Growth Hacking is the new king of Silicon Valley, and despite not wearing a crown, is already becoming the new profession in fashion within the online business world despite his youth.
It has only six years of history, but companies like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Dropbox or Airbnb have already begun to bet strongly on the technique and have achieved excellent results.
The reason is very simple:
is key to driving the growth of your business and if you think little, it meant that it is not free, but it is practically free.
We are talking about Growth Hacking , a new phenomenon that has spread rapidly in recent times and has been adopted as one of the main options for startups who want to win new customers and retain their existing customer base .
There are those who define Growth Hacking professionals – Growth Hackers – as growth hacks, others speak of them as mages of new technologies, and have people who call them oracles or online growth masters .
Anyway, if you have a business and you want to grow, then you need to incorporate Growth Hacking into your business (let’s face it, who does not want to see their business grow by investing only part of the budget?).
If you have reached this point in the article, you must have felt a little curious and you must be wondering exactly what Growth Hacking is. Yeah … you’re in luck! Because, let’s say exactly what this new concept is that is breaking paradigms and what are the 7 strategies that a good Growth Hacker should incorporate to increase the growth of a business and yes, of course we will also tell you how you can apply every step. Here we go?
Growth Hacking, or how to leverage online resources to help your business grow
Have you ever invited a friend to use Dropbox to get more space? Welcome to Growth Hacking !
That’s right, with attitudes as simple as this, you can quickly increase the amount of users, revenue or impact on your company . And what’s better: you can do this with a minimum of spending and effort to achieve better results than, for example, by inserting hundreds of banners on multiple pages over the web.
What exactly is Growth Hacking and what does a Growth Hacker do?
We could define it as a hybrid between programmer and digital marketing specialist who, in addition, combines analysis, creativity, marketing techniques , product improvement, curiosity, and social metrics . Everything with the goal of increasing the number of users of a startup, improve the conversions the brand presence.
The truth is that more and more people define technology as the marketing strategy of the 21st century . But, what is really its origin ?
The Growth Hacking concept was born on July 26, 2010, when Sean Ellis – who was also the first person in charge of growth for Dropbox – used the term for the first time in an article titled ” Find a Growth Hacker four your Startup ” Growth Hacker for your Startup “).
Ellis defines the Growth Hacker’s profile as ” a person whose true north is growth, ” and, indeed, since its first appearance the term has never ceased to be used; moreover, the concept itself is in full growth .
Every decision, strategy, tactic and initiative taken by a Growth Hacker is directly related to growth. This is your primary focus and your only goal.
From small changes in the purchase button to simple changes in sending emails campaigns, A / B tests in social networks or even changing the format of the images; Growth Hacker implements, tests and experiments, blending experience and data creativity to improve conversions.
Growth-Hacking
How to start implementing Growth Hacking in your company and what techniques can you start using to grow your business?
The truth is that the only limit is where the creativity of Growth Hacker ends. So let’s show you 7 Growth Hacking techniques that will increase your business growth.
7 techniques Growth Hacking that you wish you had known before
1. Create recommendation programs
It’s what we know ” recommend to a friend ” and its operation is very simple.
Basically:
It consists of offering customers some kind of reward, benefit or discount when they recommend the company to their friends whenever any of those who receive the recommendation register on the platform.
It is one of the most effective, simple and used techniques to obtain new clients and to retain the existing base.
A good example is Dropbox, which in its growth strategy has chosen to give more free storage space on the platform for each invitation accepted by its friends.
Detail: Thanks to this Growth Hacking growth technique , the number of Dropbox users has increased from 100,000 to 4,000,000 in just 15 months. Astonished? Wait until you try;). The fact is that more and more companies are implementing this technique and achieving great results
2. Surprise your customers
Who does not like to receive gifts or to feel special?
As a brand, you can also make your customers feel special , and this technique is exactly that, and although it is not widely used, it is one of the easiest to implement. Also: It always works!
It’s about offering users more than they expect, and asking nothing in return : you can make a post-sales call to find out what he thought of the product, send him a gift or even provide some service extra that had not been hired.
Your client will not only be very grateful, as it is very likely that if you offer something, without asking for anything in return, and end up talking about it in social networks, which immediately helps to improve your brand image, visibility and create a good reputation.
One company that implements this technique flawlessly is Hawkers , a Spanish company founded by four young people in 2013. It was exactly implementing this and other Growth Hacking techniques that went on to sell 1.6 million sunglasses in just two years .
3. Make shortage your best weapon
What would you do if you wanted to book a plane ticket and the page told you that there are only four seats available? Probably, if you have already decided the destination and the dates, end up reserving for fear of running out of place .
This is the psychological and persuasive technique , based on the sale of urgency , increasingly used by companies such as TicketMaster, Groupon or Booking .
It’s about selling a product or service and letting you know that only a few units or places are left available and informing you at the same time that other users may arrive before you to pressure the customer to close the deal before the product runs out.
For example, if you “put your hand in your pocket” and realize that you have money to pay for a beautiful holiday in the Maldives, always gives to go on Booking and book a hotel, but you better hurry … usually a warning appears that remain only a few rooms and better run not to miss the opportunity !
4. Take advantage of integration with social networks
If you need to register on a page to use a specific service, it is easier for you to do so if the page has the option to login with Facebook, Twitter or any other social network , rather than having to complete tooooodo the registration process from scratch – something that, by the way, is very annoying; and who did not have to do it hundreds of times ??
This Growth Hacking technique is based precisely on:
simplify the registration process on a specific page and have benefits with the databases of the social network through which the user registers.
There are more and more brands and companies that have chosen to bet on this system and facilitate registration or login using social networks .
You already know that one of our goals here at Postcron is to save the time of users using our platform to schedule their publications on social networks, so we can sign up through Facebook, Twitter or Google+
5. Conquer with Free Trials
The Freemium Vs. premium is used in more and more sectors, and the truth is that it gives very good results.
Its operation is very simple:
is to offer paid products or services, but give users the possibility to try it free for a certain time – freemium – so they then want to turn into premium once the free period or quantity has run out.
One of the best known examples is Spotify , however, there are more and more brands opting for this online strategy, such as Prezi , an online application for professional presentations that can be used without prior installation.
Although the economic plan costs almost 10 dollars, Prezi offers the possibility to try free for 14 days as you can see in the image below.
6. Create resources to attract customers
Imagine you need a guide to create your marketing plan and find one on the Internet. It’s free, but in return they ask for your email. You accept? The vast majority consent, as you know that this is a great technique of Growth Hacking.
You benefit from the content, they get your data and you automatically enter the company database and accept to keep future communications without feeling so invaded.
Mr. Wonderful, for example, a graphic design studio, every day publishes positive messages on the social and sells his products through the Internet. It is very common that they allow you to download images, backgrounds or other multimedia features to enhance your brand image and improve user satisfaction.
7. Make the most of the power of the contests
If you implement this tactic correctly, your company will not only grow, but will also do this in a way you could never believe .
The idea is to launch a contest or draw an attractive product for your community, with the condition that to participate is necessary to create some kind of interaction with the brand. It can be “likes” on Facebook, a RT on Twitter or Follow on Instagram.
To create contests and promotions you can use SocialTools.me , where in less than 5 minutes you can post your sweepstakes to Facebook , without having to create a design, program or invest resources, all while you increase the interaction with your fans.
And if you enjoy doing that with current news , better yet.
This is what the renowned brand Ron Barceló did when it took advantage of a very popular event in some areas of Spain (the “April Fair”) to raffle its products and increase the number of followers.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
