“Growth Marketing is the process of designing and conducting experiments to optimize and improve the results of a target area. If you have a certain metric you want to increase, growth marketing is a method you can utilize to achieve that.” (source)
Growth marketing has been deemed as “marketing 2.0” by experts in the space. It is an expansion of traditional marketing that puts on the experimental lenses to dive deeper into the metrics that matter.
Traditional Marketing vs. Growth Marketing
Traditional marketing views campaigns as a ‘one and done’. Focusing each campaign to a primary KPI to determine its success.
Some popular techniques include:
- Google AdWords utilizing the same keyword without expansion and testing
- Email Blasts
- Discounting or Sales Promotions
Have they worked to drive results? Yes. That is why it’s been around for such a long time. Will they sustain growth over time? That’s no.
When you are not evolving your strategy and adapting to the shifts within consumer interests and buying behavior you will see your campaigns diminish results over time.
Now, growth marketers hold true to an experimental mindset to test different channels and strategies to harvest data that will allow them to optimize within incrementally.
Some perks to this approach:
- Allocate your budget to the right channels
- Utilize your budget more efficiently
- Become laser-focused in your messaging
- Discover new niche audiences
- Understand your best clients to turn-a-round and attract more like them
What is a Growth Marketer?
Well like myself, a growth marketer is one who has immersed themselves into multiple channels and areas of marketing to come out the other side with a diverse skill set.
Growth marketers are:
- Data-Driven – gut instinct is not a strategy
- Story-Tellers – extracting both a quantitative and qualitative understanding of the data
- Viewed as ‘hackers’ due to their varied skills
- See ‘failed campaigns’ as a success because they are architected to extract valuable data
- Aligned for SaaS
We focus on the outcome/product to drive the evolution of the strategy. Similar to SaaS (educating folks to a product they don’t understand) we must continue to enlighten our clients to a complex form of marketing and change their perspective.
Why is the Full-Funnel Associated with Growth Marketing?
In true marketing form, you will see MANY versions of the funnel, but the bigger picture to grasp here is that we are moving away from top-of-funnel tactics. While awareness campaigns that lean into PPC strategy can generate leads in the beginning, and in my opinion are a good place to start for data if you are a newcomer, they are one piece of a larger strategy.
When we bring it up to 10,000 ft and review this funnel our goal is to attract, convert, create, and retain engaged customers. Growth marketers want to dive deeper into understanding not only how to generate your leads but rather how to generate you the potential clients that will retain your business.
Core Tactics of a Growth Marketing Strategy
Metrics that one will see benchmarking success include, but are not limited to, customer acquisition rates, conversion rates, customer retention rates, and customer lifetime value.
- A/B Testing
- Cross-Channel Marketing
- Life-Cycle Marketing
Each tactic above is worthy of its own article which we will break down in the future.
What Companies are Best Suited for Growth Marketing?
I believe this methodology is industry agnostic with a special alignment to SaaS and the complexity that comes with that particular vertical. Growth marketing is best suited for clients that are looking to expand their marketing strategy beyond quick leads. Clients that have evolved their understanding of traditional marketing metrics such as SOV, Impressions, and even Conversion Rate, to seek an understanding of the “right customer” for their product or service.
Company “types” that come to my mind:
- Software as a Service
- Platform as a Service
- AI as a Service
- Companies seeking to build loyalty
- Companies seeking to build a referral marketing strategy
- Companies ready to push beyond traditional marketing to see what the data will lead them to
Conclusion
Growth marketing is here to stay and it will only continue to advance in tandem with technology. If you are looking for a free assessment to see if you are a good fit for this methodology, schedule a chat with us
