Growth
hacking is a term that originated in the tech industry—coined by entrepreneurs Sean Ellis,
Hiten Shah, and Patrick Vlaskovits in 2010—and remains popular in Silicon
Valley. In effect, it describes a non-traditional approach to marketing,
wherein expansion of the business is the primary focus. Many growth hackers
(some of whom have even adopted that title) would describe themselves as
more-or-less analogous to the VP of Marketing at a conventional firm.
Historically, growth hackers have tended to work with small- and medium-sized
enterprises rather than major established companies—although there are
indications that growth hacking is now making inroads into the corporate
mainstream.
You
needn’t be an IT wizard—or even a self-identified growth hacker—to take
advantage of growth-hacking techniques.
A
common perception of growth hackers is that they are mostly associated with the
dot com sector, and as such, possess extraordinary technical knowledge and
skill, including the ability to code at an advanced level. While this is
undeniably true of many in the field, technical expertise is not necessarily a
precondition for growth hacking. Marketing and expansion techniques familiar to
growth hackers can be adopted by traditional marketers, entrepreneurs,
managers—in fact, just about anyone in the business world. And now that website
design templates are widely available, non-techies have ample opportunity to
establish a profitable online gateway.
Growth
hackers’ approach to marketing resembles more conventional marketing strategies
in some respects, but principally revolves around the online medium. Like
traditional companies, firms that adopt growth-hacking principles aim to
attract customers, facilitate sign-ups, and retain clients over the long term,
in part, by offering innovative products and services. But under a
growth-hacking framework, the effectiveness of the website (and online pathways
thereto) take precedence.
A simple,
elegant website, with an easy sign-up process
Modern
society is characterized by short attention spans, and a rule of thumb for
business website design is that there is roughly a ten-second window in which
to attract a prospective customer’s attention and pique h/er interest. In your
initial user interface, aim for short but clear descriptions, understandable
options, and visible (but not gaudy) links and portals. Allow visitors to
navigate to some areas of your site without registering, and give them the
option of signing up for additional services.
Another
vital consideration is the process of registration itself: You’ll want to
collect relevant data from your prospective clients, but it’s also important to
ensure that they know exactly what they’re signing up for, and don’t feel
daunted by the duration and/or arduousness of the endeavour. Many would-be
customers will simply give up and move on rather than endure even a few seconds
of unnecessary inconvenience.
Tools of
the trade
Among
the devices in the growth hacker’s tool kit are search engine optimization
(SEO), data analytics, viral video, guest blogging, mailing lists, and a wide
range of specialized survey and marketing software. A fairly extensive list of
utilities for marketing and metrics is available here.
Some
common objectives growth hackers emphasize in the development of a new product
or business are virality, effective distribution, and ease of access and use of
the business’s website (from the customer’s perspective). The purpose of
metrics, surveys, and other data is to provide feedback as to the success of
those efforts.
Start
with your networks to drive traffic. Use “calls to action” to generate
sign-ups.
Online
advertising can get expensive, and virality can be a difficult and
time-consuming ambition. For start-ups with low cash flow, the cost and
challenge of driving traffic to a website can be especially prohibitive. One of
the ways around this problem is to start with your social network. Let your
friends on Facebook know about your business, send e-mails to your contacts,
call up friends to gauge their level of interest.
Create
a landing page separate from the website’s home page, and direct visitors
toward it. Once they arrive, the next goal is to promote registration. An
approach that many businesses find effective is the Call to Action—usually in
the form of a prominent icon that visitors can click on in order to “learn more”,
“get started”, etc. This is where registration kicks in, which you can then
measure, analyze, and, in turn, identify ways to improve.
Of
course, there is no shortcut to a robust level of growth. But a growth hacker’s
mindset can help to propel your business toward that goal.
A wealth
of additional information is available online. Check out QUICKSPROUT’s Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking, GrowthHackers,
growth-hacker.com,
and the personal blogs of growth-hacking specialists Aaron Ginn
and Andrew Chen.
