Growth hacking. The buzzword of the decade. A byproduct of technology, meant to make the Silicon Valley wunderkinds of today even more unicorn-y than they already were. Growth Hackers have become some of the most desirable people to work with in startups, creating and driving targeted marketing strategies that grow businesses faster than their competitors.
What is growth hacking?
The term “growth hacking” was coined by Sean Ellis in 2010, when he was the CEO of a startup called Qualaroo. The term describes a set of techniques and strategies to grow a business and increase your customer base. It combines marketing, sales and product development to create fast growth. A growth hacker is someone who takes responsibility for finding new customers and users for a company. They look at the problem from a different perspective, come up with innovative solutions, and use technology and data to measure the success of their efforts. Growth hackers are creative thinkers who are also analytical, strategic and entrepreneurial. They think about how to grow their businesses in terms of product, brand and marketing.
Growth hacking is not just a marketing strategy; it’s an approach to business that integrates many aspects of the organization. A growth hacker relies on metrics and data analysis to determine what works best and why it works so they can improve their results over time.
Understand the 80/20 rule of sales and marketing
Understanding the 80/20 rule of sales and marketing is one of the most important things you can do as a business owner.
The 80/20 rule is a concept that states that 20% of your customers will provide 80% of your revenue. This means that if you want to grow your business, you need to focus on attracting more customers from this small group.
The best way to do this is by building a tribe of raving believers in your business. All successful businesses have one thing in common: their customers love them so much they can’t help but tell others about them! If you want to grow your business, start by becoming an expert at creating content that inspires people to share it with their friends and family.
Define your target market like an expert
The first step in growth hacking is defining your target market—the people who will buy from you, or use your product or service, and become raving fans. You have to identify the people who are most likely to find value in what you’re offering, and then make sure that they know about it. The best way to do this is by using language that speaks directly to them and shows them why they should care about your product or service. This isn’t about being a copywriter—it’s about understanding the needs of your target audience and finding ways to speak directly to those needs.
For example, if you’re selling kitchen knives, don’t just say “these knives are great for chopping vegetables.” Instead, say something like: “These knives will help you chop vegetables faster than ever before.”
In order to define your target customer, you need to be able to answer these questions:
- Who are they?
- Where do they live?
- How old are they?
- What do they do for a living?
- What kind of family do they have?
- What kind of education did they receive?
- What are their hobbies and interests?
Earning trust is everything in today’s world
Today’s world is a lot like the wild west. There are a lot of things happening that we can’t control, and there are a lot of people who are trying to take advantage of us. That’s why earning trust is everything in today’s world.
You might have heard that word before, but what does it really mean? Well, earning someone’s trust means giving them reason to believe that you’re trustworthy. It means giving them evidence that shows you’re not just saying what they want to hear—you’re actually going out of your way to prove it.
According to a recent study, “trust” is the most important factor when it comes to building a loyal following. The second most important factor is “liking.” So, if you want people to like you and trust you, you need to be authentic.
But how can you be authentic in the age of social media? How can you build trust when everything is so transparent? Here are three tips for earning trust:
- Don’t try too hard
- Be honest about who you are and what your goals are
- Be consistent
Create an amazing customer experience to grow your business
If you want to grow your business, you need to create the best customer experience possible.
Even if you have an amazing product and a great team, if you don’t focus on creating an amazing customer experience, it will never work out for you.
Think about it: what is the point of running a business if you’re not creating something that people love? If you don’t have customers who are raving about your product and telling their friends about it, then what’s the point?
The best way to build up a tribe of raving believers in your business is by creating a product that people love. You need to make sure that they get exactly what they’re expecting when they buy from you, and then some—because that’s what will keep them coming back again and again.
When people buy from you, they should feel like they’ve just found their new favorite friend. They should feel like they’ve found someone who understands them completely and gets them like nobody else does. They should feel like they’ve got someone on their side through thick and thin, because that’s what will make them want to come back for more!
You can build your tribe by focusing on what’s important to them and giving them what they need:
- Generating value
- Giving them access to useful information
- Making yourself available
It’s just the beginning…
As you can see, there are a variety of ways that you can attract your ideal audience to give your business a chance. Regardless of the business you are working on, there will always be a few core pillars to building a scalable and sustainable business. If you build your startup around these pillars, no matter what, you will be successful. To sum it up after reading this article, go back to the basics and develop a great product that people really want to buy. Get passionate customers to go out of their way and refer your product, know who they are and continue doing whatever is necessary to make sure that they are 100% satisfied.