What is growth hacking?

is told Growth Hacking to the set of practices that a company can do to grow exponentiallyconsistently and quickly, with a combination of technology and data analytics.

It is about promoting the agile development of a business at low cost, with the resources that are already available. This implies exploiting creativity and for this it is necessary to know how to analyze data, understand the client, know the business and be aware of changes in the market.

It is a term that became fashionable with the appearance of startups and the publication of the book Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis in the US. It explains how the methodology works to grow and “hack” traditional marketing.

Hackers in digital marketing?

Yes, a “hack” refers to little tricks, shortcuts or techniques with which a person can do something in a more practical, better thought way.

For example, a hack of daily life is to put a colored cord on a suitcase to make it easier to distinguish it at the airport. A hacker, then, is the creative person who looks for these shortcuts to grow a company’s sales.

A case can be to use a coupon and say that it ends right now, to encourage the purchase with the sensation of scarcity. Other options are to create a referral system or relaunch an existing product as something new.

What are the advantages of growth hacking?

It is a very good option to grow quickly and cheaply, saving money and time.
It is much more flexible than traditional marketing. An experiment is tested and analyzed in a short time.

Use techniques with very little risk. An idea is first tested on a small scale and then scaled up if the action is successful. And there is no longer a high investment risk.

Everything is measured to ensure the reliability of the action. A Growth Hacker measures everything he does step by step.

The 4 phases of growth hacking

Growth Hacking is not only experimentation, it is development. You have to think about product, actions, evaluations and then scale. Generally, there are 4 defined stages where you have to focus.

Product Market Fit. It is the study of the product and the needs it covers within the market in which it is going to be inserted. That is why it is very important to know the target audience and what they are looking for.
Growth Hacks is the stage of experimentation. After thinking about the hypothesis, the actions that will validate, or not, the idea that prompted the changes in the product or communication are executed.
Scale / Viralization. In this phase, the aim is for the user to become a promoter of the product or service. Thus, growth happens in a more organic way, thanks to the help of word of mouth or the recommendation of users.
A good example of this is referral strategies, or referral programs, where we reward a user with a coupon for sharing our app.
Retention. It is the last stage and has to do with the user’s compliance with the product. If this happens, customers are retained and the entire growth hacking process is successful. It can be optimized and made into a task that can be repeated on a large scale.

Main growth hacking strategies

freemium actions

It is about giving away or offering part of your services for free. This strategy is widely used by SaaS companies, which offer software as a service. They make a part of the product available for free, and to access another feature, you need to pay.

Gamification

It is launched by offering points and rewards for the use of a product or service. For example, a virtual store that grants benefits such as free shipping after X number of purchases. Or savings on other products if the user exceeded a certain number of points for making more than one purchase per month.

Referral programs

This strategy is widely used in apps, such as travel apps. The idea is to give away money, or trips, to those who share the app among their contacts. If the person who shares converts another customer, they earn money for their next trip.

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contests

It is the classic strategy to take advantage of the viralization of social networks. It serves to make a brand known, but it does not always increase sales.

wow effect

This strategy consists of offering the best possible service and, with that, that each user is surprised. It can also be to offer an incredible, taking care of the client in every detail.

Sense of urgency

The famous “Buy Now!” A strategy that drives the purchase or acquisition of a service using the variable of time. For example, offering a discount if a service contract is made within the next 24 hours.

influencer marketing

An influencer with a million and a half followers can cause a brand to have a peak of visits to its page. With a good strategy and very good time management, great results can be achieved if we choose the right people as influencers.

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What does a growth hacker do?

A hacking professional collects, analyzes, interprets and acts creatively with a single goal: to grow. Generates hypotheses, based on market, product and user studies. It then runs tests to validate if it was correct or not. Throughout the process, measure, use analytical tools at every step.

A growth hacker is a person with a hybrid profile, who knows about and . That is, think analytically, but not structured, but on the contrary, it must be creative. Thinking “outside the box” is mandatory.

Growth hacking success stories

There are many success stories that you can use as inspiration for your brand. One of the most recognized is that of Uber, which, offering free trips and discounts for sharing the app, grew exponentially. Dropbox gave space to its users in exchange for sharing the tool to increase its user base.

Don’t think you can’t do the same as these mega-companies. You can do as Uber and give a coupon for your customers to share with their friends. Another option is to offer something free to promote your business, like Dropbox, but on a smaller scale.

Platforms like Facebook or Twitter grew incredibly at the time thanks to viralization and even for presenting themselves as exclusive networks. And you can also use the technique of viralization by creating excellent content on social media, it’s not easy, but it’s not impossible either!

The definition

Growth hacking is a process that involves creativity, data analysis, and marketing to grow a brand. Although the term “Hack” refers to a “shortcut”, it is not easy to find an action that makes a company grow 10 times more.

Growth is the result of the work of professionals who, starting from a hypothesis, propose rapid experiments to save time and money. If it’s successful, it scales, and it grows.