According to Sean Ellis, the father of growth hacking: “A
growth hacker is one whose true north is growth”
The literal translation of growth hacking is “hacking
growth”. Hack also means “trick”, so we could also translate it as “tricks to
grow”. However, the definition does not express what growth hacking really
means; I hope that with the following principles it becomes clearer to you.
Growth yes, but sustainable
All the actions of a growth hacker are focused on the
scalable and stable growth, not only of visits, but also of clients,
prescribers and billing.
Marketing as a science
Growth hacking has a scientific approach where the
hypothesis approach and the validation or invalidation of these through the
results of the experiments (growth actions), is fundamental. A growth hacker
must have an analytical mindset defines the important metrics of his business,
measure them dispassionately and act accordingly.
The product is the main marketing tool
A growth hacker ideally works from the beginning in the
development of the product, not only to reach the product-market fit, but also
to develop characteristics of the product that will help in its dissemination.
For example, when Dropbox created its rewards of additional space for
recommending its product to other users, they did it working on the product,
they did not do a marketing campaign, and the product was marketing.
The growth hacker must be a geek of technology
Growth hackers tend to have a fairly technical profile. They
are often programmers with marketing skills or marketers with advanced
technical knowledge.
It is not essential to know programming but to have a domain
of tools that compensate for these deficiencies. A few years ago to make a
landing page, we needed knowledge in HTML and javascript, now, with low-cost
tools such as Instapage or Unbounce anyone can develop the same without knowing
programming in just 10 minutes.
Growth hacking focuses on free channels
Another feature of growth hacking that attracts the
attention of entrepreneurs is that it gives priority to free or low-cost growth
channels. That does not mean that a growth hacker does not know how to create
an Adwords or Facebook Ads campaign, but first try to exhaust alternative
formulas such as content marketing, viral marketing, optimization of conversion
through the improvement of usability and copywriting, etc.
YouTube is another prominent growth hacking platform. Many growth hackers buy monetized YouTube accounts (for example) then publishing content on the channels and then driving traffic to this content from native advertising sources - where the traffic cost is cheaper than the YouTube views revenue - to make a quick profit.
What is not growth hacking
There is a lot of mythology around the figure of the growth
hacker, for that reason we are going to clarify some points that usually
confuse the one that enters new in this world.
Growth hacking is not a set of techniques and tricks
Everyone likes to know tricks that allow you to grow with
little effort, but the reality is that these tricks do not always work and in
most cases, their impact lasts little. A good growth hacker relies on tactics
but is focused on preparing and executing a global growth strategy that will
evolve in the different stages of the company. For example, the Airbnb hack is
well known, taking advantage of the huge Craigslist traffic, but once
Craigslist turned off the tap, Airbnb continued to grow thanks to its growth
hacker mentality:
Search for the best growth channels
Develop strategies and hypotheses for these channels
Execute and measure tactics
Exploit the channels that work and discard those that do not
The important thing when designing a growth strategy is to
find a way to develop something that is sustainable over time and that has a
real impact on the business.
Growth hacking has nothing to do with the product, it has to
do with the user
Despite having knowledge of product and technology, the
growth hacker must know the user above all. You must soak up your problems and
needs because there is growth.
You may be familiar with the validation methodologies of
Lean Startup and Customer Development business models. These methodologies,
which are being embraced by many entrepreneurs, base their success on the fact
that the customer is at the center of everything from minute 1. Growth hacking
shares the same philosophy and the client must also be the one that guides the
development of our product and the definition of our growth strategies.
There are several companies that have contacted me with only
one purpose in mind: more visits to your website. Generating large spikes of
useless traffic is relatively easy, the difficulty is to convert those visits
into quality users, and preferably into loyal customers. A good growth hacker
must be able to explain this to his clients because often the next steps should
be aimed at optimizing the conversion funnel through actions that have nothing
to do with attracting new users:
Improve the usability of the Web
Improve texts to encourage action and make the value
proposal clear to the user
Create landing pages that convert those visits into users
Make changes in the product to achieve a Wow effect that
converts users into prescribers
Make e-mail marketing campaigns aimed at our VIP clients
with gifts and promotions
There is no greater hack than sending a handwritten letter
to your most loyal customers
Customer loyalty is the most profitable growth strategy you can do. It is proven that loyal customers recommend your product and, in addition, buy up to 10 times more than a punctual customer. This is especially relevant if your product is a recurring purchase, such as an online super-market. Often companies focus too much on getting more and more customers and forget the most important ones, the ones they already have.
