Should You Hire A Growth Marketer?

Let’s go back in history a little bit for a start. In 2010, entrepreneur Sean Ellis searched for an employee to fill a new marketing role. He didn’t want a traditional marketer but someone who could grow his user base quickly. Ellis coined “growth marketing,” starting a new frontier of grow-fast marketing tactics. Now, let’s look at what it means to be a growth marketer and why you might want to start looking for one.

Traditional marketing looks somewhat like this: launch a product, incite an email storm, run an ads campaign, focus on keywords, you get the point. Growth marketing hinges on constant experimentation with channels and strategies, with the audience’s changing tastes and desires in mind. Growth hackers align with what customers need presently and tailor outreach. Their main goal is to increase the number of users as quickly as possible and retain them. All at lower costs, of course.

Going down the easy route, here are the reasons you might want to start looking for a growth marketer:

You’re open to experiments and new go-ats
A skilled growth marketer is hungry – for learning. They keep an open mind to experiments, dissect results, and use data to enhance metrics optimization. They’re also usually ahead of marketing trends. Many CEOs and business owners hire growth marketers to utilize overlooked channels.

You want to unlock new customers
Growth marketers’ line-up of channels may seem far-reaching, but they know which ones click with your business. Growth marketers work across multiple channels and scale the user base up quickly as a result.

You want to maintain new and current users
There’s no use in earning more customers if you can’t retain them. Growth marketers eagle-eye user engagement and conversions across the funnel and re-engage with emails, ads, and copy. It is, by all means, not a one-person job, so growth marketers will rely on your team for help. Plus, a growth marketer has to match the CEO’s or boards of directors’ expectations for growth.

Heads-Up!
Before hiring a growth marketer, make sure you’ve covered these three bases:

• Data. You might want to wait a bit longer if you’re a startup owner. Growth marketers need data for a reference point. Otherwise, they won’t be able to test ideas, select the right channels, or reach synergy with teammates. Sidenote: some people pull data out of thin air – don’t be one of them.
• Brand core. Every company with a brand identity and guidelines makes a few growth marketers happier. This way, it’s easier to find fail-proof ways to engage and convert your audience in line with your digital appearance.
• Team. This point goes in tune with the other two. Growth marketers work with developers, designers, and copywriters to perform tests. Plus, they will refer to these people when the marketing strategy needs readjustments. So, make sure your current team can back marketing growth up.

Like any other digital specialist, a growth marketer should have professional experience. Still, some skills will make spotting an ahead-of-the-game specialist easier:

• They’re analytical. Growth marketers understand every step of the process, study data, and make reasoned decisions knowing when to risk and put something to the test. They also know when to consider specific metrics and avoid unnecessary testing rounds.
• They’re persistent. Growth marketing is fairly new and relies heavily on trial and error. So, growth marketers are usually prepared for failure along the way. They also understand the data behind mistakes and improve their successive attempts.
  They discern bright ideas. Growth marketers may not have a Red Dot design award or innate Grammarly-type writing abilities. However, they’ll most likely spot a potentially successful creative concept and give feedback on how to make it work better.

Let’s look at some growth marketing strategies you can use to tackle the funnel.

Onboarding 

When a new user wants to try your product or service, you get a chance to gather data that helps frame better experiences. Onboarding doesn’t have to be lengthy: welcome users and ask which products or features they’re most interested in. You can ask how they prefer to be contacted or why they’re interested in your offer. Based on that, you can optimize future communication and engage them better.

Influencer Collaboration

You’ve created a promising product; that’s great. The next step is to promote it in a ringing marketplace. Find influencers who match your product and make promoting your product advantageous for them. Rely on your growth marketer’s expertise when choosing the right channels.

Loyalty Campaigns

Your customers will always have options to choose from unless you’re dealing in something truly unique. Showing your customers that they mean more than an email address in your list boosts your chances of winning them. If your brand offers memberships or discounts, find a way to inspire your customers. Exclusive benefits, referral bonuses, gated content, a free product sample – the possibilities are nearly endless.

While traditional marketing leans on the tried and tested methods, growth marketing gets you ready for the future, whatever it may be. You can apply the data a growth marketer collects across any business unit, from sales to PR. The ultimate outcome is sales growth, loyal customers that prompt referrals, and a customer journey smooth as glass.