How To Harness A Growth Hacking Approach To Business

These days, it often seems as though many new bootstrap businesses aren’t really paying enough attention to their marketing methods. Most new entrepreneurs will automatically head down the traditional paths, without really checking to see whether what they are doing is the best option. To really sell, you need to focus on what actually works for your business, which is not necessarily what has worked before. The answer could lie in the new marketing practice known as growth hacking: a quantifiable approach to boosting business sales.

What Growth Hacking Isn’t 

Anyone coming to the subject of growth hacking for the first time might be excused for believing that it is little more than hype. 

Sure enough, the marketing world is not exactly short on its overused annoying buzz-words, and at first glance this might seem to just be another trend. But it seems that growth hacking might be different, and to understand why we first need to look at what it’s really all about. 

When it was first coined in 2010, growth hacking was defined as a means of marketing in which ‘the true north is growth,’ and it is this which remains centrally true to the approach today. Essentially, we are talking about a kind of marketing which focuses solely, or primarily, on the subject of growth first and foremost. When executed properly and professionally, this means that your business can expect to see much greater results from its marketing campaigns, in real quantifiable figures. The focus on growth above all else has led to a number of specific new marketing methods, which are working their magic for a number of businesses across the globe. But what are they? 

Redefining The Product 

Growth hackers understand the changing world of business as it is affected by the Internet; in particular, the way in which the Web is altering the notion of the product. Traditional marketers knew well what they were talking about when they spoke of product - but those same people might well be a little confused in the current climate. But any digital marketing agency specializing in growth hacking is likely to have a good sense of what the product actually is today.

Central to this new understanding is the idea that many intangible goods - software, websites, data - are products. Because the product is being redefined so drastically and dramatically, it means that it can now play a large role in its own development. If you look into the most successful business ventures of the Internet era, you are essentially looking at the story of product boosting itself. Twitter works on a marketing and growth level because, by its very nature, it demands to be shared. Thus, it influences its own rate of growth. This is growth hacking at its best and most devious - but is it possible for any business to make good use of this recent and powerful trend in marketing? 

Action-Based & Number-Driven 

The reason growth hacking works so well is because it essentially cuts out a lot of the rubbish associated with more traditional forms of marketing. For the growth hacker, all that matters is what works, on a real quantifiable level. This action-based and number-driven process means that you won’t be wasting time on marketing which is essentially just throwing all your efforts at a wall and hoping something will stick. Instead, you create actionable goals with real purpose, and constantly check the data to ensure that what you are doing is the most sensible and direct approach.

The goals are important, as they essentially act as a kind of anchor for the data along the way. You need to be able to say whether you have achieved your specific goals or not, as otherwise you are slipping into the more traditional marketing problems which you’re hoping to avoid. 

But just as vital is what you do with the data you receive. You will need to introduce and implement strong analytical systems in order to really make sense of it all. Fortunately, most of the best agencies can do all that hard work for you. The point is, having the analytics means that your specific goals now have specific value - and that is what gives growth hacking its unique kind of marketing power. Not only do you know where you’re going, but you have the map to get you there. 

Knowing Your Worth 

Hacking, in this sense, means working in the most diligent and effective way possible in order to bring about the desired result. This usually means that you will need to be aware of what is working and what is not. The best place to start with that is to figure out what it is that you are already excelling at. Chances are, you already have specific strengths within your business. If you are to hack your business’ growth in this way, you need to effectively leverage those strengths in such a way as to bring about your goals as fast as possible. This is a case of utilizing what you have, rather than trying to manufacture what you really don’t. And it works.

Continual Optimization 

A common hurdle for the newbie growth hacker is when they come to realize that they have not seen the kind of growth they expected at first try. There is no much positive hype around growth hacking that it is easy to forget that it’s no magic bullet - there’s no such thing. It does, however, comes quite close - as long as you are persistent. 

You are unlikely to achieve your wildest business goals on the first try - but part of the beauty of growth hacking is that you take your data from your first attempt, and use it to optimize your approach. It is this continual optimization, more than anything, which constitutes growth hacking as the powerful marketing force it really is. 

Get Growing

Growth should be the number one goal for your business - and growth hacking is essentially just a way of ensuring that you keep it that way. Consider this if you are looking for a way to turn your business into something much greater.

I hope you enjoyed this article about quantifying the popular marketing approach infamously known as growth hacking.

Interested in more articles about growing your business?

Read My Blog Posts:

- How To Boost Your Sales Performance 

- The Importance Of Lead Generation In The Sales Process

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