Most businesses market through three or four channels: content, social media, SEO, maybe email. It’s what everyone talks about, what every marketing blog covers, what feels safe.

But what if those aren’t the best channels for your business?

Gabriel Weinberg, co-founder of DuckDuckGo and author of Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth, spent years researching how companies actually grow. His finding: there are 19 distinct channels that can drive growth—and most businesses ignore the majority of them.

Here’s the complete list, and why it matters.

The 19 Traction Channels

1. Viral Marketing

What it is: Building products or campaigns designed to spread through user sharing.

Examples: Dropbox’s referral program (“Get 500MB free for every friend you invite”), Hotmail’s “Get your free email at Hotmail” signature.

Best for: Products with natural sharing moments, network effects, or social use cases.

2. Public Relations (PR)

What it is: Getting coverage in traditional media outlets—newspapers, magazines, TV, radio.

Examples: Product launches covered by TechCrunch, founder profiles in Forbes, trend pieces in industry publications.

Best for: Companies with newsworthy stories, funding announcements, or novel approaches.

3. Unconventional PR

What it is: Attention-grabbing stunts or gestures that earn media coverage through sheer creativity.

Examples: Richard Branson’s publicity stunts, Cards Against Humanity’s Black Friday “nothing” sale, Blendtec’s “Will It Blend?” videos.

Best for: Brands willing to take creative risks and comfortable with bold moves.

4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

What it is: Paid advertising on search engines like Google and Bing.

Examples: Google Ads for high-intent keywords, Bing Ads for lower competition.

Best for: Products solving problems people actively search for, with clear unit economics.

What it is: Paid advertising on social platforms and websites.

Examples: Facebook/Instagram ads, LinkedIn ads, programmatic display, retargeting campaigns.

Best for: Visual products, B2C companies, businesses with defined audience segments.

6. Offline Ads

What it is: Traditional advertising—TV, radio, billboards, print, direct mail.

Examples: TV commercials, radio spots, highway billboards, magazine ads, flyer campaigns.

Best for: Mass-market products, local businesses, demographics less reachable online.

7. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

What it is: Optimizing content and website structure to rank in organic search results.

Examples: Blog posts targeting long-tail keywords, technical SEO improvements, link building.

Best for: Businesses with content that answers search queries, long-term growth mindset.

8. Content Marketing

What it is: Creating valuable content to attract and engage potential customers.

Examples: Blog posts, ebooks, whitepapers, videos, podcasts, newsletters.

Best for: Businesses with expertise to share, audiences who consume content before buying.

9. Email Marketing

What it is: Building and nurturing relationships through email communication.

Examples: Welcome sequences, newsletters, promotional campaigns, drip campaigns.

Best for: Businesses with repeat customers, long sales cycles, or ongoing relationships.

10. Engineering as Marketing

What it is: Building free tools or resources that attract your target audience.

Examples: HubSpot’s Website Grader, Moz’s Domain Authority checker, CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer.

Best for: Companies with engineering resources who can build tools their audience needs.

11. Targeting Blogs

What it is: Getting featured or mentioned on blogs your audience reads.

Examples: Guest posts, sponsored content, product reviews, expert roundups.

Best for: Niche products with dedicated blog communities.

12. Business Development (BD)

What it is: Strategic partnerships that open new customer channels.

Examples: Integration partnerships, co-marketing deals, distribution agreements, white-label arrangements.

Best for: Products that complement other products, B2B companies, platform plays.

13. Sales

What it is: Direct outreach to potential customers—inside sales, field sales, or enterprise sales.

Examples: Cold outreach, demos, sales calls, account-based selling.

Best for: High-value products, B2B, complex solutions requiring explanation.

14. Affiliate Programs

What it is: Paying others a commission for customers they refer.

Examples: Amazon Associates, software affiliate programs, influencer commission deals.

Best for: Products with clear value, healthy margins, and broad appeal.

15. Existing Platforms

What it is: Building on top of platforms where your audience already gathers.

Examples: Apps on Salesforce AppExchange, plugins for WordPress, integrations with Slack, listings on marketplaces.

Best for: Products that enhance existing tools, developer-focused companies.

16. Trade Shows

What it is: Industry events where you can exhibit, network, and meet potential customers face-to-face.

Examples: CES, SXSW, industry-specific conferences, local business expos.

Best for: B2B products, industries with strong conference culture, products that benefit from demos.

17. Offline Events

What it is: Hosting or participating in events—meetups, workshops, conferences, sponsorships.

Examples: Hosting local meetups, sponsoring conferences, running workshops, organizing dinners.

Best for: Community-driven products, local businesses, relationship-heavy industries.

18. Speaking Engagements

What it is: Presenting at conferences, podcasts, webinars, and other forums.

Examples: Conference keynotes, podcast guest appearances, webinar presentations, panel discussions.

Best for: Thought leaders, companies with strong founder brands, expertise-driven businesses.

19. Community Building

What it is: Creating and nurturing a community around your brand or mission.

Examples: Slack communities, Discord servers, Facebook groups, forums, ambassador programs.

Best for: Products with passionate users, mission-driven companies, platforms with network effects.

The Bullseye Framework: Finding Your Channels

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can’t effectively pursue all 19 channels at once. Resources are limited. Attention is finite.

Weinberg proposes the Bullseye Framework for systematic discovery—a three-ring target that narrows your focus:

Outer Ring (All 19 channels): Brainstorm ideas for each channel
Middle Ring (Top 6 channels): Run cheap tests on your most promising ideas
Inner Ring (1-3 channels): Double down on proven winners

How to use it:

Outer Ring (Brainstorm): For each of the 19 channels, brainstorm at least one idea for how it could work for your business. Don’t dismiss any channel yet—even if it seems irrelevant.

Middle Ring (Test): Pick your 6 most promising channels. Run cheap, fast tests to see which show potential. A test might be a small ad spend, a few cold emails, or one podcast appearance.

Inner Ring (Focus): Based on test results, identify your 1-3 best channels. Pour resources into these. This is where growth happens.

Why this matters

The channels that work for the average marketer aren’t necessarily the channels that work for you. Your bullseye is unique to your business, your audience, your product.

A SaaS startup might find that speaking engagements and content marketing are their bullseye
An e-commerce brand might discover affiliate programs and social ads dominate
A B2B service might thrive on trade shows and business development

You only discover your bullseye through testing—not by copying what everyone else does.

The Channel Blindness Problem

Most businesses stick to the channels they know:

Content marketing (because everyone blogs)
Social media (because it’s visible)
SEO (because it’s “free”)
Maybe email (if they’re sophisticated)

That’s 4 out of 19 channels. They ignore the other 15—not because those channels wouldn’t work, but because they don’t know how they operate.

This creates a massive opportunity. While everyone fights for attention on the same crowded channels, entire growth engines remain untapped:

Trade shows where your exact customers gather to make purchasing decisions
Affiliate partners who could sell for you on commission
Podcast circuits where your target audience spends hours every week
Strategic partnerships that could open entirely new customer segments

The businesses that win don’t just optimize the channels everyone uses. They discover the channels that work specifically for them.

How to Start

Audit your current channels. Which of the 19 are you actually using? Which have you never tried?
Brainstorm all 19. For each channel, ask: “If this were our only option, how would we make it work?”
Identify your top 6. Based on your audience, product, and resources, which channels seem most promising?
Run cheap tests. Before committing significant resources, test with minimal investment. A week and a few hundred dollars can tell you a lot.
Double down on winners. When you find a channel that works, pour fuel on it. Go deep before going wide.

The AI Opportunity

Here’s where it gets interesting: AI can help you explore channels you’d never try on your own.

Imagine AI that identifies the right podcasts for your audience, crafts the pitch, and tracks responses. Or AI that finds potential affiliate partners, evaluates fit, and initiates outreach. Or AI that discovers trade shows you didn’t know existed and builds your booth strategy.

This is what we’re building at Luminary Lane—an AI CMO that doesn’t just execute your existing playbook but helps you discover and execute across channels you’ve never explored.

Because the biggest growth opportunities aren’t hiding in better blog posts. They’re hiding in the 15 channels you’ve never tried.

Want to dive deeper into any specific channel? We’ll be publishing detailed guides for each of the 19 traction channels. Subscribe to our newsletter to get them as they’re released.