One of the most amazing things about Digital Marketing is that its an extremely dynamic field. What we mean by dynamic here is that it is always subject to constant updates, whether those updates have to do with Googles algorithm updates over the years or different techniques being discovered that yield better results.
One of the relatively new concepts in the field of digital marketing is Growth Marketing. Growth Marketing or Growth hacking as it’s otherwise known, Unlike traditional Marketing & Account-based Marketing, takes a different approach in terms of where and how it focuses its Marketing Effort.
Noticing the increasing popularity the subject of Growth marketing and what it is we decided that its high time we tackle this highly Polarizing Subject. In our blog post, we will be Defining what growth marketing is, is Importance, Application styles & success cases & studies from real-life businesses, so get your curiosity on and let’s dive into all that is Growth Marketing.
1) Definition of Growth Marketing
One of the best ways to define Growth Marketing or Growth Hacking is to identify what it’s not. According to an article written on Drift.com, Growth Marketing is a form of marketing where the Focus is spread throughout all the stages of the Funnel
Sounds complicated, right? well sometimes the best way to identify something and its unique characteristics, is to define its close similar.
Unlike in traditional Marketing or account-based marketing, where then first one focuses on the Top of the Funnel & your already existing customers while the latter focuses on a couple of key accounts, growth marketing focuses on the Whole Funnel & creating long term brand advocate customers.
If the Jedi of Star Wars are the Protectors of the Balance of the force, then that makes Growth Marketers the Data-Driven and constant innovators & testers of Digital Marketing who focus always strive to find ways to gain customers, keep them engaged, retain them and eventually take the to Brand Advocate status
Another Definition of growth Marketing which kind of sums it up, According to Clevertrap.com, Is a Data-Driven marketing approach that Optimizes its results through testing and whom also closely work & collaborate with the other departments of the business.
2) Are Growth Marketing hacking the same thing?
Wheel the answer is both yes & No, lets elaborate on that answer, shall we?, So let’s start with defining what is Growth Hacking. As defines by Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown in their book “Growth hacking” is the approach of market growth through high-speed & Cross-Functional experimentation.
So by comparing the definitions of each term we can initially deduct that although Growth marketing does borrow from some of the aspects of Growth hacking, there not the same thing.
The First focuses on rapidly acquiring market share while the latter focuses on obtaining high-quality leads and nurturing the relationship from every part of the funnel, elevating them to the status of Brand advocates.
To further clarify that gap here are some of the Similarities & differences between the two approaches:
Similarities:
- Both have the same end goal, which is to achieve rapid growth, sustain & Build upon it by acquiring new customers, activating them, retaining them & monetizing the process
- Their Success depends on their accessibility to both quantitative and qualitative data.
- Both Strategies depend on the Agile Sprint module approach as it allows them enough room for experimentation, analysis and iteration.
- Both share the same precondition, which is that the Product has to be good enough for the strategy to work.
Differences:
- Brand Orientation:
Growth Hackers don’t care much for the Brand while Growth marketers are all about it. This mainly has to do with what each of them focus on, as Growth hackers are usually on the lookout for both tactics and channels that give perfect attribution.
Growth Marketers or a growth marketing team, however, would, focus on building and constructing a consistent experience and brand that aligns with there target customer and pushes them to the brand advocate level
- Speed of growth:
Growth Hackers if given the choice to pick rapid or sustained growth, will choose rapid almost every time, while the Growth marketeer would choose the sustainable one.
To take increasing website conversion as an example to the different approaches. For a growth hacker, he would go through all the technical steps and pre-required analysis and data collections flawlessly.
Once done with all of that and its time to take a decision he will choose the channel that will let him more conversions instantly so he might prefer a paid ad alternative over an organic
Alternatively, unlike the Growth marketeer who will look what’s best on the long run and will make the customer stick around and eventually be a brand ambassador, even if the results take a longer time.
- Orientation differences:
For Growth Hackers, technology is the name of the game, or as Andrew Chen stated it in his piece about his piece on Growth Hackers, rather than a VP of marketing with a bunch on non-technical marketers reporting to him, Growth hackers are engineers leading teams of engineers.
Growth hackers on the other side are all about customer obsession and business strategists. They are also the ones who would answer questions like who our best customer is, what category does your product fall under…….etc.
In short, Growth Hackers are cost likely to be the keepers of all that is a business and qualitative related while Growth Hackers are keepers of the technical and the numerical.
In any case, for your business to truly thrive, you will need a healthy of both Growth hacking & Growth marketing,
3) Importance of Growth Marketing
Some of you might say so what’s the big deal, although traditional marketeers usually are not very number reliant or operate on all the levels of the funnel or Buyers Journey, they still use Data right?. Well not quite.
The importance of a Growth marketing or a Growth Marketing Strategy & Growth Hacking alike is that they allow you to reach a deep and customer-centrist understanding of nit just the customer’s needs, but also how your products can best address those needs.
Another importance of these two practices is that the more time passes the more is does providing quality content alongside a message that helps people identify with you product, is becoming more essential. And necessary that it ever was before.
Last but not least the Fact that growth marketing, unlike traditional marketing, works on all the levels of the funnel or customers journey, through creating relevant and constant engagement & with the end goal of creating brand advocates is no longer an option or a must.
Last but not least the type of customers that the strategy aims to create are most likely to be the ones that drive 80% or more of your income or revenue.
This is called the 80/20 rule or the Pareto principle, which when apple to your business would mean that 80% of your revenue comes from only 20% of your customer base, now where do you thing your mot loyal customers lie in that equation.
4) Case studies
We’ve discussed everything about Growth marketing, its definition, similarities and differences with Growth hacking & Why it’s important. All of that is fine and dandy but nothing sells better than a real-life case study expressing the success of growth marketing. So without further ado here are some case studies:
- Zoom:
Zoom, once another Video call and conferencing service, now a household name and the go-to medium for meetings, social video calls among others.
It wouldn’t be fair to summarize the amazing outcomes and results that zoom achieved purely to growth Marketing & Growth hacking, but it surely was a considerable part of it. Here are some numbers to put things in perspective:
- Since 2.March 2020 first time installations of Zooms mobile app have skyrocketed by a great 728%.
- According to its fourth-quarter fiscal earning reports Its customer & user base has grown to 81,900 firms with more than 10 employees, which represents a 61% increase in revenue growth since last year.
Zoom achieved this through three strategy elements, a mix of both Growth market and Growth Hacking strategies which were:
- Being customer-driven & integrating it into the Company’s DNA.
- Building a self-selling product
- Not being afraid to splurge when it comes to Brand Building.
- WeWork:
Imagine a co-working space Project is currently the second most valuable private company in the U.S. chances are that most of you out there haven’t been to one of the company’s co-working spaces.
The WeWork experience is surely an amazing one, its a story about a private business that started with a single building, a dream, and a feeling that an undeserved entrepreneurial spirit is at hand. Here are some interesting Numbers:
- WeWork operates in five hundred more office spaces across 32 countries, with 100 offices just in New York
- WeWork was evaluated at a whopping 47 billion, effectively making it the second most valuable private company in the U.S
- Between 2016 & 2017, WeWorks revenue jumped from 436 M$ to 886 M$, and then to an amazing 1.8 B$ in 2018
How WeWork achieved this amazing foot is by building there strategy around 4 main pillars:
- Don’t Just Sell a product, sell a vision.
- Have a Global mindset.
- Grow with your customers.
- Build a culture that supports rapid growth.
In conclusion, the examples of how following a well thought out and well-studied plan that combine both the strategies of Growth Marketing & Growth Hacking are many.
Some examples of the impact of these strategies and how it can benefit a business are Zoom. WeWork, Glossier, Zapiers & Eventbrite. All in all one look at these real-life cases is enough to make you consider checking out and applying such strategies, which is one of the beautiful things about digital marketing, the never ending chance to discover & experiment more.
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