What you need to know to growth hack like a pro. Growth hacking is a relatively new term on the marketing landscape, but if you’re looking for serious growth on the cheap, it could be worth a shot. It can be seen as part of the online marketing ecosystem, as in many cases, growth hackers are using techniques such as search engine optimisation, website analytics, content marketing and A/B testing to actually fuel fast growth of their business. Startups love this approach, because it allows for a ‘lean’ launch that focuses on growth first, and budgets second. While there’s a broad reluctance among consumers to sign up to almost anything on a website these days, clever growth hacking can nudge consumers down the sales funnel. By December 1997 (18 months after the company launched), Hotmail had 12 million users. Bosco Tan, co-founder of Australian startup Pocketbook has been open with the media about the deliberate growth hacking strategies his team have used to grow the business from zero to 77,000 users in two years. South Australian content strategy firm Brutal Pixie is just about to launch its own growth hack experiment that it hopes will fuel growth. Content strategist Leticia Mooney explains the firm’s plans to release the Pixie Annual, which is an annual report in an A6 format filled with stories, commentary and is beautifully designed. “First, test your idea.
Growth hacking is a relatively new term on the marketing landscape, but if you’re looking for serious growth on the cheap, it could be worth a shot.
In today’s competitive environment growth hacking isn’t something anyone in business can overlook, particularly if you’re keen to slash your marketing budget.
Growth hacking is a marketing technique developed by tech startups trying to compete with bigger players but it’s got the attention of businesses of all shapes and sizes interested in making a big splash.
Clever growth hackers think outside the box. They focus on low-cost and innovative alternatives to traditional marketing, such as social media and viral marketing, instead of committing big marketing budgets to fuel their growth.
Some of the best and brightest businesses in the world have utilised growth hacking – including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Airbnb and Dropbox in recent years – not to mention a number of Australian startups working behind the scenes to scale their business.
Meet the growth hackers
The term “growth hacker” was first introduced in a blog post by startup marketing blogger Sean Ellis in 2010. He summarised a growth hacker as “a person whose true north is growth”, who is disciplined in prioritising and testing marketing ideas, and religiously analysing results to see which tactics work the best and should be scaled out further.
Growth hacking typically uses a combination of creativity, analytical thinking and social metrics to sell products and gain exposure. It can be seen as part of the online marketing ecosystem, as in many cases, growth hackers are using techniques such as search engine optimisation, website analytics, content marketing and A/B testing to actually fuel fast growth of their business.
Startups love this approach, because it allows for a ‘lean’ launch that focuses on growth first, and budgets second.
Growth hacking has been borne out of a massive shift in consumer behaviour. While there’s a broad reluctance among consumers to sign up to almost anything on a website…
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