Identify and prioritize new marketing channel opportunities for your SaaS business using structured scoring.

Objective

Develop a systematic approach to evaluating new marketing channels by scoring them on Impact, Confidence, and Ease (ICE). This exercise helps you move beyond gut feeling to data-informed channel selection.

Instructions

Step 1: Brainstorm Potential Channels

List 5 potential new channels or media your SaaS hasn't fully tried. Consider:

• Sponsored newsletters in your niche
• Podcast advertising or guest appearances
• Reddit ads or community engagement
• Connected TV advertising
• Influencer partnerships
• LinkedIn Live or Twitter Spaces
• YouTube how-to series
• Quora advertising
• Community platforms (Discord, Slack groups)
• Industry conference sponsorships
• Interactive content (calculators, assessments)

Write down 5 specific ideas relevant to your business.

Step 2: Score Each Channel on ICE

For each idea, assign scores from 1-10 (with 10 being highest):

Impact = How big a difference it could make if wildly successful

• Consider: Potential reach, deal size, strategic value
• Ask: "If this worked perfectly, how much would it move the needle?"

Confidence = How likely you feel it will work based on research

• Consider: Evidence of competitors succeeding, audience fit, your capabilities
• Ask: "How sure am I that our target buyers are reachable here?"

Ease = How simple or low-cost it is to test

• Consider: Budget required, time to launch, technical complexity
• Ask: "Can we run a meaningful test in 4-6 weeks with <$5k?"

Calculate an ICE total for each channel (Impact + Confidence + Ease).

Step 3: Rank and Prioritize

Rank your 5 channels by ICE score. Identify the top 1-2 channels – these are your prioritized experiments.

Step 4: Justify Your Scores

For your top-ranked channel, write 2-3 sentences explaining:

• Why you scored Impact the way you did
• What gives you Confidence (or reduces it)
• What makes it Easy (or Hard) to test

Example

Channel: Sponsor "SaaS Weekly" newsletter (10K subscribers, 45% open rate)

• Impact: 8 – Newsletter reaches our exact ICP (SaaS founders/marketers). If CPL is good, could become a reliable lead source.
• Confidence: 7 – We've seen competitors mentioned in similar newsletters. Open rates are strong. But unsure about click-through.
• Ease: 9 – Single sponsorship costs $1,500. Can test in 2 weeks. No creative production needed, just ad copy.
• ICE Total: 24

Deliverable

Create a simple table or spreadsheet:

Channel Idea	Impact (1-10)	Confidence (1-10)	Ease (1-10)	ICE Total	Rank
Newsletter X	8	7	9	24	1
Reddit Ads	6	5	8	19	3
Podcast Y	7	6	5	18	4
...	...	...	...	...	...

Include your 2-3 sentence justification for your top choice.

Discussion Questions

• Did any channels surprise you with their ICE score?
• How would you convince your team to test the top-ranked channel?
• What additional research would increase your Confidence score?
• If budget were unlimited, would your prioritization change?

Outcome

You've practiced objective channel prioritization using a framework that balances ambition (Impact), probability (Confidence), and pragmatism (Ease). This same approach can be used for any growth experiment, not just channels.