Test a new channel each quarter

Relying on one channel is risky. Costs rise, an algorithm changes or your audience moves, and your pipeline drops with it. One new channel test per quarter gives you a backup before you need one. The trick is to keep each test small and ready to stop.

Block the time in your calendar now. A test that has no slot in the quarter does not happen.

In the first week, list three channels you could test. Use four filters:

• Your buyers are already there and pay attention to it.
• You have, or can learn quickly, the skill needed to use it.
• You can test it for a fixed, small cost, in money or hours.
• You will see a first signal within six to eight weeks.

Score each candidate from 1 to 5 on each filter and add the scores. Typical candidates are a LinkedIn ads campaign, a newsletter, cold outreach, a webinar, a partner or a community. Do not pick the channel everyone is talking about. Pick the one with the best fit.

Decide the most you will spend. I would set it at about 10 percent of your current acquisition budget, or a fixed number of hours per week, such as four. Write the cap down.

A cap protects you from the sunk-cost trap, where you keep spending because you have already spent. When the cap is reached, you stop and decide. You do not extend by default.

Before launch, write down what success looks like in numbers. For example:

Eight weeks, a maximum of 1,500 spend, at least 20 leads, cost per lead below 75, and at least a quarter of leads qualify.

Include a quality measure, not only volume. Cheap leads that never buy do not count. If you have a target cost per lead already, take it from Calculate how many leads you need and what you can afford.

Give the channel its own campaign tag, so every lead can be traced to it. Use one naming convention, for example "source_medium_quarter". Make sure the tag is stored on the contact in your CRM, such as HubSpot, and that you can report on it.

Keep a log from day one: date, what you did, spend or hours, leads, and anything you noticed. Fill it in every week.

Do the work properly for the full period. Use a minimum viable version: one offer, one audience, two or three creative variations. Do not spread across five audiences.

Review once a week for ten minutes. Do not change the plan in the first three weeks unless something is plainly broken, because a channel needs time to produce data.

At the end of the pilot, compare the log against the success criteria and choose one of three outcomes.

• Scale: you hit the criteria. Move the channel into your main plan and use Scale winning channels.
• Extend once: you got close, and you can name one specific change. Run one more cycle with that change, then decide.
• Stop: you missed on cost, volume or quality. Write down what you learned and drop it.

Stopping is a good outcome. It saves you a year of doing something that does not work. Budget moves between channels follow the rules in Reallocate budget based on CAC by channel.

• Testing three channels at once and giving none of them enough attention.
• Setting the success criteria after seeing the results.
• Judging a channel after two weeks.
• Letting the pilot run on without a decision date.
• Measuring leads but not quality.
• Choosing a channel because a competitor is visible on it.

At the end of the quarter you can answer yes to these questions.

• A decision was made, with the numbers written down.
• The log is complete enough that someone else could read it and understand what happened.
• You can name your next candidate from the shortlist.
• Over a year, you have four tested channels, and at least one has either joined your plan or been ruled out for a good reason.