GROWTH HACKING
“Growth Hacking” is the new buzzword in marketing. This term is relatively new, aging only 10 years, it was coined by Sean Ellis in 2010.
You either know what growth hacking is, and in that case, are probably irritated by how often the term is used, or you are very confused as to what the term means. To put it simply, growth hacking is hacking your way to the growth of your company with as minimum resources as possible in the fastest time, the strategies used to growth hack a company are creative, innovative, and unique to the company. Consultants, marketers, and entrepreneurs call growth hacking the best way they grow a business, and some even call it “the future of marketing”.
Every company is obsessed with growth, for obvious reasons, but startups arguably are the ones that need it the most, it’s the “make it or break it point” for startups. If they do not grow fast, they are gonna be crushed in the market. Growth hacking is relatively new and people are still trying to figure out how they can use this concept to the fullest. The people who assist you in strategies and plan the growth hacking process are called growth hackers. When the term was new, people did not fully understand what growth hackers do, but now many major companies have adopted the growth hacking concept. Companies like Uber, TikTok, and Shopify have their own VP/Head of Growth and dedicated growth team(s). But still, major players shy away from using the term hacking, as it has some negative stigma. So marketers often use the term “Growth marketing”.
Isn’t Growth Hacking some fancy marketing word?
Well, to be honest, the difference between Growth Hacking and Marketing isn’t that big, but the minor differences that are there, are very substantial. There are differences in the job description of the growth hacker as well. In growth hacking, the growth hacker uses the entire marketing funnel, including referral and retention, whereas normal marketers only use awareness and acquisition.
Some major differences between Growth Hacking and Marketing and SEO.
- Growth hackers are very creative as well as technical, with skill sets such as programming, coding, etc.
- Marketing majorly focuses on day-to-day marketing and branding while growth hacking focuses more on growth opportunities.
- Growth hacking depends majorly on data and statistics while this is not the case for most marketers.
- Growth hackers are involved in the product while marketing is involved in the brand.
- Knows how to use tracking tools like Google Tag Manager etc.
- Growth hacking focuses on results while SEO focuses on reach.
SEO on Steroids.
Growth hacking can be called SEO but on steroids, growth hacking is more focused on results. When brands use growth hacking, they get similar results like SEO but much faster.
The main focus of SEO is to gain more search engine traffic, while growth hacking focuses on the overall performance of a brand.
Skillsets of a Growth Hacker.
- A growth hacker should be technical as well as creative while ideating on growth strategies.
- Build websites and apps that can help reach more audiences or at least have a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS.
- Should be able to find problems in the data.
- Run ads on social media as well as paid.
- Always learning new things.
- Learning as much as possible about marketing and technology.
- Behavioral psychology.
- Copywriting.
The mindset of a Growth Hacker.
- A growth hacker should prioritize speed over perfection because it is better to understand if something will work in the market early on in its life cycle rather than building it and then watching it fail.
- A growth hacker should always learn new things, it’s irrelevant if it’s related to marketing or not. The general knowledge and information level of a growth hacker should be very high.
- Just like always learning, a Growth Hacker should be always improving whatever skills he has, to a point where he becomes a master of many things.
- The decisions that a growth hacker makes are always data and logic-driven. He should be a critical thinker and should be very analytical.
- He should be very effective in utilizing whatever resources he has and utilizing his and his company’s time in the best way possible.
So the question is, do you need a growth hacker.
To make it easier for you to understand if or when do you need growth hackers, here are some scenarios that you should have a look at.
If you are a Startup.
Startups need as much growth as possible in their incubation period. Growth hacking can be a good choice here, as the capital is low and the need for growth is more. Growth hackers can use their intelligence to get as much growth as possible. Growth hackers can help you build a creative strategy, they can also test your product and predict if it will work or not in the market.
If you are a small scale company.
Having a small-scale company means having a low budget and a lot of opportunities to grow. You can cash this opportunity by hiring a growth hacker. You can implement both Marketing as well as growth hacking for better results. Growth hackers can widen your audience and make you a lot more visible.
If you are a big successful company.
If you are reading this chances are you are not a big company, cause you may already have a Head of growth or a growth team but even if you are a big successful company you still need to have a growth hacker as they are very efficient at what they do and they can save a lot of your money and time.
Famous examples of growth hacking.
Tesla.
We associate Tesla with innovation and the future and they used a technique of the future when they used growth hacking because that is what they do! When other car companies were targeting their audiences through TV commercials, Billboards, etc, Tesla leveraged different tactics like Scarcity, Exclusivity, Referral programs and they tried to sell a lifestyle rather than a product.
Netflix.
Netflix’s USP is letting people watch what they want, whenever they want. Netflix is the major player in online streaming. They originally were a DVD rental company, they used the revenue generated by the DVD rental to fund the online streaming. Other hacks include building a strong social media presence, original content creation, and acquiring popular TV shows.
Oneplus.
When Oneplus launched its first phone, the “Oneplus 1”, you could only buy it if someone who bought it earlier sent you an invite.
Wecraft.
We at Wecraft offer a wide range of services, from SEO to growth hacking and anything in between, if you are interested in learning more about Growth Hacking or you want to work with us, you can reach out to us anytime you want.