Most B2B service companies I talk to still rely on referrals to land new clients.

Take a vacuum pump manufacturer we worked with.

Their website was from the early 2000s (each page was just a wall of text), they had no marketing in place, and most of their clients came from recommendations.

It's not a bad place to be when you're just starting out.

But over time, referrals dry up.

Because referrals rely on someone else thinking about your business at the right time and having the information on hand to share.

Referrals put the growth of your business in someone else's hands.

But transitioning to a marketing-first approach, where your team drums up leads through content, ads, and events, can seem daunting.

Where do you start? What do you invest in? What's worth the time and energy to do? And should you just buy that lead list from the guy in your DMs? (never, ever do that.)

Most B2B service companies don't need a robust marketing system to generate leads.

You only need four channels.

The 4-Channel Marketing Approach

We keep our marketing strategies for our Brand OS clients simple — four channels that make sense for our clients and that they can stick to long-term.

It's easy: choose one channel under each of these four categories ↓

Channel 1: Search

Search can seem overwhelming, but it's fairly simple: you need to show up where your ideal customers are searching.

That could be Google, LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc), YouTube, review sites (Clutch, Trustpilot, Glassdoor), or search ads (Google, Bing).

If you're just getting started marketing your company, pick one to invest in.

I recommend SEO blog posts.

Done correctly, they'll help you show up on Google and in LLMs, so you can capture the attention of the ideal customers who are in-market right now looking to buy.

Level that up by hiring an expert to do on-page SEO on your website.

If your site is over 4 years old, or you designed it yourself, I guarantee you it's not ranking on Google.

Investing in effective SEO will help ideal customers find your website when they search for a solution like yours.

When funds are available, upgrade to search ads.

They ensure your business shows up when customers search for your type of solution.

Channel 2: Social

Next, choose one social media platform your ideal customers regularly use.

The goal here is to showcase your expertise and attract those who are not ready to buy.

It may seem counterintuitive, but only 3% of your ideal customers are in-market. The other 97% aren't ready to buy, but will be in the future.

If you get in front of them now, your business will be the one that pops up in their minds when they are looking to buy.

There are hundreds of social media platforms out there, but the most recognizable are:

• LinkedIn: positioned as the B2B platform
• Instagram: good for attracting smaller, founder-led B2B
• Facebook: good for more local companies
• Threads: good for attracting smaller, founder-led B2B
• X (Twitter): kind of a hot mess. I don't recommend this one
• TikTok: good for consulting, coaching, and more B2C companies
• YouTube: part SEO, part social, great for B2B
• Reddit: the number one platform that LLMs pull from

I tend to recommend LinkedIn, YouTube, or Reddit for our clients, depending on where their ideal customers are.

As you master organic content, consider running social ads.

On LinkedIn, turn your best content into a thought leader ad to push it to the feeds of your ideal customers.

I've sold a number of consultations that way.

Channel 3: Nurture

Search and social are all about being found. A nurture channel is about moving people from "I want more from you" to "I want to give you money."

The two most classic examples are a lead magnet and an email newsletter.

I recommend you do both.

• A lead magnet to entice people to sign up
• An email newsletter to stay in front of them on a weekly basis

But I want to give some clarity here.

Your lead magnet should be something valuable that your ideal customers actually want.

No one needs another sales pitch disguised as a whitepaper or webinar.

I tell my clients that your lead magnet should be something people would pay for. If you're providing that level of value, your lead magnet will work.

Here are a few ideas:

• Assessment quiz
• Email course
• Free access to an app
• Downloadable how-to guide
• AI system (not prompt)

Follow that with a nurturing sequence that builds expertise and gently pushes subscribers to a sale.

Once completed, add them to an email list where you send one practical tip every week.

That combo provides value before they buy, helps them get to know what you do more, and keeps your name in front of them on a weekly basis.

Channel 4: Industry Specific

Lastly, find an industry-specific channel that your ideal customers already trust.

This could be:

• Industry publication
• Association or organization
• Slack or Discord community
• Tradeshow or event
• Directory

Take Fusion Tech, for example.

They manufacture food-processing equipment, primarily for the meat industry.

We found two magazines that every ideal customer subscribed to and read religiously. So much so that the magazines would be on the desks of decision-makers when Fusion Tech's sales team visited.

Fusion Tech invests heavily in those publications — both by running ads and by building relationships with their publishers, editors, and authors.

Anytime those magazines write an article about a process that Fusion Tech creates equipment for, they ask for insights, a quote, and pictures of the equipment to run in the ad.

Those publications generate more revenue than LinkedIn and SEO combined.

Or take Masterpoint.

They provide infrastructure-as-code services for large companies.

During our research, we found a Slack community that many of their ideal customers were active in.

Rather than investing time and energy in trying to grow on LinkedIn, members of their team are active in that Slack community — answering questions, offering advice, and starting conversations with decision-makers.

Done well, these channels will often outperform every other marketing channel.

Start Small & Build

The biggest mistake I see B2B service providers make in marketing is trying to do it all at once.

Blog posts, lead magnet, email newsletter, LinkedIn, a Slack community, YouTube, Instagram, Google Ads...

I'm tired just thinking of all that work.

Unless you have a marketing team of 3-5 people, tackling it all at once will leave you frustrated, burnt out, and with no real results.

The goal is to build a system you can sustain.

Start small — choose 1 or 2 channels and get used to them.

Build the habits that help you perform on those channels well before you add any more.

If you choose correctly, you'll be able to add new channels with a minimal increase in work:

A YouTube video that turns into 1 blog post that turns into 2 email newsletters that turn into 12 LinkedIn posts that turn into 4 thought leader ads and can be used in an industry-specific Slack community.

That kind of system will put you in every category with a minimal (1-3) marketing team.

Stop Relying on Referrals

Referrals are great, but if they are your only source of new clients, your business will never grow.

You need a system to attract and convert your ideal customers.

Choose one of the channel categories above and get started today.

Or hire my team to build that system for you.

Every Brand OS client gets a marketing system to attract and convert their ideal customers.

And make a sh*t ton of money in the process.

Until next week,

#SassyJason out.

✌🏼