Underused Channels That Can Significantly Boost Business Results
Most marketing teams are still fighting trench wars over Google, Meta, and LinkedIn, while a handful of quiet operators are printing outsized returns in channels their competitors barely track.
Consider podcasting: 83% of senior executives now listen to podcasts weekly, spending nearly an hour a day with audio, yet most B2B brands have no systematic podcast strategy. Those that do are seeing podcasts generate up to 25 times more conversions than blogs and 2.7 times higher close rates from podcast-engaged leads, thanks to 80%+ episode retention and the trust built with hosts. Independent studies from Dentsu and Nielsen back this up, showing podcast ads drive roughly twice the attention of social, video, and TV formats and deliver brand recall rates above 70%—numbers traditional digital units can only dream of.
Or take content syndication, still dismissed by many as “old-school lead gen.” Recent data from B2B tech benchmarks shows syndication leads often cost about half of typical paid media CPLs while being two to three times more likely to convert into qualified opportunities. Well-run programs routinely report 3–10x ROI, with outliers hitting 31x as high-intent buyers discover and binge your content on third‑party platforms they already trust.
In a world where paid acquisition costs keep rising and click-through rates keep falling, the real advantage is no longer who can shout the loudest—it’s who’s willing to quietly exploit the channels everyone else has written off as “nice-to-have.” This article explores those underused, high-leverage marketing plays (like podcast ecosystems, modern content syndication, and a few more sleeping giants) and shows how to plug them into your existing demand engine without adding a single extra SDR or ad platform to your stack.
Document Hard-Won Lessons Openly
Publishing what you learned while building the thing. Not thought leadership, not a content calendar. The actual working notes: what you tried, what broke, the number that surprised you.
Almost nobody does this because it feels like giving away the good part, and because it does not look like marketing, so it never gets a budget line. But it is the only channel where the artifact and the proof are the same object. A post that walks through a real problem you solved demonstrates competence in a way that no claim about competence can, and it keeps working for years.
I have run a publication since 2019 that grew entirely on organic search and word of mouth, no ad spend, and the pattern held every time: the pieces that traveled were the specific ones. Not "five trends in the industry," but a narrow account of one problem with real detail. The specificity is what makes it findable, credible, and worth forwarding.
The reason it stays underused is that it is slow and unpleasant to start. The first ten pieces feel like shouting into a void, and you cannot attribute anything cleanly. Most teams quit there and go back to ads, where the feedback is immediate even when it is expensive.
The version I would recommend: one genuinely useful piece a month, written by whoever did the work rather than by a content writer interviewing them. The secondhand version is always thinner, and readers can tell. If you have nothing worth writing about this month, that is useful information about the business, not a content problem.
Head of Product & GTM, Veodyn
Your Next Growth Spurt Starts Here
Target AI Discovery Engines Now
AI-powered search. Buyers are asking ChatGPT and Perplexity who solves their problem before anyone ever talks to sales, and most businesses haven't followed them there, which is exactly what makes it a channel instead of a buzzword.
Here's the part I love: AI-powered search makes old-school blogging new and cool again. The blog everyone wrote off has everything answer engines want: structured data, a clear point of view, original research, verified claims, and helpful content that answers real buyer questions. Optimize it for two audiences at once, the human searcher and the answer engine, and one piece of content ranks in Google and gets cited by ChatGPT.
I've watched two clients in completely different markets prove the same playbook. A B2B SaaS client grew AI citations 8x alongside 56% growth in top-10 keyword rankings. A consumer service business grew keyword visibility 5x, earned multiple #1 organic rankings on high-intent service terms, and signed a new client who found the business through ChatGPT. And the first step costs nothing. Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google who the top providers are in your category, and if you're not in the answer, that gap is your roadmap.
Founder & CEO, Brandy Morton Marketing Ltd. Co.
Route Value through Deep Integrations
Structured partnership integration as a distribution channel.
At Nika Finance, we built perpetuals by routing to Hyperliquid through builder codes rather than building a matching engine in-house. We launched prediction markets by routing to Polymarket rather than building an oracle stack. We route most of our infrastructure surface to specialized partners who already ship best-in-class execution, while we build the interface, the wallet, the cross-chain plumbing, and the AI layer that connects everything.
This routing model let a three-person team ship five product lines. No bloat. No false starts building infrastructure we'd never match. The partners get distribution into our user base. We get product surface without hiring 30 engineers.
Most businesses treat partnerships as BD theater: joint press releases, co-marketing decks, maybe a logo on a website. That's not what I mean. I mean structured technical integrations where the partner becomes part of your product surface and you become part of their distribution.
The unlock is specificity. We didn't sign a vague partnership with Hyperliquid. We integrated via builder codes, which means every perpetual trade routed through us is attributed back to us on-chain. They get measurable user acquisition. We get matching-engine parity with the best perks platform in crypto without building it.
The companies that win in the next cycle will be orchestrators, not monoliths. You build what differentiates you. You route everything else. The teams trying to own the full stack are hiring slower, shipping slower, and competing with specialists who've been refining a single surface for years.
If you're not routing to partners who are better than you at specific pieces of your product, you're building a slower organization than you need to.
Founder, Nika Finance
Competitors Aren't Waiting, So Why Should You?
Instrument QR Codes for Metrics
QR codes are still being used as glorified hyperlinks, and most businesses have no idea what they're missing.
We see this constantly at Pageloot, where 20,000+ brands use our platform. The majority set up a static QR code, put it on packaging or a menu, and never look at it again. The ones actually getting results treat each code as a live data point. They track scans by location, time of day, and campaign source. They swap destination URLs without reprinting anything. They run A/B tests on landing pages behind the same physical code.
A coffee chain running a seasonal promotion doesn't need new printed materials every month if the QR infrastructure is set up correctly. The print stays, the destination changes, and you can see exactly which table tent or window cling drove the most scans.
The underused part isn't the QR code itself; it's the measurement layer behind it. Most businesses collect zero data from their physical touchpoints. A restaurant might serve 400 covers a day and have no idea which table's menu QR gets ignored and which one converts to a review or a loyalty signup.
We had one period early on where our own analytics dashboard went down for about 60 hours due to an infrastructure issue. The number of support tickets we got from brands who said they'd built entire campaign reporting around our scan data told us everything about how much this layer matters once people actually use it.
The channel isn't new. The discipline around it is almost completely absent. Any business with a physical presence and a digital goal in between has a gap here, and closing it costs almost nothing compared to what they're spending on paid acquisition.
CEO, Pageloot
Capture Searches from Current Customers
Existing customer search behavior. In our attribution work, we rarely see it tracked properly, and it's the highest-converting traffic most B2B companies will ever have.
Most search programs are built to find new customers. Meanwhile, the people already paying you are quietly Googling problems your product already solves and landing on competitor pages because nobody built content for them.
Once you connect search data to your CRM, the patterns get uncomfortable fast. Customers researching competitors three months before renewal. Customers are finding your own features through Google because nobody told them they existed.
The fix is simple: find out what your existing customers are searching for and build content that answers it before a competitor does. You're already paying for the search program. You're just ignoring half your audience.
CEO, PureSEM.com
Seriously, Why Wait?
Build a Pull-Driven YouTube Channel
Short answer: YouTube channel
Most businesses treat YouTube as a place to park their commercial and hope somebody finds it. That's push marketing wearing a video costume, and it's why their channel has 43 subscribers and no results.
The underused play is what Gair Maxwell describes in Big Little Legends: stop pitching and start pulling. The brands that become legends in their market, from a car dealership in eastern Canada to a fish market in Seattle, don't chase customers. They tell their own story so consistently and so well that customers come to them. YouTube is the only major channel built for exactly that. It's a search engine, a library, and a stage all at once, and your content compounds there for years instead of disappearing in 24 hours.
The shift is simple but most companies never make it: quit publishing videos about what you sell and start publishing videos about what you know. A custom home builder answering "what does it actually cost to build in North Carolina" will out-earn a hundred polished brand spots. Every question your sales team answers on repeat is an episode. Every strong opinion you hold about your industry is an episode. Do that for a year, and something changes. Prospects show up to the first call already trusting you, already educated, already leaning in. You've become the obvious choice, what Maxwell calls a Category of One, before a competitor even knows you were in the conversation.
Almost nobody in local and B2B markets is doing this because it's easy-hard. That's a phrase I use to describe simple yet difficult. Losing weight, going on dates when you have kids, etc. Easy - Hard is where you get stuck because that accessibility is there (phone in your pocket) but all the hurdles stand in your way.
One way to get past that is an exercise: "What would I do if I was an award winning marketing agency GENIUS who was tasked with building my organization's YouTube channel?" and then act accordingly.
That's counter intuitive and often receives push back. I get it. It's built on the Atomic Habit idea of "If you want X do what a Y person does."
If you want to get in shape - do what a fit person does.
If you want to have great relationships - do what a good friend does.
The MOST difficult thing is what you know you should do.
Build. That. Channel
Owner | Founder, Turnstone Video Agency
Revive Email for Outsized ROI
Email marketing is criminally underused, and I'm constantly surprised by how many businesses overlook it. Everyone chases social media algorithms, dumps money into paid ads, and obsesses over TikTok trends. Meanwhile, their email list just sits there, collecting dust.
Here's what I see working right now, especially for law firms: consistent, value-driven email communication to people who already raised their hand and said they want to hear from you. That's an incredibly warm audience that most businesses completely ignore after the initial opt-in. Social platforms own your followers.
Email? You own that list. Nobody can take it away from you, change an algorithm, or cut your organic reach overnight. For law firms specifically, I push this hard. A personal injury firm might have thousands of past clients who could refer cases if they stayed top of mind. A newsletter with helpful legal updates, community news, or even firm milestones keeps that relationship alive.
Most firms send one email when someone signs up and then go completely silent. The ROI numbers on email marketing are staggering. We're talking $36 back for every dollar spent, depending on the source you reference. Nothing in digital marketing touches that. The barrier is mostly psychological. People worry about bothering subscribers or not having enough to say. But your audience subscribed for a reason. They want to hear from you. A monthly email isn't spam; it's follow-through.
The businesses winning right now are combining strong SEO to attract new visitors, capturing those visitors into an email list, and nurturing those leads through consistent email communication. Most businesses nail the first part and completely drop the ball on the other two. Start sending. Be consistent. Be human. That's really all it takes to outperform most of your competition.
Co-Founder, Custom Legal Marketing
Let People, Not Brands, Lead LinkedIn
One channel many businesses still underuse is LinkedIn, particularly founder-led and employee-led content.
Most companies treat LinkedIn like a corporate noticeboard. They post announcements, awards, and links, but rarely share the practical insights, opinions, case studies, and market observations that actually build trust with buyers.
"LinkedIn works best when the people inside the business become the media channel."
For agencies, B2B firms, consultants, and professional-service companies, the strongest content usually comes from executives and subject-matter experts rather than the company page. Short posts that explain what is changing in the market, show a real client lesson, challenge a common assumption, or share original data can create conversations with decision-makers before any formal outreach begins.
We use LinkedIn to distribute concise insights and then direct interested readers to deeper assets such as YouTube videos, reports, and case studies. LinkedIn starts the relationship, while the longer-form content proves the expertise.
The biggest opportunity is not simply posting more. It is turning internal knowledge into consistent, recognizable public authority.
CEO, Citeworks Studio
Run Circles Around The Competition
Use Reddit for Insight and Reach
I believe Reddit is underused by brands and companies providing services. I was thinking about where AI models take their answers from now, and if you ask any of them about a product or which country to visit, most of what comes back is just someone's real experience, and honestly a lot of that is sitting on Reddit posts. So it is not only a community anymore; it has become a source that gets repeated to millions of people. Most brands still see it like a place to push a campaign, or they don't go there at all because they got downvoted one time and decided everyone hates them there.
I understood this properly when I used it for the website I manage. In the beginning I only wanted feedback on the site itself, so I put it in front of people and asked them to use it, and what came back was quite useful, small things like wording that confused them or things they expected to find and could not. No analytics tool was going to tell me that. But then, I started asking a different question, which was, "How do people choose a country when they know nothing about it?" And the answers were more interesting than the website feedback, if I am honest. It became a small social study; I could then take it to journalists, and that is where the links came from. So one thread gave me product research and a PR story at the same time, and I did not plan that at all when I started.
It takes patience, of course. You cannot go there and sound like a brand because they will bury you. I think this is why not many businesses do it properly.
Marketing Director, countrygenerator.com
Invite Replies to Shape Offers
The most underused channel is the reply button on an owned email list. I have around 15,000 newsletter subscribers, and the awkward questions people send back often tell me more than a clean dashboard because they show where the message stopped making sense. I use those replies to shape the next page, offer, or email rather than treating the newsletter as a broadcast. Most businesses already own this channel and barely listen to it.
AI Implementation Consultant and Fractional CMO, Lilach Bullock
Turn Support Moments into Advocacy
The most underused channel is the customers a business already has. Everyone pours budget into finding new people while barely talking to the ones who already chose them, even though that group is the cheapest to reach and the most likely to say yes again. A happy existing customer will refer others, try a second product, and defend you publicly, but only if you stay in touch in a way that is useful rather than just promotional.
The version I would push hardest is the service interaction itself as a growth channel. Every support conversation either earns a referral or quietly loses one, and almost nobody treats it as marketing. Make those touchpoints genuinely good, and the people who called with a problem will become the ones recommending you to a neighbor. It costs far less than chasing strangers, and the trust is already there.
Marketing Manager, Wightman Telecom
Own a Precise Topic Cluster
One underused channel is niche-focused organic search SEO. I built my agency SEO strategy around niche topical authority and only blogged about marketing for therapists. After niching down in my keyword strategy, I began getting picked up by AI engines, and most of my clients have come through SEO alone. For therapists and small practices, focusing on targeted SEO and consistent niche content is an efficient way to increase inquiries without chasing social trends.
Website Design and SEO For Therapists and Private Practice, Natalia Maganda
Make This Quarter Your Breakthrough
Leverage Security Questionnaires for Trust
One channel that deserves far more attention is the security questionnaire itself. Most businesses answer it defensively, as if the goal is simply to get through procurement. In reality, that document can become a persuasive asset because it shows how seriously the organization handles risk, governance, and software quality when nobody is in the room explaining it.
I have found that well-structured answers do more than satisfy compliance teams; they shape how a buyer judges technical maturity. A thoughtful response can reduce legal friction, accelerate approvals, and reassure executives who worry about hidden operational risk. Businesses that refine questionnaire language with engineering input turn a routine form into a quiet growth lever that builds trust at exactly the right moment.
CEO, Software Secured
Fix Post-Click Experience before Promotion
It amazes me how much money companies spend on marketing and promotion yet do not pay attention to the actual environment their guests come to. They would be asking about the latest media or the hot new traffic channel before even addressing the fundamental flaws in their own environment. It has been my experience through the years working in digital that this is common practice.
A website is more than just an online brochure; it must be a means to market, educate your customer, recruit, answer queries, and facilitate further action. Over at Big Drop, we work on strategy, user experience design (UX), user interface design (UI), development, search engine optimization (SEO), brand, artificial intelligence (AI) automation, AI SEO, local SEO, and quality assurance (QA), and the whole package has affected my perspective on digital performance.
In some cases, optimizing one web page on a website may do more for the organization compared to increasing the budget in order to attract extra traffic to their site. The message, form, loading time, and path may have a greater effect than the next marketing campaign.
It is fascinating that this challenge exists in every organization, from enterprise organizations to nonprofits, and even growing companies have this challenge too. The scale of the business varies, but the challenge remains consistent. There might be a competent marketing team or advertisements driving the traffic to the website, but the website ends up losing the customers due to post-click challenges.
The work done in branding, development, SEO, and AI projects makes it very difficult to overlook this issue. Often the blame game is played by different teams while the problem lies elsewhere.
The piece of advice I would give to another business owner would be straightforward—analyze your existing channel rather than jumping into a new one. Observe where visitors are hesitating or leaving and where some information is lacking. Good traffic cannot cover up a bad experience. The best possible growth strategy may lie right under your nose.
Managing Director, Big Drop Inc.
Prioritize Your Map Listing
One underused channel I see is the Google Business Profile on Maps. In my work at Digital Harvest I have seen customers choose a company from that profile before they ever visit the website. The profile displays the reviews, proximity, and trust signals that drive early action, so optimizing those elements captures leads earlier in search. Businesses should check and prioritize their Maps profile as the first step in local marketing.
Chief Strategist, Digital Harvest
Make This Quarter Your Breakthrough
Automate Messages from User Actions
I think one of the most overlooked channels is behavior-based email automation.
Most businesses are already sending newsletters and promotions. The missed opportunity is what happens after someone browses a product, makes a purchase, ignores an offer, or comes back to the site. Too many companies still send everyone the same message, even when customers are showing them exactly what they are interested in.
I see the same problem with measurement. Opens and clicks get a lot of attention, but they do not tell you whether email is creating better customers. Someone can click on five emails and never buy again. I would rather look at whether those customers come back, spend more, and become more valuable over the next 90 days or even the next year.
Co-founder, Verena Street Coffee Co.
Send Thoughtful Post-Visit Follow-Ups
One channel many small businesses underuse is the follow-up email after a customer inquiry or completed service. It is not glamorous, but it can be one of the strongest trust-building channels a business has.
In our private London taxi tour business, guest communication is a huge part of the experience. People are often traveling from overseas, planning a special family trip, or trying to make the most of limited time in London. A helpful follow-up email can answer common questions, share a useful link, explain what to expect, or guide the customer towards reviews and practical information.
This matters because not every customer is ready to book the first time they inquire. A thoughtful follow-up keeps the conversation warm without feeling pushy. It also reinforces the things that matter most: reliability, local knowledge, clear timings, flexible private sightseeing, and confidence that someone real is looking after the booking.
I would suggest businesses review their inquiry and post-service emails before chasing another new channel. Often, the biggest opportunity is in making better use of the conversations they are already having.
Managing Director, Visit London Taxi Tours LTD
Forge Trust-First Content Alliances
The most underused growth channel is strategic partnerships paired with co-created content. Most founders chase more ads, more funnels, or more cold outreach before they ask a simpler question: who already has the trust of the audience I'm trying to reach?
After building and launching ventures across multiple categories, I've learned that growth rarely comes from force alone. It comes from leadership: knowing where the buyer's trust already lives, creating value before asking for attention, and turning relationships into repeatable systems. A webinar, founder interview, joint guide, newsletter swap, or customer education series with the right partner can create a warmer path to conversion than another campaign built from scratch.
The mistake is treating partnerships like logo swaps. The best ones create something useful for the same buyer. If I were advising a founder this week, I'd tell them to list five companies, platforms, experts, or service providers their ideal customer already trusts, then build one genuinely useful piece of content with each of them.
CEO, Founder