Growth hacking
{{Short description|Subfield of marketing}}
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Growth hacking is a subfield of marketing focused on the rapid growth of a company. It is referred to as both a process and a set of cross-disciplinary (digital) skills. The goal is to regularly conduct experiments, which can include A/B testing, that will lead to improving the customer journey, and replicate and scale the ideas that work and modify or abandon the ones that do not, before investing a lot of resources. It started in relation to early-stage startups that need rapid growth within a short time on tight budgets, and also reached bigger corporate companies.
A growth hacking team is made up of marketers, developers, engineers and product managers that specifically focus on building and engaging the user base of a business. Growth hacking is not just a process for marketers. It can be applied to product development and to the continuous improvement of products as well as to growing an existing customer base. As such, it is equally useful to everyone from product developers, to engineers, to designers, to salespeople, to managers.
Competences
Those who specialise in growth hacking use various types of marketing and product iterations to rapidly test persuasive copy, email marketing, search engine optimization and viral strategies, among other tools and techniques, with a goal of increasing conversion rates and achieving rapid growth of the user base. Some consider growth hacking a part of the online marketing ecosystem, as in many cases growth hackers are using techniques such as search engine optimization, website analytics, content marketing and A/B testing. On the other hand, not all marketers have all the data and technical skills required by a growth hacker, therefore a separate name for this field is applicable.
History
Sean Ellis coined the term "growth hacker" in 2010.{{cite web |url=http://www.startup-marketing.com/where-are-all-the-growth-hackers/ |title=Find a Growth Hacker for Your Startup |author=Ellis, Sean |publisher=Startup-Marketing.com |date=June 26, 2010}} In the blog post, he defined a growth hacker as "a person whose true north is growth. Everything they do is scrutinized by its potential impact on scalable growth." Andrew Chen introduced the term to a wider audience in a blog post titled, "Growth Hacker is the new VP Marketing"{{Cite web|url=https://andrewchen.co/how-to-be-a-growth-hacker-an-airbnbcraigslist-case-study/|title=Growth Hacker is the new growth hackers|last=Chen|first=Andrew|date=2012|website=andrewchen|access-date=29 March 2019}} in which he defined the term and used the short term vacation rental platform Airbnb's integration of Craigslist as an example.{{cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/02/defining-a-growth-hacker-three-common-characteristics/|title=Defining a Growth Hacker: Three Common Characteristics|author=Ginn, Aaron|date=September 2, 2012|work=TechCrunch}}{{cite web |url=http://andrewchen.co/how-to-be-a-growth-hacker-an-airbnbcraigslist-case-study/ |title=Growth Hacker is the new VP Marketing |author=Chen, Andrew |publisher=AndrewChen.co}} He wrote that growth hackers "are a hybrid of marketer and coder, one who looks at the traditional question of 'How do I get customers for my product?' and answers with A/B tests, landing pages, viral factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph."{{cite magazine|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/3003888/everything-marketing-how-growth-hackers-redefine-game|title=Everything is Marketing: How Growth Hackers Redefine the Game|author=Holiday, Ryan|author-link=Ryan Holiday|date=December 17, 2012|magazine=Fast Company}} In the book "Growth Hacking", Chad Riddersen and Raymond Fong define a Growth Hacker as "a highly resourceful and creative marketer singularly focused on high leverage growth" {{cite book |last1=Riddersen |first1=Chad |last2=Fong |first2=Raymond |date= 2017 |title=Growth Hacking: Silicon Valley's Best Kept Secret |location=US |publisher=Lioncrest Publishing |isbn=978-1619616004 }}
The second annual (2013) "Growth Hackers Conference" was held in San Francisco set up by Gagan Biyani.{{cite web |url=https://venturebeat.com/2013/05/10/6-important-lessons-from-this-years-growth-hacker-conference/ |title=6 important lessons from this year's Growth Hacker Conference |author=Griggs, William |publisher=Venture Beat |date=May 10, 2013}} It featured growth hackers from LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube among others.
Methods
To combat this lack of money and experience, growth hackers approach marketing with a focus on innovation, scalability, and user connectivity.{{cite news |url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/10/21/defining-a-growth-hacker-building-growth-into-your-team/ |title=Defining a Growth Hacker: Building Growth Into Your Team |author=Ginn, Aaron |work=TechCrunch |date=October 21, 2012}}{{cite web |url=https://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2012/10/28/build-it-and-they-wont-come-how-and-why-growth-hacking-came-to-be/ |title=Build it and they won't come: How and why growth hacking came to be |author=Ginn, Aaron |publisher=The Next Web |date=October 28, 2012}} Growth hacking does not, however, separate product design and product effectiveness from marketing.{{cite web |url=https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/68b4a602def6 |title=Here's Some Marketing Advice: Your Product Is Terrible |author=Holiday, Ryan |author-link=Ryan Holiday|publisher=Medium.com |date=June 11, 2013}}{{cite news |url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/10/20/defining-a-growth-hacker-growth-is-not-a-marketing-strategy/ |title=Defining A Growth Hacker: Growth Is Not A Marketing Strategy |author=Ginn, Aaron |work=TechCrunch |date=October 20, 2012}} Growth hackers build the product's potential growth, including user acquisition, on-boarding, monetization, retention, and virality, into the product itself.{{cite web |url=http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2013/02/from-obscurity-to-internet-sensation-how-creatives-can-win-the-pr-game-interview-with-ryan-holiday/ |title=From Obscurity to Internet Sensation – How Creatives Can Win the PR Game with Ryan Holiday |author=Jarvis, Chase |publisher=ChaseJarvis.com |date=February 22, 2013}} Growth hacking is all about intention and efficiency. So there is always a chance you'll hit on something huge and have a viral campaign.{{Cite web|last=Jantsch|first=Ellen|date=2019-09-27|title=What The Hack Is Growth Hacking?|url=https://tuffgrowth.com/growth-hacking/|access-date=2022-01-25|website=Tuff|language=en-US}} Fast Company used Twitter's "Suggested Users List" as example: "This was Twitter's real secret: It built marketing into the product rather than building infrastructure to do a lot of marketing."{{cite magazine|url=http://www.fastcompany.com/3013859/the-secret-that-defines-marketing-now|title=The Secret That Defines Marketing Now|author=Holiday, Ryan|author-link=Ryan Holiday|date=July 8, 2013|magazine=Fast Company}} However growth hacking isn't always free. TechCrunch shared several nearly free growth hacks{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/04/three-nearly-free-growth-hacks/|title=3 Nearly Free Growth Hacks|last=Pelt|first=Mason|website=TechCrunch|date=4 February 2016 |access-date=2016-05-18}} explaining that growth hacking is effective marketing and not mythical marketing pixie dust.
The heart of growth hacking is the relentless focus on growth as the only metric that truly matters.{{cite web|last1=Ellis|first1=Sean|title=Sean Ellis On Growth|url=https://medium.com/growth-hacker/sean-ellis-on-growth-7d620cf4875f|website=medium.com|date=8 May 2014|publisher=Medium|access-date=16 August 2014}} Mark Zuckerberg had this mindset while growing Facebook.{{cite web|last1=Kagan|first1=Noah|title=How My Blog Homepage Redesign Increased Email Signups By 300%|url=http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/homepage-redesign-increase-email-signups|website=blog.hubspot.com|publisher=Hubspot|access-date=16 August 2014}} While the exact methods vary from company to company and from one industry to the next, the common denominator is always growth. Companies that have successfully "growth hacked" usually have a viral loop naturally built into their onboarding process.{{cite web|last1=Chen|first1=Andrew|title=What's Your Viral Loop? Understanding The Engine Of Adoption|url=http://andrewchen.co/2007/07/11/whats-your-viral-loop-understanding-the-engine-of-adoption/|website=andrewchen.co|access-date=16 August 2014}} New customers typically hear about the product or service through their network and by using the product or service, share it with their connections in turn. This loop of awareness, use, and sharing can result in exponential growth for the company.{{cite book|last1=Ellis|first1=Sean|title=Startup Growth Engines: Case Studies of How Today's Most Successful Startups Unlock Extraordinary Growth|date=June 24, 2014|publisher=Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown|url=https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Growth-Engines-Successful-Extraordinary-ebook/dp/B00LA95B68|access-date=16 August 2014}}
Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox, Pinterest, YouTube, Groupon, Udemy, Instagram and Google are all companies that used and still use growth hacking techniques to build brands and improve profits.{{cite news |url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/12/08/defining-a-growth-hacker-6-myths-about-growth-hackers/ |title=Defining A Growth Hacker: Debunking The 6 Most Common Myths About Growth Hacking |author=Ginn, Aaron |work=TechCrunch |date=December 8, 2012}}
=Examples of growth hacks=
Below are the examples of growth hacks and are the most well-known acts of growth hacking. Often people see growth hacking as merely repeating these growth hacks, but one should know that the 'hacks' are only the result of a repeatable growth hacking process,{{Cite web|url=https://growwithward.com/grows-process-growth-tribe/|title=Growth Hacking Process explanation|last=van Gasteren|first=Ward|date=March 12, 2019}} which all growth hackers use a way of working. Below are some of the most famous growth hacking examples:
- An early example of "growth hacking" was Hotmail's inclusion of "PS I Love You" with a link for others to get the free online mail service.{{cite web|last=Holiday|first=Ryan|author-link=Ryan Holiday|title=Don Draper Is Dead: Why Growth Hack Marketing Is Advertising's Last Hope|url=http://betabeat.com/2013/09/don-draper-is-dead-why-growth-hack-marketing-is-advertisings-last-hope/|publisher=BetaBeat}} Another example was the offer of more storage by Dropbox to users who referred their friends.{{cite book|last1=Kehr|first1=Alex|title=Hacking Growth: The Modern Marketing Mindset to Create Fast Growing Companies|date=2015|publisher=Wander Press|isbn=978-1515090014|page=122|edition=First}}
- Online lodging company Airbnb is an example of growth hacking; they realized they could essentially hack the Craiglist.org scale and tap both into their user base as well as their website by adding automated listing generators from Airbnb with the feature called "Post to Craigslist".{{cite news|last=Needleman|first=Sarah|title=Growth Hacking' Helps Startups Boost Their Users|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/growth-hacking-helps-startups-boost-their-users-1401320789|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal}}