The term “growth hacking” may be one of the latest buzzwords in the industry of late. However, the origins of it have been around from as early as 2010. So what is growth hacking?
Growth hacking is information-driven marketing that utilizes quick experimentation and low-budgets to plan strategies that decide the best ways to grow a business. A person who is a growth hacker is essentially someone who is highly resourceful and creative and has a singular focus on achieving high leverage growth. This definition fits perfectly well in the marketing industry. Imagine a marketer who is able to create cost-effective strategies that exponentially expand the customer base and eventually boost the business profits. Imagine how valuable this marketer will be for your business.
But what does a growth hacker actually do?
Genuine growth hackers only value one thing – growth. Instead of focusing on individual metrics, a growth hacker will try to generate growth across as many metrics as possible, mostly by utilizing low-cost strategies. Growth hackers can run across various aspects of marketing such as content marketing, social media marketing, outrageous product promotions, and other similar tactics.
In an industry that is rapidly evolving, companies are always on the lookout to innovate the marketing space available to them. More often than not, these companies will tend to build their sales funnel directly into their product funnel by chasing after the attention of users. For example, giving your brand as much limelight as possible is one way to get that boost. Understanding where your customers are and showcasing your products there at the right time and place is crucial. If your audiences are on social media 24/7, then you should too.
Great Growth Hacking Techniques
1. Be Present On The Relevant Social Media Platforms
While Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn might be the more common social media platforms, you can be sure that your competitors will want to assert their dominance there too. Thus, it is important to have a deeper understanding of the profile of your consumers. There are various alternative platforms that users are on. Find out where they are and be present on smaller social media networks in which your audience is actively engaging.
The objective here is to dominate these platforms and networks over your competitors and gain direct access to your consumers with little resistance. When this is established, you will be able to create a funnel that directs these users to your website, and even vice versa.
2. Choose Valuable Partners To Work With
As you are getting your business up and running, so are many fellow entrepreneurs out there. Successful partnerships are greatly valued in the growth hacking world. To illustrate how important partnerships are, imagine that you have an existing audience of 10,000 individuals. Now imagine another fellow entrepreneur in a related field with 10,000 members as well. If you partner up with one another, you are now able to reach out to 20,000 people!
Just keep in mind that you are not searching for an immediate competitor. Rather, focus your efforts on looking for a business that actually complements your business. For example, if you are a home baker, you can work together with a party company and work together to create intimate events that offer a personalized touch.
When you are reaching out to prospective partners, make sure you are prepared with various ideas that allow both businesses to combine the audiences and members in a natural way. One way to keep this partnership organic is by tagging each other on social media, offering service or product bundles, or even posting content on each other’s accounts.
3. Conduct A/B Testing
A/B testing is absolutely critical to growth hacking as well. When you realize that something is not working, the best way to know the reason why is by conducting an A/B test where you will be able to test the metric against another variation. While you may be able to A/B test anything, do start with the parts of your website that is highly focused on conversions, such as :
Landing Page, Sales Page, Contact Page, Check out Page
Do make sure that you test one page at a time so as not to skew your results. This is because when too many things are tested at the same time, you will not be able to determine which factor has the most direct impact on the outcome of your results.
4. Get Your Audience To Email You
It is not uncommon to have a subscriber list attached to your business website. Rather than just maintaining a one-way communication where you are just flashing deals and products to your audience, take the opportunity to engage with your audience. Invite your subscribers to email you with any questions, comments, feedback, or replies to questions that you may have. The idea behind this is to create discussions and gather insightful information from your subscribers.
5. Participate in Local Events
The mark of a true growth hacker is the ability to identify any opportunity to attain their objective. Sometimes, this may include offline methods such as attending or participating in local events. If you are just attending, you are present as a guest. If you choose to participate, you will be actively involved with setting up a booth at the event. Ultimately, the main goal of doing this is to be able to meet people up close and personal while getting information about their needs and wants. It is when you engage with people that you can present your products, services and solutions in a more comprehensive manner rather than as a faceless business.
Conclusion
Growth hacking may sometimes be mistaken as being synonymous with conversion marketing or even lead generation. In reality, it is actually entirely different. A growth hacker cares very little about optimizing each individual metric. Rather, he is more focused on achieving tremendous growth in the shortest conceivable stretch of time. This will involve both digital and offline efforts. A growth hacker needs to understand their business intimately so as to know which method will work best for their business. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try out any ideas that might come to mind!
