Once you know who your target audience is and what specific solutions you are offering them, you have to answer a logistical question: How are you actually going to get your product or service into their hands? In strategic planning, this is where you map out your distribution framework.
When you look at "each of the 9 boxes" in a business model canvas, the Channels block describes how a company communicates with and reaches its customer segments to deliver its value proposition. It represents your customer touchpoints and plays a major role in their overall brand experience. It builds directly on the Value Propositions we just mapped out.
What is a Channel?
Channels are the communication, distribution, and sales networks that connect your company to your buyers. They aren’t just about making a sale; they cover every step of the buyer's journey.
When analyzing a channel layout, you will notice that channels are generally broken down into five distinct phases:
- Awareness: How do we raise awareness about our company’s products and services?
- Evaluation: How do we help customers evaluate our organization’s value proposition?
- Purchase: How do we allow customers to purchase specific products and services?
- Delivery: How do we deliver a value proposition to customers?
- After-sales: How do we provide post-purchase customer support?
You can mix direct channels (like an e-commerce website or an in-house sales team) with indirect channels (like retail stores, distributors, or third-party online marketplaces) when creating your operational strategy.
Questions to Ask When Filling Out This Box
To clarify your distribution strategy on your own template for business model canvas, look over these points with your team:
- Through which channels do our customer segments want to be reached?
- How are we reaching them now?
- How are our channels integrated with one another?
- Which ones work best, and which ones are the most cost-efficient?
Use a Ready-Made Layout for Your Strategy
Building a successful distribution network requires structured business planning. To help you lay out your customer touchpoints clearly, we have put together a professional business model canvas template.
This planning download pack features a clean business model canvas Word file equipped with editable text boxes so you can write down your marketing and delivery paths directly. It also includes crisp business model canvas PowerPoint slides for presentation use and easy-to-print business model canvas PDF sheets. You can easily use this pack as a daily business model canvas creator to keep your team aligned.
Next Steps: Building the Relationship
Figuring out how to reach your audience is only half the battle. Next, you need to decide how to interact with them over the long haul. In our next article, we will tackle the fourth box: Customer Relationships.
Helpful Resources & Video Guide
- Download the Toolkit: Grab your editable Word, PowerPoint, and printable PDF files on our official Business Model Canvas Template Landing Page.
- Watch the Video Guide: See Brent break down the entire framework step-by-step on YouTube.
Complete Series Navigation
Article 1: business model canvas template: Overview Guide
Article 2: business model canvas template: Customer Segments Guide
Article 3: business model canvas template: Value Propositions Guide
Next Article: business model canvas template: Customer Relationships Guide