What is Growth Hacking?

“Growth hacking” is a termed coined in 2010 by Sean Ellis to describe a data-driven approach to marketing that has a very singular focus: growth.

Inspiration from the digital and tech worlds isn’t lost on anyone, but growth hacking is far from what you’d see in the hacker movies of the 90s. Instead of breaking and entering into a far off digital databases, this “hacking” actually refers to achieving a massive ROI boost on marketing tactics compared to the numbers achieved by traditional strategies.

The fundamental focus on growth is completely invaluable when you compare growth hacking ROI to that of traditional marketing. According to Michael Wight, growth hacking aims to achieve 20% growth for a product or startup while traditional methods fueled by big budgets and established brands typically see 5% in the same time frame.

You have to wonder: if the returns are that great, why doesn’t everyone do it? Well, the holistic perspective is key in growth hacking — and finding someone that can mindfully cover all the bases is actually very hard to do.

In his post, Ellis elaborates:

…the problem is that most startups try to hire for skills and experience that are irrelevant, while failing to focus on the essential few skills. Typical job descriptions are often laden with generic but seemingly necessary requirements like an ability to establish a strategic marketing plan to achieve corporate objectives, build and manage the marketing team, manage outside vendors, etc.

Essentially, those broad, general skill sets aren’t of immediate service to the fast-paced do-or-die lifespan of a startup. Enter growth hackers.

Ellis describes a growth hacker as:

…a person whose true north is growth.  Everything they do is scrutinized by its potential impact on scalable growth.

Growth hackers bridge traditional gaps between business, marketing and development teams to foster strategies focused solely on growth and aim all resources in the same direction. Combining a holistic perspective on the business with a need to quickly scale with measurable success, these digital vanguards are often catalysts for exceptional growth and scale in fresh startups. Of course, growth hacking tactics can apply to virtually any size of business willing to embrace a singular goal: to grow.

While the roots of growth hacking lie largely in marketing, we have to emphasize that the traditional marketing mentality doesn’t lead the charge here. Growth hacking leverages what we know about user behavior in the digital space to quickly optimize and capitalize on your best-performing outlets for gaining audience and conversions. In fact, the practice very much falls into lean marketing and lean startup methodologies; identify successes and invest in them while learning and pivoting where necessary.

What makes a good growth hacker is up for a bit of debate. Because growth hacking demands a holistic point of view, hackers are born from a number of backgrounds including both marketing and development. They frequently have some some technical experience but maintain the ability to think at a higher-level view of the business. While many believe that the ability to develop and an awareness of popular development languages is also a necessity, it’s not an absolute requirement. These growth-oriented roles are very much data-driven, however many say that these leaders are often right brained and creatively minded — fueling innovation to support and achieve, you guessed it, growth. Direct Spark highlights the differences between growth hackers and traditional marketers in a pretty spectacular infographic — take a look.

Looking for a Growth Hacker?

With a career spanning startup marketing, web development, design, lead generation and constant data analysis, I pretty much run the gamut on digital experience. If you’re looking for a holistic perspective to take your growth strategy to the next level, let’s talk.

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