Growth Hacking is an approach to marketing that is focussed on finding cheaper alternatives to traditional methods. This ‘hack’, however, doesn’t start when the product hits the market. Instead, consideration of the marketability of a product is built into the development process, combining technology and marketing ingenuity to boost company growth.
Growth Hacking strategies you should consider
Many consider Growth Hacking a natural extension of the online marketing revolution. Rather than costly television or print marketing campaigns, growth hackers utilise SEO and viral strategies to increase growth and improve customer retention. Content marketing, in particular, is a common Growth Hacking strategy, using social media to reach the widest audience via blogs, contests and giveaways. Gameifying the onboarding process increases the possibility of sharing, and offering referral incentives uses the reach of each customer to exponentially grow awareness.
Growth Hacking success stories
The balance of development and marketing in the Growth Hacking process means that constant assessment of what works informs the next move. In short, you figure out what is making you grow and make sure to do more of it on purpose. The ubiquitous nature of social media in today’s consumer markets means that FOMO (fear of missing out) can be leveraged to encourage periodic boosts of attention and conversion. The best examples of success are AirBnB who harnessed Craigslist’s user base by adding automated listing generators, and Dropbox who offered expanded storage capabilities to existing users who referred a friend.
Why Growth Hacking matters
Growth Hacking comes with both immediate cost benefits for startups, as well as long term benefits for established players. As marketing expenditure is exceptionally flexible (opting in and out of Facebook ads, for example), company growth built around this methodology is much more agile and can scale much more responsively than businesses using the traditional, segmented route.
