Accelerate Your Business With These Proven Growth Hacking Strategies
As a solo marketing consultant, I'm always working to help small businesses grow and scale as quickly as possible. And one of the approaches I recommend is Growth Hacking.
Small businesses are usually open to trying new and creative ideas. I mean, in today's business world, who wouldn't be, right? With so many players in the market, you need to find a way to stand out and that's where Growth Hacking comes in. Growth Hacking is all about being creative and relying on data. It's about trying new ideas and being open to change. If you are a small business looking to grow, it's definitely worth considering. While being data-driven has been always credited to e-commerce businesses, many other types of businesses can collect data from their websites, social media and personal interactions to be able to segment it, interpret it, and create successful strategies. Let's work together to make it happen!
Here are some tips for small businesses looking to implement growth hacking strategies:
Decide and agree on the key metrics. They will help define what success looks like for your business. Here are examples of data metrics to plan for:
Increasing website traffic, which means keeping your brand awareness growing
Lowering Customer Acquisition Cost
Increasing Conversion Rate
Increasing Engagement Rate (likes, comments, shares)
Lowering Bounce Rate, which is when a viewer leaves your website after only visiting one page.
Once you know what you're working towards, you can track your progress and make data-driven decisions.
2. Get Creative with Communication and Distribution Channels.
Small businesses looking to grow quickly should consider unconventional methods of reaching their target audience, rather than relying solely on traditional paid advertising. To tap into the creative potential of your team and find innovative solutions, consider hosting a company-wide brainstorming session.
If a weekend retreat or professional facilitator is not an option, facilitate the session yourself. Assign a specific metric to each team, and encourage them to come up with as many ideas as possible during dedicated sessions or breaks. All ideas, no matter how crazy, should be written down and displayed for everyone to see and think about.
Through this collaborative process, you can combine, modify, and build upon each other's ideas until a clear vision emerges. This approach not only leverages the collective expertise of your team but also serves as a great team-building exercise. By participating in the solution-finding process, employees will feel more connected to the company's goals and motivated to work towards them.
3. Play Around with Pricing Strategies. Small businesses often have the advantage of being able to experiment with various pricing tactics, so make the most of that opportunity. Limited-time discounts, "buy 2 get 1 FREE" deals, clearance sales, and other promotions can be effective in boosting short-term sales. However, it's important to keep in mind that offering constant discounts may undermine the value of your brand.
If your goal is to expand your customer base, instead of simply clearing out inventory, be mindful not to run discounts too often. In some cases, raising prices can also be a viable strategy.
4. Focus on customer acquisition: While it's important to retain customers, acquiring new ones is critical for growth. Consider offering a free trial or a money-back guarantee to entice people to try your product or service.
Discover a Blue Ocean Market.
Every business owner dreams of finding a blue ocean market - the untapped potential of customers who haven't even considered your product or service yet. While this may sound like a desirable goal, it's not a simple feat to achieve.
Bear in mind that there are people out there who may never have considered your offering simply because you never reached out to them. To tap into the blue ocean, you need to tailor your product to appeal to this untapped market.
The key to success is to strike the right balance between functionality and emotion. If your product is functional but lacking emotional appeal, add a touch of emotion to it. On the other hand, if it's purely emotional, consider adding more functional features to it.
Some may say that Blue Ocean is not a Growth Hack strategy, because it is not purely data-based. But I disagree. Blue Ocean is a growth strategy and it is a “hack” in a way, that’s for sure! For more about this strategy, read the book "Blue Ocean Strategy" by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. The concept of "Blue Ocean" strategy refers to creating new market spaces or "blue oceans" instead of competing in existing, crowded markets or "red oceans". This strategy is data-driven in the sense that it involves researching and analyzing market trends, customer needs and preferences, and competition to identify new market opportunities. However, it also incorporates elements of creativity, innovation, and vision to create something new and unique that sets a company apart from the competition. So, while Blue Ocean is not purely data-driven, it still has a strong data component and can be considered a growth strategy and a hack in the sense that it seeks to drive growth by disrupting existing markets and creating new ones.
5. Monitor your progress: As you implement growth hacking strategies, make sure to track your progress and adjust your approach as needed. The key is to be flexible and willing to pivot when necessary. There are great ways to interpret your collected data, determined and look deeper into segments, find surprising trends that you never thought existed, and design personal approaches for each cluster of customers or potential customers to increase repeat purchases and lower the dreaded Customer Acquisition or Customer Retention Costs.
Growth hacking can be a game-changer for small businesses, but it requires a willingness to take risks and experiment. By focusing on customer acquisition, getting creative with distribution, and tracking your progress, you can achieve rapid growth and take your business to the next level.
