Hi there, Danilo here.

This week, a consultant asked me, “Which channels are best for inbound marketing when starting out?” It’s a great question, and today I’ll share a key distinction and a practical answer for most of you.

Estimated read time: 5 minutes.

Let’s start with a clarification: There are several viable ways for consultancies to build a pipeline. Most of the time, we recommend early-stage consultancies begin with what we call "table-stakes go-to-market motions." These are two: referral networks and inbound marketing.

Referral networks leverage your existing relationships - clients, colleagues, or anyone in your network who can initiate one-on-one conversations, provide referrals, or make introductions. Most consultancy founders have a network from their past work or careers. If you’ve worked in corporate or been in the market for a while, chances are you know people who can either engage with you or connect you to others. Leveraging these relationships is the most effective starting point.

The second approach we recommend is inbound marketing, which includes content marketing and thought leadership. These are strategies aimed at earning the attention and trust of your target audience. Unlike networking, which is personal and time-intensive, inbound marketing allows you to scale your efforts by creating and distributing content that reaches hundreds or thousands of people with a single click. It’s less personal but leverages technology to maximize your reach.

Now let me come back to the reader’s question. He asked me about channels, and that’s a great sign of critical thinking. Many founders want to start inbound initiatives and are mostly worried about the topics - “What should I be writing about?” That’s not the right first step.

When it comes to inbound marketing, there are several other decisions consultants need to make besides the choice of topic: the medium for their content, the format, and the platform or channel for distribution. Of these, the platform decision is the most critical. If you choose the wrong platform, even the best content will struggle to gain visibility.

When consultancies begin their inbound marketing journey, we recommend focusing on two types of platforms: discovery platforms and relationship platforms. Understanding these two categories is key to building a strong, scalable marketing foundation.

Discovery platforms are like fishing nets cast into the ocean - they help you reach new audiences who may not know you exist. Platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google are built for discovery. They use algorithms to surface your content to users who are likely to engage. A thoughtful presence on a discovery platform allows you to cast a wide net and attract prospects to your business.

Relationship platforms, on the other hand, are about nurturing the seeds you’ve already planted. These platforms - like email or private communities - help you build trust and deepen connections over time. Unlike discovery platforms, you own the audience on relationship platforms. No algorithm determines who sees your message; it’s direct and reliable. However, they require more effort to grow because people need to trust you enough to share their contact information.

Both matter: Discovery platforms bring new people into your ecosystem. Relationship platforms keep them there, building the trust necessary for them to hire you when they come into market.

For 95% of B2B consultancies, email is the most effective relationship platform, and LinkedIn is the go-to discovery platform. Of course, there are exceptions, and the decision will depend on your positioning - I’ve seen YouTube as a viable alternative to LinkedIn in certain cases. But for the vast majority of B2B consulting firms, this combination is the most pragmatic and effective starting point.

Let me give you an example of how this works. A boutique HR consultancy I worked with recently started posting on LinkedIn twice a week, sharing stories about the biggest challenges HR leaders in the hospitality sector face in retaining top talent. The founder also launched an email newsletter with actionable tips on improving employee retention.

Within six months, he grew his LinkedIn following by 1,000 professionals and added 300 email subscribers (85% of those in his target segment). When the founder initiated one-on-one conversations, more than half of the people had already seen his content. The combination of LinkedIn for discovery and email for relationship-building boosted his networking efforts and helped him land several opportunities, including two major new retainer clients.

Source: 2Bobs Podcast, “Are Email Newsletter Even Viable Anymore?”​

Rand Fishkin from SparkToro summarized it best: “If you’re not investing in an email list, you’re almost certainly missing out. That TikTok/Instagram/Threads/Twitter/LinkedIn following you’re building? Statistically, it’s better to trade 1,000 new followers for a single email subscriber. That’s how lopsided the value exchange is.”

Source: Email is the Most Consistent, Reliable Marketing Channel on the Web and I Can Prove It​

Are you leveraging both discovery and relationship platforms in your inbound marketing strategy?

That's one of the things we help consultancy founders with as we plan and execute their go-to-market initiatives. Having those capabilities, at this day and age, is mostly a must-have if you really want to sustainably grow your practice.