Growth hacking is commonly used in association with incubating startups which require massive growth on small budgets. Growth hacking is not a replacement for digital marketing. The two disciplines share the primary goals of increased sales, but the difference is in their scope of goals. Growth hackers too do not substitute marketers. The concept is defined further below:
Growth Hacking Concept
Growth hacking is a relatively new concept. It was coined by Sean Ellis in 2010. Sean had gained experience from assisting internet companies such as Dropbox to get incredible growth. He created processes, methods, and mindsets in a specific company to maintain his growth strategies. A problem arose when Sean was seeking for his replacements. He reviewed resume after resume and found that his practices did not match the traditional marketing methods. Since then, growth hacking has risen in popularity and appreciation. It is especially attractive to companies who lack the resources at the disposal of bigger enterprises.
Most startups do not have large marketing teams. The job description for marketers is also extensive. Sean understood that startups need growth more than anything else. He, therefore, invented a new job description to help startups tap into growth hacking talent. A growth hacker will employ various strategies to grow a company’s customer base.
Conversion Optimization Some growth hacking strategies can be channeled towards conversion optimization. A company’s online efforts are all geared towards getting the most conversion rates. In the current technological climate, people cannot get off their phones. They use them to access social media but also to shop and pay bills. Companies that optimize their websites for mobile phones will, therefore, access a substantial population. It is also beneficial to have speedy sites. A website full of clutter or an unreliable hosting provider may make a site slow.
Another growth hacking strategy is to regularly update SEO. This research should be on demographics, competition, and keywords. New competitors are continually getting in the market as are new trends. Companies should also optimize locally such that they are easily found by customers.
Growth Hacking Process
All growth hackers’ efforts are geared towards growth. This includes all their tactics, strategies, practices, and goals. A growth hacker will first break down their primary objectives into more realistic goals. These goals should have a timeframe, for example, growing a blog’s traffic by 20% in one month. The short-term objectives are commonly called growth sprints.
A growth hacker will then create a hypothesis which can be implemented and tested quickly. The theory will be informed by the available knowledge of a company’s products and customers. Hypotheses need data which may not be available for startups. Most of these businesses have unique offerings. A good example is Uber’s entry into the market. Uber was a new concept when it launched, and it has since been adopted in numerous countries.
Google Analytics is a reliable data platform. It is useful for online companies with many visitors. Companies with a physical location can use PoweredLocal. It acquires information from customers as they use complimentary WI-FI. Data and testing are complementary disciplines, and growth hackers will subsequently design a test. One of the testing methods is implementing a small change to analyze the results.
Benefits of Growth Hacking Companies that implement growth hacking benefit from a reliable return on investment. Growth hackers gravitate towards quantitative data. While qualitative data can be helpful, numbers do not lie. Tracking the performance of hacks will accurately identify the ones that work and those that do not. A company can then discard the un-performing hacks.
The low costs associated with growth hacking appeal to startups. Most of these businesses do not have the capacity to fund a marketing team. Growth hacking can be done by one person or by the engineering team. Growth hacking is also instrumental in branding. Take Netflix, for example, which boasts over 100 million subscribers. The company split into two entities which dealt with online streaming and DVDs separately. The profits from one business were channeled to expanding the other. Netflix has created a recognizable social media presence to generate buzz.
Growth hacking is a data-fueled process of rapid experimentation. It is implemented across all marketing channels. A lot of people think that growth hacking is a buzz phrase. It is a solid concept, however, which can help businesses get a lot of customers fast. Most businesses have an online presence, and growth hacking has the most impact on internet platforms.