Are Growth Marketing and Growth Hacking the same thing?
There is therefore a close relationship between Growth Marketing and Growth Hacking, to the point that many commentators consider the two expressions interchangeable. There is certainly a commonality of purpose, approach and origin, which dates back to 2010, when Sean Ellis founded – precisely – GrowthHackers.
The principle behind Growth Hacking, which not surprisingly found its initial application only in the world of startups, is to develop and apply innovative marketing techniques that determine significant, fast and low-cost business growth. In a context where timing and experimentation are central, teams focus on one or a few key metrics and specific channels, conducting experiments and testing hypotheses without fear of changing approach until optimal results are achieved.
Growth Marketing applies this methodological approach to the entire customer journey , from awareness to nurturing. It is therefore a holistic orientation that contrasts with any barriers and corporate silos, focusing on the entire funnel and not only on acquisition, but also on engagement and retention. In other words, Growth Marketing aims to perfect the entire customer journey with innovative and data-driven solutions, whose effectiveness is supported by continuous experimentation and analytical capacity.
Cross-functional teams, data analysis and continuous testing
Thanks to a practical and holistic approach at the same time, Growth Marketing aims to solve some typical problems of corporate marketing, such as the lack of cross-collaboration between teams and the difficulty in measuring the real effectiveness of campaigns, tactics, strategies and specific activities .
Growth marketing proposes the formation of cross-functional teams , in order to break down the barriers between product, marketing and sales, but also constant data analysis aimed at identifying customer behaviour and, last but not least, the continuous development and testing of new ideas and innovative approaches, all punctuated by well-defined cycles and frameworks .
The 4 pillars (or steps) of Growth Marketing
How to adopt, then, an innovative methodology like Growth Marketing? Given the natural differences between one context and another, we can identify 5 fundamental elements, or steps.
Design and implement a growth strategy
Growth Marketing is not a series of experiments aimed at france whatsapp number data 5 million discovering the “secret” of growth for your company, but is based on the application of a solid and articulated strategy . It starts with the definition of the objectives, the framework, the main KPIs, the tactics and ideas to test to reach, in an appropriate timeframe, the set objectives. This is followed by the definition of the hypotheses, the tests, the data analysis and the possible resumption of the cycle for the testing and validation of new hypotheses.
Relying on a growth framework
To address such a broad topic, it is essential to have a solid methodological structure that guides teams on their growth path.
Among the different methodologies available, high tempo testing deserves a mention , whose peculiar characteristic is the frequency with which experiments are launched within a continuous process, aimed at exponential growth. Alternatively, teams could decide to follow another growth framework (or funnel): AARRR! , which goes through the entire customer journey and consists of the phases of Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue and Referral.
Correctly define the conversions to track
Teams focus on a few but significant conversion metrics, so they can monitor them in a timely and analytical way, without wasting time and energy on secondary KPIs: for example, they could focus on conversions from visitors to customers, from trials to paying users, number of daily visits and so on.
Use the right software
There is no Growth Marketing without one or more tools that can provide marketers with the information they need and the automation they require along all stages of the funnel. Some of these are A/B Testing tools , social listening tools, market intelligence tools, marketing automation tools, analytics tools and many others.
