Most of my $20M+ revenue clients don’t use LinkedIn for demand or lead gen.
Shocking, I know.
LinkedIn is positioned as the platform for growing a B2B business. Decision-makers, internal champions, and even interns are on LinkedIn. If you want to gain their attention, LinkedIn is the place to be, right?
For many of my larger clients, the answer is no.
Two years ago, we worked with a vacuum pump manufacturer. When I interviewed their customers and asked if they ever used LinkedIn, the answer was the same:
“I think I have an account, but I haven’t logged into it in years.”
Their ideal customers might be on the platform, but they aren’t using it or logging into it at all.
I hear that same response when I interview customers of my larger industrial clients.
LinkedIn is a waste of time and limited marketing resources for most industrial companies.
Niche marketing channels are far more effective for them.
Understand Your Niche
Most industries have some kind of niche marketing channels that work better than any form of social media.
- Food processing equipment manufacturers have print magazines
- Infrastructure as code companies have an engineering Slack community
- Generative AI companies have vendor partnerships
- Vacuum pump manufacturers have direct mail
- IoT companies have distributors and reps
- Software developers have vendor boards
Their ideal customers use those channels to find solutions.
That’s why it’s important to know your ideal customers — who they are and where they go when looking for a solution.
One infrastructure as code company we worked with found a Slack community where their ideal customers go to ask questions and get advice.
LinkedIn is a waste when they can have direct, real conversations with their ideal customers in an environment their ideal customers trust.
Or take Fusion Tech, one of our food processing equipment manufacturers.
They are active on LinkedIn and do pull $1M in revenue from the channel every year. But LinkedIn is a relatively new channel for them.
Most of their ideal customers religiously read two industry magazines, so they run ads each month in those magazines — and can trace $15M+ minimum each year from those ads. They’re so effective, customers will even rip out the page their ad is on and have it pinned to their corkboard to reach out.
The more you know your ideal customers, the easier it is to know where to show up.
What are Niche Marketing Channels?
So, what constitutes a niche marketing channel?
There are a few categories we start with when trying to find marketing channels that work best for our clients:
- Industry Publications: industry magazines, trade journals, podcasts, blogs, or newsletters that your ideal customers read regularly and trust.
- Conferences and Trade Shows: events your ideal customers attend to learn, gather insights about their industry, and find solutions.
- Industry Associations: active associations your ideal customers join, attend, and participate in. This could be as simple as a chamber of commerce or as niche as the American Association of Meat Processors.
- Vendor Discovery Platforms: think review sites, marketplaces, curated project boards, or directories that ideal customers use to find vendors.
- Online Communities: Slack channels, Discord servers, subreddits, or private forums where your ideal customers ask questions and swap recommendations.
- Vendor-Buyer Matchmaking Events: Events where the organizer arranges 1:1 meetings with ideal customers actively evaluating solutions like yours.
That last one is my favorite.
We’ve found industry-specific matchmaking events for all of our industrial clients. You have to really mess up to walk out of an event like that without active deals.
Find Your Niche Marketing Channels
So, how do you find niche industry marketing channels where your ideal customers spend their time?
Talk to Your Ideal Customers
The single best way is to jump on a call and ask your ideal customers where they go to find vendors.
Push beyond the typical “Google” or “AI” responses.
Specifically ask them if there are any publications, associations, events, communities, or platforms they use to find or vet out vendors.
When I asked clients of our vacuum pump manufacturer where they find vendors, the resounding answer was “direct mail”.
Postcards, fliers, letters — what we consider junk mail, they saw as a way to find vendors. I never would have guessed that without talking to them.
Go schedule calls with your ideal customers right now.
Use the Niche Marketing Channel AI Prompt
After you’ve talked to your ideal customers, and only after you’ve talked to them, use our niche marketing channel AI prompt.
I designed this prompt to help us find industry channels that our clients should try.
Our AI Caveat:
AI is an intern, not a trusted advisor. This prompt will generate solid results, but it’s up to you to review each one and determine whether your ideal customers actually use those channels. AI hallucinates, makes mistakes, and in general, shouldn’t be trusted to make recommendations for your business.
You’ll need to add in information about your ideal customers under the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) title in the prompt for this to work.
Simply copy the code box below, add your ICP information, and let Claude or ChatGPT do its thing.
You are a Market Research Assistant specializing in identifying where specific buyer personas (ideal customers) gather, learn, and look for solutions — online and offline. Your job is to uncover high-quality, relevant, REAL sources based on their industry, role, challenges, and buying behavior.
IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE (ICP)
- Industry: [insert industry here]
- Job Title/Role: [insert job title here]
- Company Stage/Size: [insert company stage and size]
- Company Location: [geographic location]
- Company Attributes: [insert any defining attributes — e.g. no marketing team]
- Primary Goals/Challenges: [insert known challenges]
- Product or Solution Sought: [insert your type of solution]
We want to find where this audience goes to learn, connect, evaluate vendors, and get matched with vendors.
GROUND RULES (read before researching) 1. Never invent a source or URL. If you cannot name a real, verifiable source, don’t include a placeholder or a guessed-but-plausible-sounding one. Omit it, or list it separately under “Unconfirmed — verify before use.” 2. Avoid generic, single-word listings (“LinkedIn,” “Reddit,” “Google”) unless you’re naming a specific group, subreddit, or page within that platform. 3. 3–6 sources per category, quality over quantity. Don’t pad a category to look thorough. 4. Prefer sources active in the last 12 months. For anything with an annual/recurring cadence (events, awards, summits), name the next confirmed edition and date if you know it; otherwise say “cadence confirmed, next date unconfirmed.” 5. If you’re uncertain about any detail — whether a group is still active, whether a URL is current, whether an event still runs — say so explicitly. Don’t smooth uncertainty into a confident-sounding sentence.
CATEGORIES TO RESEARCH 1. Online Communities Slack groups, Discord servers, subreddits, private forums, Facebook groups, etc. — where this ICP asks questions and swaps recommendations. 2. Podcasts / Blogs / Newsletters Niche sources this role/industry follows for insights and thought leadership. 3. Conferences & Trade Events (general) Industry conferences and trade shows this ICP attends to learn and network — expo floors, breakout sessions, optional networking. Not vendor-matchmaking (see category 4 — don’t double-count an event in both places). 4. Vendor-Buyer Matchmaking Events (Hosted-Buyer Model) This is a specific, distinct format from category 3 — don’t default to general conferences here. In this model, the organizer pre-qualifies buyer-side attendees (“delegates”), builds each vendor a private itinerary of guaranteed 1:1 meetings with buyers actively evaluating a solution like ours, and vendors pay to sponsor/attend while qualified buyer delegates typically attend free. Signals that an event belongs in this category — look for organizer language like: “hosted buyer,” “guaranteed meetings,” “curated itinerary,” “supplier program,” “sponsorship opportunities,” “reverse trade show,” “vendor matchmaking,” or a dedicated “for suppliers” / “for vendors” page. Known organizers who run this true hosted-buyer model (use to calibrate pattern-matching — don’t limit results to only these): VerticalXchange, IQPC’s “Exchange” series (e.g. Connected Worker Exchange), Generis Group, marcus evans Summits, Momentum Events Exchanges, GDS Group, Quartz Network, Richmond Events. Exclude, or clearly flag as “conference-adjacent, not true hosted-buyer”: - General trade shows/conferences that merely offer optional networking or an expo floor - “Boardroom” style group presentations to multiple buyers at once (not 1:1) - Hybrid conference+expo formats where matchmaking is a minor add-on, not the core structure For each result in this category, confirm and state in the Brief Note: (a) it’s genuinely double opt-in/organizer-matched, not just claimed; (b) in-person or virtual; (c) the vendor/sponsor entry-point URL if you can find one (not just the general event homepage). 5. Publications & Associations Trade journals, professional/trade associations, academic or commercial publications relevant to this role’s work. 6. Vendor Discovery Platforms Where this ICP goes to evaluate or discover vendors: review sites (G2, Capterra, etc.), marketplaces, curated agency/project boards, directories specific to the industry.
OUTPUT FORMAT Bullet list, grouped by category. Each item: - Name of Source - Type (e.g. Slack group, Podcast, Conference, Hosted-Buyer Event, Review Site) - URL - Brief Note — why it’s relevant to this ICP specifically (not generic), plus any category-4 confirmations above, plus any uncertainty flags
If a category turns up nothing you can verify, say so plainly instead of stretching weaker categories to fill space.
Remember, evaluate each recommendation before you abandon your current marketing efforts and invest money in a channel.
Talk to your ideal customers. Ask others in your industry about the channel. And trust your gut, not AI.
Show Up Where Your Customers Are
Using niche marketing channels feels like a secret business hack.
You’ll spend less time and energy finding ideal customers and more time actually talking to and nurturing them towards a deal.
Try the prompt above today.
And if you need help developing a plan to make those channels work, consider booking the Brand OS.
We’ll nail down your positioning, messaging, experience, and develop a strategy to help you dominate the marketing channels that make sense for your business.
Until next week,
#SassyJason out
✌🏼
