As a business owner, there is no doubt that you want your company to grow. The trouble is that when it comes to marketing, the methods used are often old and ineffective. That’s where growth hacking comes in.
In this post, we will go over what growth hacking is, how it can help you reach more customers by coming up with creative ideas for campaigns.
We’ll start out by defining what growth hacking actually means and who should be in charge of carrying it out before going into detail on some examples of successful campaigns.
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What Is Growth Hacking?
Growth hacking is a marketing technique that entails the use of creative and out-of-the-box ideas to drive growth. The term was coined by Sean Ellis in 2010 when he used it to describe what he did at his former company, RapLeaf, where he doubled their revenues before being acquired by Experian.
Growth hackers are usually in charge of driving customer acquisition, engagement, and retention. They come up with innovative ways to reach potential customers through networking, content marketing, social media campaigns, PR stunts, etc.
A good example would be Dropbox’s referral program – they offered extra space on their service for free if you manage to get someone else on board. This was a huge win for the company.
You see, there is a life cycle that every new product must live through. And the growth hacking process is one that helps companies quickly get through this cycle by keeping customers coming back.
Why Is Growth Hacking Important For Companies?
Growth hacking is a new mindset for acquiring and closing new businesses. It’s a way of thinking that takes into account some of the most pressing needs in today’s competitive marketplace. The idea is to use out-of-the-box solutions to drive growth so as not to be left behind in terms of marketing strategy.
Growth hacking helps companies break through the four stages of “The Product Life Cycle.” Without it, customers will grow bored with your product eventually and you’ll never see any sort of return on your investment or efforts.
Every company has its own unique challenges when it comes to acquiring new clients for their products but growth hacking offers up innovative ways around these obstacles without too much hassle – which is why it’s important.
You can’t afford to think only about your product and neglect the surrounding environment in which you’ll be operating, either. Growth hackers look for innovative ways to reach customers through networking, content marketing, social media campaigns, PR stunts, etc.
Now that we know why growth hacking is so important, let’s get into to how growth hacking is done.
How Is Growth Hacking Done?
Growth hacking is constantly changing so you shouldn’t try to follow blindly in the footsteps of those who succeeded. Remember, growth hacking requires you to think of unconventional marketing strategies. Just make sure that all the tactics you’re employing are relevant to your audience and the type of business you’re running.
There are a ton of different methods that can be used during the growth hacking process. Some examples include:
- Offering discounts and freebies to get customers on board. Some companies give these incentives to hook customers into trying their products. These are just some examples of what you can include on your list when thinking about potential ways to get more users for your product.
- Building an engaged community through social media campaigns or customer feedback surveys. To advertise a product or service on social media, use hashtags that are specific to the industry in which you work. For example #bloggingtips for blogging tips, etc. Make it easier for users who may not be following your account yet but fit into your niche and want more information from you by including this hashtag. Doing so also allows other people in the same field as you to find you and potentially become followers too
- Creating online tutorials, infographics, tools, etc. for potential clients to increase traffic.
- One of the most innovative ways to drive growth is through partnerships. For example, let’s say you are a coffee shop owner and want to get new customers who would like more information about what types of coffees they offer. You could partner up with an ice cream company that has frozen desserts for sale in their store or offers coupons for free ones if someone buys a certain amount of coffee from you. New customers will be drawn into these stores by this partnership because now there is something else on top of just buying coffee too!
- Spreading the word about a product through PR campaigns, networking, and more
I’d recommend you work with a growth marketing lead who can come up with innovative ways to drive growth. They’re the type of people who may have connections in PR, networking opportunities for your company, or a blog that they could be posting about you on.
Growth Hacking 101
Growth hacking does not require any budget or money. It only requires creativity and innovation. Here are some strategies to get the creative juices flowing.
- Ask for feedback from your customers. What do they want and need in order to make a purchase or become more engaged with the brand?
- Use Google Analytics when building an online campaign; one of its features is called Conversions – it can tell exactly how many clicks lead up to customers making purchases or becoming engaged with the company’s content (by clicking through)
- Find potential clients using keyword research tools and write out blog posts to attract visitors
- Use social media monitoring tools to track mentions of what people think about your company and its products or services
After doing this, you’ll have data to run experiments with different approaches to see what works best for your brand or business.
Conclusion
Growth hacking is a great mindset to think creatively and be scrappy to grow your business. As mentioned by the Founder of ReForge, Brian Balfour, “Growth hacking is not magic” it requires hard work and a certain mentality to succeed.
Growth Hacking is a great way of driving growth for any business or organization that needs an innovative push in its marketing efforts. It’s important, though, that before you start the hacking process and try different approaches to your company there are things like customer acquisition costs vs lifetime value metrics done so you have enough data. If you would like to chat more about creating a strategy to have qualified leads coming into your business.
