In 2010, Sean Ellis rebuked the way companies did marketing and mentioned the term “growth hacking” to describe the experimental growth approach Amazon and AirBnB had. Today, brands and marketers incorporate this concept into their practice — it has become a standard. Since then, businesses have successfully applied the Growth Marketing formula to increase their revenue consistently; moreover, this approach invariably results in an improved brand and measurable progress.

What is Growth Marketing

Growth marketing is the process of using data, creativity, and design to grow your business. It’s an innovative mix of art and science that empowers you to reach your customers in new ways.

But with so many tactics to choose from, how do you know which ones to focus on?

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of growth marketing and teach you how to use the right growth hacks for your business.

The Core of Growth Marketing

At its core, Growth Marketing relies largely on science — data-driven tools like testing and analytics play a crucial role in helping brands grow. Consequently, a well-tuned marketing team depends on an excellent research department to provide data-backed insights that can drive success.

Content

Growth-minded product businesses and SaaS companies depend on great content to boost conversions, generate leads, and pick up positive reviews. But it’s not enough to create good content; businesses need to make sure that they’re publishing the right content for their audience. This means creating great keyword phrases, headlines, and body copy that will engage your niche audience — because the idea is to convert visitors into customers and then keep them coming back.

Creativity

Growth marketing should be based on creativity, which allows companies to create unique and captivating content. A good motto can be an extremely valuable summary of your company that will make clients aware of your business, and incredible design tweaks make every product distinctive.

Psychology

Growth marketing is about people: it focuses on sharing and community building. By nurturing a sense of belonging among your users, you can create advocates who will refer more customers to you. At the end of the day, marketers should strive to help their users — not sell them. 

Growth marketing is also about giving customers a chance to help each other by providing them with all they need to know about your brand and product. Emails and chats are great ways for communication — and if used correctly, they might be pretty successful.

Branding

Branding is a game changer — it changes the way a customer thinks about your company, modifying every stage of the consumer journey. Every successful brand has a clear mission and message that resonates with its target demographic. From initial contact to long-term conversion, effective branding leads to rising profits.

As a part of growth marketing, branding plays a substantial role in the overall success of your company. By creating a brand that stands out and conveys your company’s values clearly, you can put yourself in a position to win over new clients.

Social Media

The key to growth marketing is capitalizing on your strengths. Even if you’re a small company, there are still ways to acquire customers quickly. By leveraging social media channels, you can reach a big audience at a low price.

While companies once used it mainly to connect with followers and promote new content, newer algorithms incorporate data on social media to provide niche targeting for businesses. This means that companies can better reach the people they want to get and cut down on those who aren’t valuable.

Is Traditional Marketing Dead and what separates Traditional and Growth Marketing?

For one to say that traditional marketing is dead would be ludicrous. Traditional marketing isn’t dead — and it never will be. Although some online “gurus” preach nonsense, mass media isn’t dead and is here to stay. Companies spend tons of money, and it seems like it pays off.

Consumers are creatures of habit, and the more a business breeds familiarity, the more likely consumers will remain loyal. Mass media is still one of the best ways to cultivate consumer engagement.

Here comes the big question – what separates traditional and growth marketing? 

To have a better understanding of the models, we need to define what is the main drive for marketers to apply them. 

Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing is product and company-centric because it targets a group of people who might be interested in a product, no matter if the audience is loyal to this brand. Annual budgets are delegated and the campaigns are considered successful, once stage Acquisition is completed.

Because it is has been established, companies do not have to spend much effort but there aren’t many unexpected details.

However, it is not consumer-oriented and certainly not cheap, thus making it a practically non-existent option for small businesses with limited budget.

Growth Marketing

Growth marketing is a task of showing your company as trustworthy because you need your target audience to believe in your company and the value of the products you offer. Businesses must build brand trust from the ground up — with a great product that solves problems, has a fair price tag, and provides value for money for customers, and transparency about the company’s vision, values, and goals.

Growth Marketing Funnel

Acquisition 

The acquisition is typically the end goal of any business, and it changes from year to year. The growth marketer tries out different channels and forms of messaging to engage audiences, testing their call to action and copy for subtle variants that produce higher responses.

Activation

By activating new users as soon as possible, businesses can gain loyal customers more quickly. By showing clients the value of your product immediately, you can inspire them to keep using the service or application, thereby increasing their chances of becoming consistent users. One way to activate users is by providing a tour or demo of the app — by seeing its main features and benefits at work, early adopters are more likely to embrace your product into their daily routine.

Retention

Client acquisition is expensive, and once a business has a client that likes their products, the idea is to keep them as a client. One of the most effective ways to do so is through customer retention. A loyalty program, survey, or even bundling products with existing ones can all be used to keep loyal clients coming back for more.

Revenue

A revenue stage is one in which a user becomes an active and paying customer of the business. Experimenting with revenue strategies for growth marketing can be done through direct communication from the brand to the customer base. In-app messaging might be used when a user contract is getting close to its end, while new payment models could also be explored.

Referrals

The moment a customer refers to your business or service, they’ve become a brand ambassador. When you offer referral bonuses or incentives, customers are more likely to refer your business than they would with no reward. Since your customers are essentially brand ambassadors, creating a repeat or lifelong customer in the referral stage is much easier.

Conclusion

Growth marketing isn’t a secret sauce that will magically turn your doomed business into a thriving company. Instead, it’s the fundamental part of any startup and has become the go-to option for small businesses looking to make an impact online. With so many companies buried on Google Search (thanks to SEO), more brands are turning towards growth marketing tools that can help them gain more exposure and grow their business. 

If you like to book a call and discuss your growth marketing options, feel free to contact us.