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References: Distribution & Go-to-Market Channels

  1. Distribution (marketing) - Wikipedia - Covers distribution as one of the four elements of the marketing mix, including channel design, intermediaries, and direct versus indirect distribution. Foundational background for this chapter's distribution channel concept.

  2. Go-to-market strategy - Wikipedia - Defines a go-to-market strategy as the plan for delivering a value proposition to customers through target-market definition, pricing, and distribution channels, matching this chapter's go-to-market approach concept closely.

  3. Word-of-mouth marketing - Wikipedia - Explains how businesses deliberately encourage and manage customer-to-customer recommendations, including the STEPPS framework for what drives sharing. Directly supports this chapter's word-of-mouth and referral channel concepts.

  4. How Brands Grow (2010) - Byron Sharp - Oxford University Press - Sharp is credited with the empirically-grounded "physical and mental availability" framework, showing that broad, consistent distribution reach drives market penetration more than narrow targeting, which clarifies why this chapter weighs channel reach alongside cost and fit.

  5. Purple Cow (2003) - Seth Godin - Portfolio - Godin popularized the idea that a business must be remarkable enough that customers do the marketing for it, directly explaining this chapter's treatment of word of mouth as a channel a founder can deliberately design for rather than leave to chance.

  6. Entrepreneurial Marketing - Harvard Business School Online - A course overview describing how founders build and continually adapt a go-to-market strategy, including customer selection and early-adopter identification, matching this chapter's go-to-market approach concept.

  7. Market Research and Competitive Analysis - U.S. Small Business Administration - Guides founders through identifying the channels they will use to reach and retain customers as part of a business plan, supporting this chapter's channel selection process.

  8. Strategic Channel Design - MIT Sloan Management Review - Argues that channel choices should follow overall strategy rather than incremental habit, and lays out a process for assessing and comparing channel alternatives, reinforcing this chapter's channel selection, cost, and fit concepts.

  9. Finding New Customers - SCORE - A systematic guide to building repeatable customer-acquisition channels through referrals, networking, and strategic partnerships, directly matching this chapter's referral channel and partnership channel concepts.

  10. The Complete Guide to Creating a Customer Referral Program - Entrepreneur.com - Explains how to design an incentivized referral program, including choosing meaningful rewards, illustrating the deliberate design this chapter distinguishes from organic word of mouth.