Growth Hacker – What is it?

A growth hacker can be defined as someone whose passion and focus is pushing a metric through use of a testable and scalable methodology.

The word “Growth Hacker” might seem like a new word to many people, but it is a practice that has been long held by the best Internet marketers and product managers in Silicon Valley. Mass media is gradually fading away in front of the onslaught of mass customisation and niche marketing on the web. This has resulted in marketing, as we have known it in the past 100 years, dying a fast death. People all around have way too much information at their disposal and have grown immune to most marketing techniques.

There is so much out there that it is drowning people and they will not pay attention to the next best thing, irrespective of how good it is. The main problem that faces every startup and every product is distribution.

In the age of Web 2.0, marketers needed a modern way to reach a market and distribute an idea. Growth hacking is a solution.

A growth hacker uses “pull” as opposed to classic marketing that usually interrupts the day of a customer. A growth hacker understands the behaviour of users and provides valuable insight that helps in persuading immediately. He tailors messages that become a part of the lives and thoughts of consumers. He will leverage across disciplines, pulling in insights from behavioural economics and gamification, in order to create (or find) the right message to pull people in.

A growth hacker will find a strategy within the parameters of a scalable and repeatable method for growth that is driven by product and inspired by data. The goals of a growth hacker use marketing’s base to be driven by product instincts. He will work within the product team but will have the technical knowledge required to implement his ideas.

A growth hacker’s core characteristic is creativity. He does not depend on SEO or adwords for distribution. Traditional marketing methods translate to a high cost for every customer acquired and low life time value because of high saturation. In an age when social media is paramount, having the right strategy for growth along with the right product – market fit will lead to massive distribution through viral media.

Every growth hacker wants to create a marketing machine that works by itself and reaches millions. All said, growth hacking is a process, and not a secret book of ideas. The growth strategies that worked for one product might not work for another. It is not instantaneous or overnight. It is, in fact, a mindset that you use to approach problems.

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