Business Growth RoundUp #3 – Top Tips from Around the Web
If you’re into business growth, you’re likely also into growth hacking. The concept of growth hacking continues to enthrall marketers and strategists alike. There’s a search for the magic bullet that will make business growth move so fast it will make your head spin! Inevitably, It’s not all quite as simple as all that. The resources presented in our latest round-up should help keep you on the right track.
1. Going in for the kill, growth hacking style
The growth hacking landscape, like the nature of growth hacking itself, is an agile and ever-changing beast. It seems like every month there are new apps, enablers, entrants and techniques to get on top of. All while running your own experiments and tracking the results … it’s exhausting just thinking about it! During the early part of the year, “things to be on top of during the New Year” lists (for want of a better phrase) tend to abound, but start winding down about mid-year. However, if you missed some of the earlier efforts, there’s a few solid options still lurking out there in cyberspace. Do not fear: you have not yet missed out entirely. The Next Web recently came out with a good exemplar in its listicle: Killer Growth Hacking Tactics for 2017, by Ana Grasic. It’s filled with heaps of the latest actionable tips for social media and the web. The list should offer plenty for both novice and experienced growth hackers to sink their teeth into.We say: Listicles, especially those coming out at the start of the New Year, are a simple way to quickly get on top of a new concept or refresh yourself on an old one. And all presented in an easily digestible format… they almost couldn’t make it any easier for us!
2. Addicted to Growth
Just because we love a good contradiction to get the conversational juices flowing, now we’re going to present a contrasting viewpoint to the one just presented above. Tricky, eh? In a cogent article entitled, The Growth Marketing Process: How to Shake Your Growth Hack Addiction, Shanelle Mullins, writing for the CXL website, argues we should stop searching for elusive silver growth hacking bullets and instead focus on consolidating our growth marketing processes. To be fair, the article doesn’t seem to be saying we should throw out the idea of growth hacking entirely. There’s the idea that a “one size fits all” magical solution can somehow automatically be transplanted from one company to another. Instead, Mullins argues that we should be seeking to implement a process of continuous experimentation within our businesses. As well as a rapid feedback loop that tells us whether we’re on the right track or whether our ideas and experiments aren’t working. This feedback then informs the next iteration of experimentation. (Which is really, one could argue, what the original concept of growth hacking is all about).Also, a firm should support this concept of what your product or service offering is. Be sure this aligns with what your target market needs, and having a strong sense of your business goals. So in other words, if you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t make much sense to be obsessed with how fast you’ll get there. Make sense?We say: As with all popular fads, there’s an inevitable backlash. It seems in this respect growth hacking is no different by all means. Take on the smorgasbord of opinions out there, but be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. At the end of the day, most commentators are advocating for an informed, evidence-based approach. Commentators rather have more than just grasp of any straw that’s offered, and that strikes us as eminently sensible advice.
3. Let’s all just take a breather, shall we?
In a similar vein, contributor Brittany Hoffman, writing for MarkGrowth, advises we should all just take a bit of a deep breath when it comes to growth hacking. We should especially take into account how it relates to social media. In a refreshing perspective not commonly discussed in many of these articles, she highlights the immense pressure that we all put on ourselves as marketers. Marketers are always chasing the gold at the end of the growth hacking rainbow. In this process of rapid experimentation and trying every trick in the book, Hoffman notes that one can lose sight of one’s goals in the process… literally losing the plot by chasing what is “hot and new. ”She argues that in the desperate “thirst for followers,” there’s a risk of missing what is truly meaningful, which is a genuine and authentic connection with your customers. Her takeaway: be selective about what exactly it is that you “hack.” Don’t lose sight of the bigger purpose. That will make all the difference in the long run.We say: It’s easy to get lost in all the hype of growth hacking and forget about what you’re really trying to achieve. As with anything in life, growth hacking is neither all good nor all evil, merely a particular method for approaching a difficult problem – how to encourage business growth. Keeping this in mind as you delve into growth hacking will help you retain your sanity.
4.Still interested in growth hacking? Read on!
If like us, you are enthralled with all things growth hacking, you’re going to get a kick out of this. Our trusty friends at Hubspot have hit the mother load with a list of six growth hacking websites to devour. Their recent article, titled 6 Websites Every Growth Hacker Should Bookmark and written by contributor Amanda Zantal-Wiener, is a veritable goldmine of information. The article fits those who wish to be deeper in the know about all things growth hacking related. There’s some classic authority sites here for sure, but also some novel finds that should keep you trawling the web for hours … so clear your schedule and don’t say we didn’t warn you!We say: There’s so much information out there these days, it can be hard to tell the difference between the trash and the treasure. Making use of authority sites and curated offerings such as the ones presented here can offer a great time saver. It’s perfect for those who want to get their information ‘fix’ without sifting through the dross.
5. And the last word goes to…
Let’s go out on a helpful note with a word from our friends at Tech Co! They’ve pulled together a cautionary list on the 6 Growth Hack Mistakes All B2B Startups Need to Avoid. Although truth be told, these mistakes could be made by any company on the planet. The six mistakes are entirely different in nature, the underlying message boils down to just one thing: look before you leap. Undertake growth hacking carefully and with due process, and you’ll be golden.We say: Everybody makes mistakes, especially when embarking on something new. Keep your focus on incremental tweaking around the edges, rather than gambling core parts of your business on whimsical flights of fancy. Take time with your team, fully understand the implications for your firm of any growth experiments you will be running. Underpin it all, with some solid risk management, and all should be well.
