You might be wondering what growth marketing is and why your business would need to invest in such a strategy. So, let’s start by painting a picture. Every year, at least 400,000 new companies enter the U.S. market. You can imagine that with millions of businesses gunning for the sizeable U.S. market, the competition is pretty cutthroat. And if you are like most business owners, you try to create a competitive edge using marketing strategies – which account for over $200 billion each year!
How can you stand out without resorting to the same old means that have lost efficacy over time? Growth marketing – that’s how you do it. Remember when marketing was all about traditional ads (TV, radio, posters, etc.)? These marketing techniques focused on short-term goals and were geared toward the top of the funnel.
Well, growth marketing adds on to this using means like:
Email marketing campaigns,
SEO optimization,
Ad copies,
Blog posts, and
A/B testing.
What’s the point of all this? It’s pretty simple – it’s all about reviewing your entire customer lifecycle and finding ways to engage them at every turn. Rather than pushing the client to buy your products, growth marketing focuses on creating a product that will sell itself. As a result, the product attracts clients, increasing the effectiveness of your inbound marketing strategies.
The result? – More engagement on all funnel levels. And we all know that higher engagement equals more sales.
And how do you execute a successful growth marketing strategy? First, you must assess if your choice of product aligns with a growth marketing strategy. If it does, you can then follow through with these steps:
1. Understand Why You Are Growing
As the name implies, the goal is to grow. So, what do you want out of your growth strategy? Is it more locations? Do you want a larger customer base? Your goals must be:
Specific: For example, you want to increase your revenue by 20% in the next two months,
Measurable: Can you measure your growth? Say, for example, you bring in 30 orders a day. You can’t just say you want to grow these numbers. You must be clear about what you want, e.g., 50 orders a day,
Attainable: We all love to dream. But fantasies can get in the way of achieving what you want and set you up for failure and frustration. For example, can you increase your revenue by 90% in 1 month? Probably not – but you can increase it by 9% in 1 month,
Relevant: Are your goals relevant to the growth strategy?
Timely: You must have a timeframe for the strategy. Do you want to grow your revenue by 20% in 1 month? 3 months? How much time are you giving the strategy? Without understanding this, it will be hard to set up your KPIs.
2. Align with the Market
Do you understand your market well? It’s easy to assume that you can grow your sales by 20% in 3 months. But can the market support this strategy? You must research the market, which you can do via:
Activate communication with your customers,
Focus groups,
Online surveys, and
Reading statistical reports.
Does that information align with your growth strategy? If it does, you can skip to the next step. And if it doesn't, you must amend it before moving on.
3. Strategize
A strategy is basically how you move from point A to point B. And how will you do that?
a. Get Your Team Onboard
Ensure that everyone understands the company goals, why growth is important, and how you want to attain that growth. Input from your team enables you to invest in the most crucial pain points. It also ensures that you will enjoy support from your team as you implement the plan.
b. Nail Your KPIs
These are performance indicators that enable you to tell just how well you are doing. They can be in the form of:
Financial progress: E.g., reduced operating costs, higher profit margins, less debt-to-equity ratios, more sales, etc.
Customer relations: e.g., better CRM, fewer resources spent on client acquisition, more customer retention, etc.
Process improvement: e.g., less time to fulfill orders, fewer unresolved system tickets, fewer returns due to defects, etc.
People: e.g., a lower employee turnover rate, higher sales per employee, more employee satisfaction, etc.
From any of these KPIs, you can create a baseline against which you can measure your progress. For example, if you are generating 30 orders a day, your KPI can be financial progress with a goal of 50 orders in the next 1 month. So, each week, you can expect an increase of 5 orders so you can hit 20 more by the end of the month.
c. Choose the Best Growth Plan
Based on your goals, target market, and KPIs, choose the plan that can best help you get to point B. A good step you can take is to understand your 4P’s and how to combine them in a growth marketing strategy Examples include:
Referral programs,
Social media campaigns, including the use of digital influencers,
Blog post campaigns,
Loyalty campaigns like exclusive access to products, and
Data-driven email marketing campaigns.
For example, a company hoping to increase its orders can invest in top-of-the-funnel engagement complete with CTAs like free offers or checklists. That enables them to hook more customers, ensuring that more leads go through the sales funnel. What do you think works for your company?
d. Experiment
Not all growth strategies will work as expected. So, you must put each option to the test. For example, if your goal is to build a social media presence, you could use a digital influencer to send more people to your accounts. Then using your KPIs, you can gauge if this influencer has reached your goals. If not, you must think about an alternative or amend your goals.
Keep in mind that not attaining your goal is okay. If it is SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely), you should stick to it. Use it as a challenge and invest in more relevant growth strategies.
Are you ready to launch your growth marketing strategy? Start today with our tool, "Building a Winner Growth Marketing Strategy," where you can find our step-by-step guide. If you are a premium user, you will receive feedback from the Blukastor team after you complete your strategy.