Growth hacking has become a mainstream form of marketing products, and is especially beloved by smaller companies who are short on financial resources but want to get creative with how they bring in users. Used by both startups and enterprises, finding a technique that works can be tricky when you first begin. Despite its out-of-the-box nature, it takes a lot of strategizing to get right, but can be extremely beneficial.
These techniques are just some of the routes you can opt to try out as you jump into growth hacking. While each one provides a great blueprint, take the time to observe the impact a certain idea has and optimize it from there to get the best results. Once you find your place, your strategy can evolve to match its ever-changing audience landscape.
Utilize Freebies to Bring People In
It’s hard to turn something down that’s literally being given away, so offering something for free is a great way to draw people in. Whether it’s a product sample, a free trial, or some extra gift that comes with each order, users are more likely to give you a chance if they can already see their return on investment before making a purchase.
You can also create larger scale special events, like social media giveaways, that encourage people to spread the word about your company and bring you to a wider audience. These are a great way to get users excited and put your brand’s messaging to work, which is a must-do if you want to solidify your presence.
Go Local
Smaller events with less reach are often written off as not worth the effort, but growth hacking thrives on making use of every possible avenue of traffic. While it’s possible that you won’t get as many new users per function, the ones that you do will have a face-to-face first impression of your company that can’t be beat.
If there’s an on-brand event in your area that gets you in front of your target audience, don’t hesitate to represent your company there and lock in users that you’ve made an offline connection with.
Stand Out on Social Media
While some social media platforms are flooded with products and make it difficult to stand out, try to find channels that aren’t as mainstream and make your impact there. With less competition, it’s more likely that potential customers will be driven to your page, and that gives you a great opportunity for exposure. It also helps you build a community from your audience, which also helps grow your brand and secure loyal users.
Pay attention to the sites your current customers are talking about and move quickly to get active and start making high quality content. It will help you dominate the platform and worry less about competitors getting their foot in the door first.
Test, Test, Test
Perhaps more similar to traditional marketing than some of the other growth hacking techniques, don’t forget that data and optimizations are your best friend when it comes to getting new eyes on your page. A well-laid out page is more likely to perform well on organic search, and it makes the experience more pleasant for users so they return.
Test landing pages, homepages, blog posts, linked pages, and any other especially important places on your site to make sure everything is as good as it could be. Use your data to make necessary changes, including simple visual ones, and always ask yourself what you’d want to see if you were the customer.
Interact with Your Audience
Calculators, quizzes, infographics, and videos are all fun ways for your audience to interact with your page and get value out of it. Whether you do it yourself or hire a freelancer to create customer content for you, website visitors will enjoy seeing something they can actually use and learn from.
These types of material also make great shareable content, which means that users could send pages to their friends and bring in even more traffic. Play around to find out which formats make the most sense for your brand, and then get creative with it.
Challenge Your Users
Issuing some sort of challenge for personal growth, charity, or another shared cause helps create buzz and quickly builds a connection between your brand and its audience.
Try making the challenge feel exclusive in order to up the stakes and make people want to join in. Alternatively, going for a challenge that raises money for a charity that aligns with your brand’s values will help amplify its voice and naturally brings people closer to your company and leaves a lasting impression.
These growth hacking techniques give you the perfect start to find your place and grow your users. To find out more about growth hacking your company’s success, check out Chet’s Growth Hacking: Intro, Tools, and Guides course to learn more and start hacking.
