one is in their top three. Founder brand is close behind at 31 percent. Companies over $10M ARR lean much more heavily on large conferences at 53 percent, SEO at 43 percent, and paid ads at 32 percent.

The framing in the LinkedIn post was simple and tempting: these are the highest bang for your buck channels, and the best places to double down. I mean, if only it were that easy. At a glance it reads like a shortcut. Pick from the winners column and watch growth improve.

The same report shows how busy GTM teams have become. The average software company now runs about five core GTM channels and another five and a half channel experiments. A significant share of that experimentation flows into AI discovery, intent based outbound, and events. That context is helpful because it reveals patterns by stage and gives CEOs a rough benchmark for what peers are trying.

However, the chart is still incomplete on its own. It tells you which channels respondents rated highly. It does not tell you why those channels fit, how durable the results are, or whether they reflect real buyer behavior instead of short term tests

The marketing channel choice is really an audience choice

A more useful way to read a channel chart is this: the channels a company chooses are a reflection of its target audience. LinkedIn heavy motions imply buyers who spend time consuming and engaging with professional content in public. Event heavy motions imply buyers who value in person trust building. SEO heavy motions imply buyers who rely on search and have clear problem discovery patterns.

This is why copying a stage based channel mix can be risky. Two companies at the same ARR can have very different buyers, buying journeys, and market dynamics. The same chart can lead to very different and sometimes poor decisions.

So when a chart says early stage winners are LinkedIn, warm outbound, and founder brand, that should not automatically be read as a prescription. It is usually a description of the buyer behavior that made those channels viable in the first place.

There is also a deeper layer that most charts do not show. Not all GTM motions are the same. Some companies run a referral led GTM, where referrals are intentionally designed as the primary channel and where relationships, advocacy, and product experience drive the motion. Others are product led, where the product experience is the main path into the account, or use case led, where a very specific problem or job to be done is the main wedge. On a chart, these can all show up under the same label, for example outbound or events, even though the underlying motion is very different.

What a “43 percent endurance” data point is really signaling

Recent SaaS growth data puts median growth endurance at roughly 43 percent, with much stronger performance concentrated in the top quartile.

That number forces a different kind of honesty. It is not enough to ask which channels are lighting up this quarter. You also have to ask which ones have actually held up over time and survived the move from experiment to real engine.

This is where channel charts need interpretation more than imitation. If companies are running several core channels and several experiments at the same time, and median endurance is still low, then some of what is labeled a strong channel is probably still experimental rather than proven as a long term engine.

What happens after the click matters too

Conversion adds another important lens. In recent SaaS conversion data reported by ChartMogul, 43 percent of surveyed products reported that they improved free to paid conversion over the prior 12 months. Most of those gains landed in the 10 to 25 percent range, and about 10 percent of products reported gains above 25 percent.

That matters because it shows growth does not only come from adding more channels. Companies also improve outcomes by strengthening what happens after acquisition. This includes onboarding, product led conversion flows, review site presence, localized experiences, and content such as template libraries that support both activation and SEO.

For me, this means a channel chart only shows the front door. The more important strategic question is whether the experience behind that door is converting the traffic, trials, or signups the business already earns.

What you should listen for

Whether there is a full marketing team, a fractional leader, an agency, or only the CEO and a few operators, the same principle applies. The goal is not simply to find active channels. The goal is to build channels that reflect buyer behavior and can be sustained with the resources available.

A short list of questions can make these conversations much more useful:

• Does this channel match how the target buyer actually discovers and evaluates solutions?

• Is this channel being recommended because it fits the audience, or because it is trending in the market right now?

• Has this motion held up long enough to suggest repeatability, or is it still best understood as an experiment?

• Once we understand that, what can we learn from this channel that improves positioning, offers, messaging, or sales conversations elsewhere?

These questions move the conversation out of marketing jargon and into strategy, tradeoffs, and repeatable systems.

The real signal behind the chart

Charts are useful. They create a shared language, show which motions are gaining attention, and help teams sense check where they may be over or under invested.

The deeper signal is the audience behavior behind the click. A strong channel paired with weak conversion design still produces a weak growth system.

That is the opportunity hidden inside charts like this. The smartest reaction is rarely, “Should we copy this channel mix?” The better question is, “Do we like the way this company grows?”