Have you heard of “growth hacking” and how it can help your business? It is a term that encompasses experimental marketing strategies that help clients increase their presence and reputation in the fastest possible way. The term was first used by the entrepreneur Sean Ellis in 2010. The companies that have proven the success of this strategy are many, but some of the most famous are: Airbnb, Dropbox and Hotmail.
Before telling you how these companies have reached their success, let’s present to you the 5 strategies to “growth hack” your business.
1.Encourage word of mouth.
There is nothing better than leaving your customers satisfied and them telling their loved ones about the product or service you offer. According to studies, 92% of people are willing to try a product or service if their friends recommend it to them. There is a very effective model that you can use. It will help you precisely by making your customers talk about your brand and recommend you to their relatives and friends. The model is known as the three “E’s” (Engage, Equip, Empower). “Engage” – hear what people are saying about your brand and become part of the communication. “Equip” – give people a reason to talk about your brand; learn what they like and emphasize that. “Empower” – create places where people have the opportunity to talk about what they like and don’t like about your services or products.
2.Create a blog.
Creating a blog where you upload content that resonates with your audience will help you boost traffic to your site. Studies show that about 56% of people have purchased a product or service from a site after reading a blog article from them.
3.Use Email Marketing.
Do you remember what we shared with you in the article “6 tips for successful email marketing” – each of your emails should have a clearly defined goal. A targeted email campaign can increase your sales. Create your emails so that people will want and need to forward them to their loved ones, which will help you to encourage word of mouth.
4.Showcase your customers.
A very successful way to get people to trust you is to show the opinion of your existing customers about your products. Think about how to encourage them to share their experiences with your products or services, and then share that content on your channels in the most authentic way possible.
5.Implement a “Referral” program.
Once you’ve gotten people talking about you and trusting you with the strategies mentioned above, you need to keep them. One way to keep them is to consider a referral program. Let it aim at stimulating your loyal customers to recommend your brand to new potential customers. It’s a good idea to reward program participants in some way like discounts or free trials of new products or services your business offers.
Now that you know the 5 marketing strategies that are present in growth hacking, let’s look at how the companies mentioned above are what they are because of it:
When they were still in their beginning, Dropbox, for example, grew their customers from 100,000 to 4 million within 15 months solely because they provided free mail space to their customers if they connected their social networks to Dropbox.
Airbnb, in turn, sent automated emails to people who had uploaded their homes on a platform similar to theirs, Craigslist, in order to win them over to upload their homes on their platform.
The strategy used by Hotmail was a little more unconventional, but successful. What they decided to do was to put a footer on every email sent from their platform that said “P.P. I love you. Send free emails through Hotmail.”
However distinct the strategies that the above mentioned companies may be, they have certainly proven to be successful because they are attracting many customers in a short amount of time, which is actually the advantage of “growth hacking” . If you want to have the same or similar success that these companies have achieved, consider implementing the 5 strategies we shared with you.
In implementing them, you will certainly need professional help or advice, in that case, do not hesitate to contact us.
Antoana Bakalova – Copywriter