Platform scores
Choose the channel on evidence, not habit
RankStack compares eight marketing platforms against your brief on audience fit, intent fit, content-format fit, reach and cost efficiency — then recommends a pairing rather than a single channel.
What is compared
| Platform | Reach | Cost efficiency | Where it earns its place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search | 95 | 70 | Highest intent, slowest to build, compounding once it lands. |
| YouTube | 90 | 55 | Search-driven like Google, but demands sustained video production. |
| 65 | 60 | Strong for B2B and professional services; weak for consumer topics. | |
| 60 | 70 | Visual planning topics with long content life. | |
| TikTok | 85 | 65 | Fast reach, short content life, weak purchase intent. |
| 75 | 55 | Groups and local audiences outperform pages. | |
| 45 | 90 | Smallest reach, highest conversion, and the only audience you own. | |
| Specialist communities | 40 | 85 | Forums, Slack groups and subreddits: small, high-trust, easily overdone. |
| Marketplaces (Etsy, Amazon, Gumroad, app stores) | 70 | 70 | Buyers already searching for products like yours; listings rank inside the marketplace, and fees apply. |
Reach and cost efficiency are starting positions, not measurements. They are editable, and once your workspace holds enough real performance data the scoring blends the measured result in.
Why a pairing
One platform brings new people in; another keeps the audience you have already earned. Search plus email, or YouTube plus an interactive tool, will usually outperform any single channel pursued alone.
RankStack therefore recommends a primary acquisition platform and a secondary owned channel, and shows the reasoning for both.
Learning from what happened
Until a workspace holds enough genuine traffic, lead and revenue data, the comparison stays labelled as a starting position. Past that threshold, measured revenue per channel is weighted at 60% against the default scoring.
Start with one project
Create a workspace, add the domain you want to grow, and record the first piece of evidence.