How to Choose and Test Marketing Channels

Marketing a B2B SaaS product is not just about launching ads or publishing blog posts. It’s about building a system that reaches the right buyers, at the right time, with the right message. This guide walks through the strategies modern SaaS companies use to select and test marketing channels.

Whether you’re early-stage or scaling, the goal is the same: focus your efforts where they create real, measurable value.

What We’ll Cover

Key Takeaways

• Start with strategy, not channels. Define your Ideal Customer Profile and map your funnel before choosing where to market.
• Use frameworks to prioritize. Models like ICE and RICE help focus efforts on high-impact, low-effort opportunities.
• Test everything. Treat each channel as an experiment. Use A/B testing, clear metrics, and short feedback loops to guide decisions.
• Align channels with the buyer journey. Match tactics to funnel stages for smoother conversions.
• Balance owned, earned, and paid media. Owned content scales over time, earned builds trust, and paid offers quick traction when targeted well.
• Think like a startup. Be lean, scrappy, and fast. Early-stage marketing is about learning, not just growing.
• Scale what compounds. Invest in systems that gain value over time, not just in-the-moment results.
• Measure what matters. Focus on CAC, LTV, conversion rates, and retention. Don’t get distracted by vanity metrics.

The B2B SaaS Marketing Mix

The classic 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) still matter. But in SaaS, they need to be reinterpreted.

Product is not just a tool. It’s an evolving solution that solves real customer problems and adapts over time. Price is often subscription-based or usage-based. It must reflect both value and affordability for businesses.

Place refers to digital channels, not physical shelves. SaaS is distributed through websites, marketplaces, and partner platforms. Promotion must be omnichannel. Content marketing, SEO, paid ads, events, and social media all work together to generate and nurture demand.

The Expanded Marketing Mix

Because SaaS lacks a physical presence, trust must be built through other elements:

• People. Support teams, customer success managers, and solution engineers all shape the buyer experience.
• Process. Smooth onboarding, clear demos, and helpful documentation matter more than glossy brochures.
• Proof. Reviews, testimonials, certifications, and performance benchmarks provide the evidence buyers need.

Unique Dynamics in B2B SaaS

Long buying cycles, buying committees, and technical evaluations define the SaaS landscape. Marketers must emphasize ROI, efficiency, and credibility.

That means investing in:

• Case studies that prove value
• Thought leadership that builds authority
• Demos and trials that reduce uncertainty

The journey should feel seamless. A buyer might start with a blog post, engage with a webinar, test the product, and finally buy after a sales call. Every touchpoint should move them forward with clarity and confidence.

Strategic Marketing Channel Selection

Many B2B SaaS founders begin with channels they understand well. A technical founder might lean into developer forums, while a marketing-savvy founder might jump into LinkedIn Ads or content.

Use that experience. But don’t stop there! List the channels you know, then compare them to what similar companies are doing. This becomes your first working hypothesis.

Learn from Competitors

Competitive research reveals both crowded spaces and untapped opportunities.

Study where your competitors show up.

• Are they active on LinkedIn?
• Are they sponsoring newsletters or speaking at events?
• Do they run a podcast or rely on guest posts?

If five competitors are all publishing blogs but none host a podcast, that gap could be your advantage. Just make sure you’re not following trends blindly. What works for them may not work for your audience.

Formal competitive audits (e.g., looking at channels, creative assets, messaging, and offers) can help spot both saturation and whitespace.

Build Hypotheses, Then Test Them

Even good instincts need validation. Instead of betting your entire budget on a gut feeling, run small experiments.

A/B test subject lines, creatives, and offers. For example:

• Test two different LinkedIn ad creatives targeting the same role.
• Compare two email subject lines to see which gets better opens.
• Try two lead magnets to see which drives more qualified signups.

Small-scale testing removes bias and lets the data guide your next move.

Use a Framework to Stay Focused

As you collect ideas and results, use a simple framework to decide where to double down. The RICE scoring model (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) is a good start. Score each channel idea to prioritize what to test next.

The goal is not to be everywhere. It’s to focus where you get the most return, as quickly as possible.

Identifying and Validating Your Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)

Your Ideal Customer Profile is not a guess. It’s a data-backed definition of the companies most likely to succeed with your product.

In B2B SaaS, an ICP typically includes:

• Firmographics. company size, industry, revenue, and location
• Technographics. tools or platforms they already use
• Pain points. business challenges your solution addresses

But your ICP goes deeper than a company description. You also need to understand the buying committee. And that means everyone involved in decision-making. A CTO may want performance and security. A CFO may care about cost and risk. An end user may need ease of use and fast support.

For Product-Led Growth (PLG) companies, separating end-user needs from buyer goals is critical. They often diverge.

Build Personas to Sharpen Your Messaging

Once you know which companies to target, break down the key roles inside those accounts.

Create simple personas. For example:

• CTO: concerned about uptime, security, scalability
• Ops Manager: focused on ease of integration and reporting
• End User: wants speed, simplicity, and real support

Tailor content and outreach to each role. A technical whitepaper might appeal to the CTO, while a case study with clear results could win over the CFO.

Validate Your ICP with Real Data

An ICP is not static. It should evolve as you learn.

Start by analyzing your best current customers:

• What industries do they come from?
• What’s their company size?
• Which features do they use most?
• How long is their retention?

Use tools like CRM dashboards and product analytics to spot patterns. If high-LTV customers all come from the same niche, lean into that.

Talk to Customers, Even if You’re Small

Customer interviews and surveys uncover insights that metrics miss. Ask what problem they were trying to solve. What almost stopped them from buying? What helped them decide?

If you’re early-stage and don’t have enough users, look at competitors. Who do they market to? What case studies do they feature? Reach out to early adopters and ask what drew them in.

Keep refining. A good ICP improves not just your marketing, but also informs product roadmap, onboarding, and pricing. It is the foundation of product-market fit.

Marketing Intelligence

Smart marketing starts with knowing where buyers spend their time, money, and attention. Use tools like G2, Capterra, or industry reports to spot where your audience is already researching solutions.

Look for:

• Review platforms they trust
• Conferences or podcasts they follow
• The influencers or analysts they listen to

Track your competitors too. Watch for new feature launches, pricing changes, or content strategies. Tools can even alert you to hiring trends or funding announcements, which signal where competitors may expand.

Surveys and community groups can reveal emerging preferences. Like which platforms are gaining traction or what pain points are trending.

Use this data to guide both messaging and channel selection.

AI-Powered Optimization

Artificial intelligence is no longer optional. It’s reshaping how marketers test, optimize, and scale.

AI can:

• Score leads based on behavior and fit
• Predict which keywords or audiences convert best
• Personalize email content and send times
• Optimize ad spend dynamically in real time

By automating analysis and iteration, AI frees up your team to focus on strategy, not spreadsheets. It also levels the playing field for smaller teams, allowing them to run smarter campaigns without enterprise headcount.

If you’re not using AI for at least lead scoring and basic personalization, you’re likely leaving results on the table.

Applying Neuroscience to B2B Messaging

B2B buyers are still human. And neuroscience shows us how the human brain processes information.

Visuals are processed up to 60,000 times faster than text. That means diagrams, infographics, product screenshots, and video explainers can convey complex ideas more clearly than paragraphs ever will.

Storytelling taps into emotion. Even in B2B, a story about a real customer overcoming a real problem resonates more than a feature list. Think in terms of transformation, not specs.

Trust is also biological. Social proof, consistent branding, and human faces help trigger trust hormones like oxytocin. That’s why testimonials and video case studies can outperform product pages in conversion.

Use these principles to build marketing assets that don’t just inform. They engage and persuade.

Emerging Marketing Channel Trends

It’s enough enough to be on top of existing channels. The best way to get an edge is to discover the next big channel before your competitors do.

The Return of In-Person and Hybrid Events

Live events are back. After years of virtual-only formats, in-person interactions are once again seen as high-impact, especially for enterprise deals.

B2B marketers are doubling down on events that create real connection:

• Executive dinners and invite-only meetups
• Industry trade shows and speaking opportunities
• Sponsoring or hosting niche workshops

Small-scale events often drive better results than big-budget expos, especially when tailored to your ICP.

Hybrid formats also expand reach. You can record a live session and repurpose it as gated content, a social clip, or a follow-up sequence. Webinars still play a role in education, but face-to-face interaction remains powerful for building trust and closing deals.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) at Scale

ABM flips the funnel. Instead of casting a wide net, you target specific high-value accounts with personalized content, ads, and outreach.

ABM works best when marketing and sales are tightly aligned. Together, they can:

• Identify target accounts
• Build custom landing pages, demos, and case studies
• Launch LinkedIn campaigns aimed at the full buying committee

Tech tools now make ABM scalable. You can automate personalization by job title, industry, or account behavior. For startups, ABM doesn’t have to be big. Target five to ten accounts to start. Show results, then expand.

Done right, ABM drives higher conversion rates and stronger pipeline velocity.

Influencer and Thought Leadership Marketing

Influencer marketing isn’t just for B2C. In B2B, it’s about tapping into credibility and trust.

Think:

• Industry analysts
• Niche LinkedIn creators
• Podcast hosts or conference speakers

Partnering with respected voices amplifies your message. You can co-create content, co-host webinars, or sponsor thought leadership series. These influencers often have loyal audiences in your exact niche.

This kind of trust is hard to buy with ads alone. And it complements your owned media by bringing new reach and authority to your content.

As a rule, influencer programs work best when integrated into a broader content and brand strategy.

Prioritizing Channels: Frameworks That Drive Focus

With so many marketing channels available, it’s easy to spread your efforts too thin. Prioritization ensures you’re testing ideas with the highest potential impact first before investing more time or budget.

Startups especially need focus. You can’t afford to run every play at once.

Use Simple Frameworks to Decide

Two of the most common frameworks for prioritizing channels are ICE and RICE. Both give structure to decision-making and reduce bias.

• ICE: Impact, Confidence, Effort. Score each idea on these three factors. A channel with high impact, strong confidence, and low effort should rise to the top.
• RICE: Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort. Adds audience size as a fourth variable, useful for comparing niche plays to broad ones.

You don’t need to over-engineer it. A spreadsheet with simple scoring can bring clarity. Or use this free RICE scoring tool.

The key is transparency. Document why you’re choosing to test one channel over another, especially if you’re aligning with a cross-functional team.

Avoid the HiPPO Trap

Without a framework, the highest-paid person’s opinion (HiPPO) often dictates what gets tested. That might work sometimes, but it’s not a repeatable strategy.

By using a prioritization model, you shift the conversation from “what feels right” to “what scores best based on our goals and capacity.”

Marketing Channel Testing Strategy

Once you’ve prioritized your channels, the next step is testing. Each channel is a hypothesis. It’s something you believe could drive results, but need to validate.

Start with a clear question. For example:

• Will SEO content generate signups from mid-market CFOs?
• Will LinkedIn Ads bring qualified traffic from our target industries?

Frame each test with a goal, metric, and timeframe.

Define the Right Metrics

Your testing metrics should match your stage and objective. Early tests often focus on:

• Click-through rates
• Landing page conversion
• Cost per lead or signup

As your program matures, track deeper metrics, like:

• Qualified pipeline generated
• Sales velocity
• Close rate and revenue impact

Always align the metric to the funnel stage. Top-of-funnel campaigns may not produce deals right away, but they should increase traffic or awareness.

Use A/B Testing for Precision

Whenever possible, A/B test a single variable. This could be:

• Two subject lines in an email campaign
• Two ad creatives on the same audience
• Two versions of a landing page

Keep everything else consistent to isolate what actually drives results. If you change the audience, the creative, and the offer at once, you won’t know what worked.

Iterate Based on Results

Testing is not a one-time step. If a channel underperforms, adjust the message, offer, or targeting before moving on.

The most successful teams treat testing as an ongoing loop:

1. Launch a focused experiment
2. Analyze results
3. Refine based on data
4. Retest or scale

This approach minimizes waste and builds a marketing strategy on evidence, not assumptions.

Measuring Channel Effectiveness

You can’t optimize what you don’t measure. Testing marketing channels is only half the job. The other half is knowing which ones actually move the needle. That means defining the right metrics, setting up clear attribution, and understanding how each channel contributes to your sales funnel.

Effective measurement helps you double down on what’s working, cut what isn’t, and prove marketing’s impact on growth.

Choose Metrics That Match the Funnel

Every channel should be tied to clear key performance indicators (KPIs). But not all metrics are created equal. Choose based on what stage of the funnel the channel supports.

• Top of Funnel: impressions, clicks, website visits, time on page
• Middle of Funnel: form fills, demo requests, marketing-qualified leads (MQLs)
• Bottom of Funnel: sales-qualified leads (SQLs), pipeline created, deals closed

Tracking the right metric helps you know whether a channel is doing its job, or if it’s just creating noise.

Core Metrics to Monitor

No matter the channel, you should keep an eye on a few core metrics:

• Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): how much you’re spending to acquire each lead or customer
• Conversion Rate: from visitor to lead, lead to opportunity, and opportunity to closed deal
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): total cost to acquire a customer, including all associated marketing and sales spend
• Lifetime Value (LTV): how much a customer brings in over their lifecycle
• Return on Investment (ROI): revenue generated versus money spent

If you only track clicks and opens, you’re missing the bigger picture. True effectiveness comes down to pipeline and revenue.

Attribution Matters

Assigning credit to the right channel is not always simple. Most customer journeys include multiple touchpoints.

Use tools like:

• UTM tracking and analytics dashboards
• CRM systems that tie leads to campaigns
• Multi-touch attribution models

These help you see not just what generated the last click, but what built awareness and trust along the way.

Don’t Skip Qualitative Feedback

Data tells you what happened. Feedback tells you why.

Ask new customers how they heard about you. Look for trends in sales conversations. Monitor comments on social or responses to nurture emails. These signals can reveal channel influence you might not capture in metrics alone.

Funnel-Based Strategy: Aligning Channels with Buyer Journeys

Not all channels serve the same purpose. Some generate awareness, others build trust, and a few are designed to close deals. To market effectively in B2B SaaS, your channels should match the stages your buyers move through—awareness, consideration, and decision.

This funnel-based approach ensures your efforts are connected, intentional, and conversion-driven. It also helps prevent waste by assigning each channel a clear role in guiding prospects toward a purchase.

Awareness Stage: Attract and Educate

At the top of the funnel, your goal is visibility. You’re not selling yet. You’re sparking interest and positioning your brand as a trusted resource.

Best-fit channels include:

• SEO and content marketing (blogs, guides, whitepapers)
• Organic and paid social (especially LinkedIn)
• Public relations and media coverage
• Webinars, podcasts, and virtual events

Focus on high-reach, low-commitment content. Make it easy for prospects to discover you and learn something useful. Track metrics like impressions, website traffic, and content engagement.

Consideration Stage: Nurture and Qualify

Once a lead knows who you are, help them understand why you’re the right choice. This is where education deepens and relevance sharpens.

Strong channels here:

• Retargeting ads (Google, LinkedIn)
• Targeted email campaigns
• Product webinars and demos
• Case studies and solution briefs
• Social media engagement and community forums

The goal is to connect value to their specific pain points. Speak to different buyer personas, highlight outcomes, and offer clear next steps. Monitor metrics like MQLs, form fills, and demo requests.

Decision Stage: Convert and Close

Bottom-of-funnel efforts are about trust and urgency. At this stage, your prospects are evaluating options. Give them the final nudge with personalized attention and proof of value.

Best channels for this stage:

• Sales outreach (email, calls, direct messages)
• One-on-one demos or consultations
• Limited-time offers or onboarding incentives
• Success stories and analyst endorsements
• Remarketing campaigns focused on high-intent actions

Measure trial-to-paid conversion, deal velocity, close rates, and retention. These are the numbers that show whether your funnel is actually working.

Owned, Earned, and Paid Marketing Channels

A strong SaaS marketing strategy uses three types of channels: owned, earned, and paid. Each playing a different role in attracting and converting leads.

• Owned: Content you control (your website, blog, email list)
• Earned: Exposure you earn through others (PR, social shares, backlinks)
• Paid: Traffic you pay for (ads, sponsorships, promoted content)

A good mix gives you control, reach, and scalability.

Owned Media

Owned channels are your most valuable assets. They build authority over time and create compounding value.

Key owned channels include:

• Your website and landing pages
• Blog and resource library
• Email newsletters and nurture sequences
• Knowledge base and help center

Focus on content that addresses real buyer questions, ranks for relevant keywords, and guides users through the funnel. Tie every piece of content to a call to action or next step.

Earned Media

Earned media builds trust fast. Third-party validation (whether from press, customers, or influencers) carries more weight than branded content.

Earned media includes:

• PR placements
• Guest articles or podcast appearances
• Backlinks and SEO referrals
• Reviews on G2, Capterra, or Trustpilot
• Word-of-mouth and social shares

To generate earned media, pitch compelling stories, encourage customer reviews, and make it easy for others to talk about you.

Paid Media

Paid channels drive quick traffic and can be tightly targeted. Use them to amplify content, promote offers, or reach specific segments fast.

Effective paid tactics:

• LinkedIn Ads with job title targeting
• Google Search Ads for bottom-funnel keywords
• Retargeting ads to bring visitors back
• Sponsored content in newsletters or podcasts

Paid channels work best when paired with strong landing pages and a clear value prop. Watch your costs closely. Track CPA and ROAS to avoid wasted spend.

Startup-Specific Considerations

Marketing in a startup isn’t about doing everything. It’s about doing the right few things with speed and discipline. With limited resources and an evolving product, early-stage SaaS teams must be scrappy, strategic, and ready to learn fast.

This section covers how to choose lean tactics, validate product-market fit through marketing, and adapt as you grow.

Play to Your Strengths and Resources

Early-stage SaaS teams rarely have deep budgets or big teams. That’s why lean execution is essential. Focus on 1–2 high-leverage channels, not ten scattered experiments.

Start with:

• Content marketing and SEO (if you have strong writing or subject-matter expertise)
• Direct outreach and referrals (if you have a warm network)
• Social media (if you’re already active in niche communities)

Skip costly brand campaigns or trade shows unless there’s a clear, measurable upside.

Low-Cost, High-Impact Tactics

Make the most of what you have:

• DIY PR: Pitch your story to blogs and podcasts in your niche
• Freemium tools: Use free versions of analytics, email marketing, and SEO tools
• Co-marketing: Partner with non-competing startups targeting the same audience
• Repurpose content: Turn webinars into blog posts, social clips, and email sequences

Always track CAC, even if you’re spending just time and effort. Time is a cost too.

Use Marketing to Validate Product-Market Fit

Before scaling, your goals are growth and learning. Marketing is a feedback loop.

Watch for:

• Which channels bring in users who stick
• Which messages convert and which fall flat
• What objections surface in demos or support chats

This is how you refine your ICP, messaging, and even your product.

Be Ready to Pivot

What works in month three may not work in month nine. Your best early adopters may not resemble your long-term customers. Stay flexible. Test assumptions often. Kill what doesn’t work quickly.

Think of every campaign as a learning opportunity. That mindset builds resilience and real growth foundations.

Sustainable Growth Strategies

Growth at the startup stage is often driven by speed and hustle. But as your company matures, sustainable growth becomes the priority.

That means investing in channels and systems that continue delivering value without needing constant budget or brute force. This section covers how to transition from scrappy tactics to scalable, durable marketing that supports long-term success.

Don’t Rely on Paid Alone

Paid ads can jumpstart growth, but they rarely sustain it. As you scale, acquisition costs rise and performance plateaus. Long-term growth comes from channels that compound and every effort builds on the last.

Instead of always renting attention, invest in assets you own and can improve over time.

• SEO content that ranks and keeps driving traffic
• An email list that deepens engagement with every send
• A knowledge base that reduces churn and boosts activation

Build a Growth Loop, Not Just a Funnel

Think beyond linear funnels. In a growth loop, one successful customer fuels the next.

• A case study attracts new leads
• A happy user refers another
• A community answer builds search traffic

This approach turns retention, referrals, and user-generated content into acquisition drivers. It’s self-reinforcing, and it gets more efficient over time.

Elevate Customer Advocacy

Your best marketers are often your customers. Give them reasons—and tools—to share:

• Run referral programs with meaningful incentives
• Feature customer wins in your content and social
• Build user communities where your customers can shine

Advocacy lowers CAC, boosts trust, and strengthens retention. It’s not a nice-to-have. It’s a key part of sustainable marketing.

Think Brand, Even If You’re Small

Brand isn’t just a logo or a tone of voice. It’s the sum of how people experience your product, team, and content.

A strong brand:

• Improves conversion across every channel
• Creates differentiation in crowded markets
• Builds loyalty, even when competitors undercut on price

You don’t need a brand agency to start building one. Just be clear, consistent, and provide value everywhere you show up.

Key KPIs and ROI

B2B SaaS marketing should be measured by impact, not activity. That means focusing on metrics tied to revenue, efficiency, and retention.

Start with the two most critical.

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): the total cost of acquiring a customer, including ads, tools, and salaries
• Customer Lifetime Value (LTV): how much a customer is worth over their entire relationship with you

The benchmark to aim for is an LTV:CAC ratio of 3:1 or better. This means each customer brings in three times what it cost to acquire them.

Funnel Metrics That Matter

Map your metrics to the stages of your buyer journey.

• Top of Funnel: website sessions, organic traffic, content engagement, social reach
• Middle of Funnel: MQLs, demo signups, webinar attendance, email response rates
• Bottom of Funnel: SQLs, opportunities created, close rate, sales cycle length

Make sure you’re tracking the full journey, not just the top.

Retention and Expansion Metrics

Acquisition is just the beginning. SaaS growth depends on retention and expansion. Track:

• Churn rate: how many customers leave over a given period
• Net revenue retention (NRR): how much existing customer revenue you retain or grow
• Upsell/cross-sell rate: the percentage of customers who expand usage or adopt new features

High churn erodes your marketing ROI, no matter how strong your pipeline looks.

Measure Channel ROI, Not Just Activity

For every channel, ask:

• How much did we spend?
• What revenue or pipeline did it create?
• How does that compare to other channels?

Use multi-touch attribution if possible to credit the right steps in longer journeys. Tools like CRM dashboards, marketing automation reports, and UTM tracking can help tie outcomes to efforts.

Also consider indirect ROI. A PR hit may not drive signups tomorrow, but it might improve conversion rates across all channels. Don’t overlook the compounding impact of visibility and trust.

Real-World Examples and Case Studies

Successful SaaS companies rarely rely on a single channel. Instead, they build cohesive journeys that guide prospects from discovery to decision.

A typical sequence might look like this:

1. A LinkedIn post introduces a pain point.
2. A prospect clicks through to a blog post that explains the problem.
3. They download a case study in exchange for an email.
4. They attend a webinar on solving the issue.
5. After a few retargeting ads and a follow-up email, they sign up for a free trial.

HubSpot: The Content Engine

HubSpot built its brand and pipeline through relentless content marketing. Educational blogs, free tools, and downloadable guides positioned them as a trusted resource for marketers.

That library created steady inbound traffic, filled their funnel, and reduced dependence on ads. It’s a textbook example of investing early in owned media that compounds over time.

Intercom: Thought Leadership and Events

Intercom focused on product-led storytelling. Their blog featured practical essays on product management, customer support, and growth.

They paired this with sponsored events, like Startup Grind, and high-quality webinars. Their strategy built credibility with startups and product teams, while staying tightly aligned with their target audience.

Slack: Product-Led with Paid Support

Slack’s growth started with the product. A seamless free tier and viral sharing did the heavy lifting. But they still layered on targeted ads to reach decision-makers in IT and engineering.

Their funnel was clean: try the product, get hooked, upgrade as your team grows. Slack shows that even viral products benefit from paid acquisition when used strategically.

What These Companies Got Right

• They aligned their channels with their audience and product.
• They focused on consistency, not just creativity.
• They measured what mattered and doubled down on what worked.

There’s no one-size-fits-all model, but there are patterns. The best SaaS marketers stay focused on real customer needs, test relentlessly, and build systems that scale with clarity, not complexity.

Build a Marketing Engine That Scales

Marketing in B2B SaaS isn’t about finding one perfect channel. It’s about building a system that adapts. Start with your fundamentals. Understand your product, define your ICP, and choose channels based on strategy, not trend-chasing.

Test small. Measure precisely. Scale what works.

Stay focused on your customer’s journey, not just your campaign calendar. The best results come when every touchpoint moves the buyer forward with clarity and confidence.

About Roy Harmon

Roy Harmon is a marketing leader who helps SaaS businesses grow. He has worked with multiple startups to drive revenue to seven figures, secure eight-figure funding rounds, and position them for acquisition.

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