What does the Growth Hacking technique consist of?

A new mindset for the implementation of marketing strategies which essentially aims at the growth of a business was born: Growth Hacking.

Several stratups that are part of the global ecosystem such as AirBnB, LinkedIn or Facebook have adopted this technique in order to achieve their marketing objectives, for example for lead generation, to increase traffic, to improve brand visibility, in short to increase their growth at a lower cost.

What is Growth Hacking?

On the initiative of this technique, in 2010, Sean Ellis used Growth Hacking to develop the business of Dropbox. This notion aligns the marketing strategy, the sales and the vision of the company in order to increase its performance. Business leaders from different business sectors are using innovative solutions for their extensions in order to gain even more market share.

The unifying nature of clients is the very foundation of GH according to Sean Ellis. His idea is based on the fact that in a marketing approach, the customer is a major player. This materializes when the latter gives his opinion on a product or service or advice to potential customers in the purchasing process. A company turns to innovative solutions by leveraging its community in order to gain a competitive advantage.

The functions of the Growth Hacker

Le Growth Hacker does not have a typical profile or specific diploma and can operate alone or in a team. The ultimate stake in its missions is to strengthen the growth of a business thanks to digital tools, primarily the reputation of the brand and the development of traffic. He must put in place a prospecting strategy that quickly gives results for the marketing of a newly launched product or to give new perspectives to a startup. It must arm itself with two marketing levers: communication and innovation.

It was initially solicited only by startups, but gradually even large groups are calling on Growth-Hackers to quickly seize a new market or when putting a new product on sale.

The tasks of the Growth-Hacker are generally short-term, but they can take on a long-term project. Its activities can revolve around:

• Le SEO
• Web data analysis
• Le Web development
• La online advertising
• Le community management
• E-mailing campaigns
• Crowdfunding
• Innovation

Growth Hacking in France

Growth Hacking's first platform is growthhacking.com, in 2012. Growth France on Slack was created after a short period housing a space for discussion, a blog and a section dedicated to job search in marketing .

2013, will underline the gradual appearance of the term GH in France, subsequently it widened throughout the European market where the demand for Growth Hacker positions began to be felt. Indeed, since that year, the subject is in vogue on Google Trends.

The components of the AARRR

The AARRR marketing funnel represents a work methodology based on the prospecting funnel. This method is made up of 5 key phases which we will detail below. The mission of the Growth Hacker consists in deploying different techniques in order to improve the accomplishment of each stage of the AARRR, namely: Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Income.

The acquisition

At this stage, it is the AARRR framework for acquiring quality traffic. The role of the Growth Hacker is in charge of studying the acquisition channels and choosing the one that guarantees the best expansion to the company. To remedy this, he must pass tests on all online and offline channels, the motivation being to bring as many prospects as possible to the website. Social media platforms, SEO, e-mailing campaigns, inbound marketing can generate traffic on the company's website.

activation

At this stage, a potential customer is already on the company's website consulting products and / or services. The goal is that he spends as much time as possible there, that he is interested in the content and of course that he takes action. Visitors should be encouraged to download a white paper, register for the newsletter or create an account on the site. A first satisfaction with a service or a product will build customer loyalty.

Retention

This principle consists of keeping a customer active on the site so that he regularly consults the site and takes actions. Growth Hacking will motivate prospects and the technique acts directly on the products. There is the possibility of posting special offers from time to time. This phase is based on scenario building and task automation. The use of tools like Mailchimp, Intercom or Zapier, is essential.

The recommendation

This recommendation step or also called referral can be done after or before the income step, depending on the type of your business.

When you market products, the first step is income. On the other hand, if your products are free, in this case it is rather the referral because the income strategy is more delicate and requires more time.

Each brand has prescribers, affiliate links through social networks play an important role. Customers are now ambassadors who will get people talking about your brand. Positive feedback is an excellent indicator of growth. This highlights customer satisfaction with the company's services or products.

All Hacks represent alterations around the 5 cycles of the AARRR funnel. There are two ways of perceiving this framework: from the business side and from the end customer side. For the latter, the routing always follows its initial need:

• Identification of the need
• Study of available offers
• Selection of the most suitable offer if necessary
• Passage to the act of purchase
• Testing of products and / or services

If a customer is reassured, he will credit your company's services. Then in the long run, if a certain confidence sets in, he will make a habit of calling on your business and he will become loyal to the brand. He will then naturally recommend you to his network and defend your brand. From the customer's point of view, the process is defined in 7 stages: perceive, select, buy, test, credit, accustom, recommend.

The optimization of each level of the customer journey relies on the Growth-Hacker in order to make it a viral loop with an exponential rise.

• Awakens: Detection of the problem
• Find out: Understanding the solutions that meet the needs
• Filter: Evaluation of market offers
• Accepted: Passage to the act of purchase (or others depending on the business model)
• Familiarize yourself with: Getting acquainted with the service
• Valid: Estimation of results
• Build loyalty: Transformation of need into necessity
• Recommend: Recommendation from the client to their community
• Defends: Conversion of the client into a brand prescriber

Income

The prospect turns into a customer the moment he generates money for the company. He can order a product or request a service or upgrade to a premium version. Not only is the income generated important, but also the frequency of purchase should not be neglected.

Digital marketing and Growth Hacking are two complementary disciplines. There are many GH processes that can be used to accelerate digital transformation.

Why use an agency that uses growth hacking?

The technique of growth hacking is taking an increasingly important place in the world of marketing strategy. This technique, which boosts the growth of companies using digital technology, places customer knowledge at the center of actions. The goal ? Take it from prospect to customer.

In order to implement this innovative technique and obtain the best results, it is therefore necessary to know what is the technique of growth hacking and have control over it. For this, it is easier to call on an agency specialized in this field.

Indeed, a growth hacking agency masters, of course, perfectly all the notions of marketing, but it is also an expert in analytics and programming. She can help you take the necessary actions to increase the growth of your business. The role of a growth hacking agency also consists in helping you to define your objectives, to precisely identify your target and also to monitor your competitors. 

In addition, expertise in SEO is a mandatory part of the skills of a growth hacker (optimization of keywords, creation of links if necessary, etc.). Indeed, it is not a question of organizing one-off operations, but of attracting and retaining the customer over the long term.