Growth Hacking; a process of rapid experimentation across a range of marketing channels to identify the most effective ways to grow a business. Growth Hacking is essentially associated with low cost, inbound marketing solutions that may be digitally focused and quantitative in nature.
Growth Hacking has helped businesses and young startups to reach millions of dollars worth of sales literally overnight.
Just take the founders of the startup Acompli, they were only in business for 18 months before they were acquired by Microsoft for $200 million. And big sites that we all use today like Airbnb, YouTube and Quora, all rose to success in no time at all.
These overnight success stories are becoming more and more common and growth hacking can really be held accountable.
In fact, many businesses that have risen to success rapidly have used some sort of growth hacking technique in some way or another.
Growth Hacking is different to marketing, however when used in conjunction with each other, it seems that success can come very quickly and very rapidly.
You can read our Growth Hacking 101, guide for more information, but in this article we are going to share with you 40 growth hacking tips that your business can actually use to grow, increase profits and maximise ROI.
For growth hacking to be successful you really have to experiment and test everything and it is truly never too late to start.
Here are 100 Growth Hacking Tips Your Business Can Actually Use
1. Mimic or copy what other businesses in your niche are doing: take the time to look at what your competitors are doing and learn to either copy, improve or avoid some of their strategies. Chances are your competitors have spent valuable time and money researching what works for their target audience, so by learning from them and even copying some of their techniques, it can fast-track the process and save you money in the long run. Look to see what your competitor’s customers are also saying on social media or review sites for clues on what is working and what to avoid.
2. Start blogging and offering your readers valuable content: offering your audience content is one of the best ways to grow your business because it helps your audience to get to know you and what you offer. Think of content like a hook. The more you can hook your readers, the more likely they are to purchase your products and services and become advocators of your brand. Offering content is also the best way to spread by word of mouth, and if you plan your content strategies right, you may even send one of your campaigns viral, which will instantly put your business on the map.
3. Build a long-term plan: even if you are just getting started with your business it is important to have an end goal that helps you to know the direction of your business. Most businesses have a 10-year plan that outlines the direction the company is planning to head in. This direction may change over time, however having a long term plan helps you to build a sustainable business that won’t suffer when success finally hits. When you use growth hacking strategies, success can come almost instantly, and having a long-term plan will ensure that you can catch up and stay afloat.
4. Build a community of people around you: having a strong community of people around you is a great way to stay on track, keep motivated and advance your business. Building a community also involves reaching out to your own local community and neighbours to let them know what you do and where they can find you. Having a supportive team can also be extremely influential when it comes to growing your business and creating a lasting company.
5. Build relationships with influencers: no matter what industry you are in, chance are there are influencers in your field that have more followers and clout than you do. Instead of viewing these people as your rivals, instead consider reaching out to them and working with them. While they may not jump at the idea of promoting you on their blog, simply remaining friendly with them will go a long way in helping your brand to succeed. Strategies with this include, retweeting them, quoting them in a blog post or thanking them for their work.
6. Know your customers and target only them: there is no point in wasting valuable resources going after everyone under the sun. The best and most effective businesses target only their niche audience and work on creating leverage there. This helps you to focus your strategy and convert more of your ideal customers into sales. When you focus on a particular target audience, it also helps to take a lot of the guess work out of what your customers want and how you can help them.
7. Always deliver your best work and give your customers more than you promise: over-delivering is one of the best ways to please your customers and keep them returning back for more. Your customers are the core of your business, so if you want to keep them around, ensure that whatever you offer them is of the highest quality and is your best work every single time.
8. Outsource as much labour as necessary: when you are trying to scale your business quickly, there is only so much you can do alone. Outsourcing is a great way to get projects done and doesn’t require any extra time from you. There are also so many great outsourcing options available that are legit, easy to use and put you in touch with actual people who are looking for genuine work. Most of these outsourcing sites are also very affordable. These sites include Upwork, Fiverr and Intelligent Office.
9. Learn how to automate processes: having processes automated not only saves you time but also helps you to scale your business quickly. The more you can automate processes, the more time you can also spend on reaching out and connecting with your audience. Pretty much all processes can be automated, however you will want to ensure that you don’t lose your personal touch. To begin with, try automating emails, thank you pages and social media posting.
10. Partner with companies or businesses that your ideal audience use: find a parallel company to yours that your target audience may use and work building a relationship with them. This helps you to create something mutually beneficial and helps you to reach out to a whole new network. Teaming up with companies that your ideal audience uses is also a great way to further establish your brand and authority in your industry.
11. Hire people who can do the things you can’t: let’s face it, we can’t all be a genius at everything. Even though we would like to just do everything ourselves, when it comes to running a successful business it really does take a village. Hiring people who are experts and the things that you are not, can help you to expand the success of your business and get more done. It also helps to free up some of your time so you can spend it on things that you are actually good at.
12. Don’t be afraid to invest in marketing: for most startups and businesses, marketing can be one of the biggest expenses, however if you don’t invest in a solid marketing strategy, chances are your business will never get the attention it deserves. Remember, sometimes you have to spend money to make money, so don’t be afraid to spend money on driving traffic, boosting your social media presence and building effective landing pages.
13. Educate yourself every day: when it comes to creating a successful business, particularly online, you have to keep educating yourself about the latest trends and technology. If you don’t keep learning you will struggle to grow and over time, your business may even become stale or redundant. It is also important to educate yourself about your customers and what they are doing and how they are behaving.
14. Focus on one project at a time: the biggest mistake CEO’s and business owners make is that they spread themselves way too thin. Focusing on just one project at a time allows you to give your undivided attention and therefore helps you to achieve results quicker. Putting all your focus on one project also allows you to see very clearly when the project is working or not working and how you can effectively make changes.
15. Constantly monitor your competition: knowing what your competition is up to is important if you are looking to scale your business and keep up to date with trends. When you are familiar with what your competition is up to, it also helps you to make necessary changes and better understand the behaviour of your customers. For example, if your competitors lower the price of their similar product, this may impact on your sales and customer experience.
16. Keep a clear focus on what you want to achieve and why: having a goal is just not good enough, you also have to know the reason why the goal is important to you. This helps you to keep things in perspective and can help you to see the bigger picture. When you do reach success, or even failure, knowing why you started what you did will help you to maintain your confidence and will help you to think about your business in a bigger way. Knowing why you want to achieve your goal will also help you to make decisions under pressure and will help you to stay on track with your mission.
17. Learn how to manage your time effectively: part of running a successful business is learning how to manage your time effectively and knowing what needs your attention immediately and what can wait for another day. Having an organised schedule can also help you to stay on track and deliver more effective work to your clients and customers. When you learn how to manage your time effectively it also helps you to be more productive and essentially, get more done.
18. Build a solid reputation: your business relies on your reputation and the more you focus on building your reputation, the more likely your business is to grow. To build your reputation, ensure that you have an up to date profile on social media sites, a biography on your website and that you offer valuable content to your audience. This content can include videos, webinars, ebooks and so on.
19. Reinvest profits back into the business: if you are looking to grow your business you have to keep reinvesting your profits back into growth related strategies. Many business owners make the mistake of giving themselves a big pay day as soon as profits start to roll in, but if you really want long term success, you have to keep supporting your business and reinvesting money back into it.
20. Develop your strategy and take action quickly: so many startups and businesses waste heaps of precious time refining and perfecting their strategy and never taking action. Sometimes the only way to perfect a strategy is to actually launch it, so quit wasting time on developing and get to launching sooner rather than later. Statistics also show that the longer a strategy takes to develop, the higher chances it has of failing.
21. Network as much as you can: some people believe that your “network is your net worth” and many swear by the benefits of networking. Networking with people in the same field as you is a great way to learn about what other businesses and industries are doing and is also a great way to grow your business. Networking also gives you more tools and resources to tap into, which can enhance the value of your business.
22. Look for solutions everywhere: when looking for a solution it is important to leave no stone unturned. When AirBnb was first trying to launch, they knocked on doors, posted on sites like craigslist and tried everything they could to spread their services through word of mouth. If it wasn’t for these strategies, AirBnb would never have found the success it did. Uber was also the same. So many investors turned the app idea down to due to taxi regulations, but Uber managed to work around it and found a solution. Today, Uber is worth billions of dollars and is now an international success.
23. Execute what you know: so many business owners and entrepreneurs spend hours trying to learn every skill in the trade, but sometimes the best benefits are found when you test and execute what you already know. While it is great to keep learning, don’t get tied up in what you can’t do and instead, focus on what you can do. When you build upon your own strengths, that is when you can truly find success.
24. Work with a professional or mentor: having a mentor to guide you is a great way to stay motivated and learn the best way to grow your business, particularly if you are working with a mentor that has far more experience than you do. The same goes for teaming up with a professional company that has helped hundreds of businesses reach their growth goals. Seeking help may be an investment, but it may be one of the best and quickest ways to success.
25. Do your keyword research: before launching any campaign or strategy, do your keyword research. Even though it seems clichéd, having knowledge of your keywords, your competitor’s keywords and trending keywords in your industry will help you to drive more traffic and create more effective campaigns. You can read more about keywords here.
26. Guest blog: guest blogging on other sites is a great way to build your reputation and reach out to a whole new audience. When you write on other blogs it also helps to establish you as a thought leader in your field and helps to get your name out there. Experts recommend writing about 4 guest blogs per month for the best results.
27. Engage on social media: social media is one of the best tools to use to grow your business quickly. Social media is often where a lot of businesses get discovered and a lot of campaigns go viral. Start by focusing on just one or two main social networks and work on getting really good at reaching your audience. Also, use your social media accounts to connect with and interact with your audience.
28. Manage your finances: the worst thing that can happen to a business is that it runs out of funds. Keeping the books up to date and tracking your spending is the only way to avoid this and will ensure that your business is spending thoughtfully and practically. When you become conscious of your spending it also helps you to priortise things better and helps you to seek out alternative solutions.
29. Prioritise email list building: when it comes to any growth campaign, email list building is by far the most important technique. When you focus on collecting email addresses it allows you to continually market to your prospects and nurture your leads over time. Eventually, this can help you to generate more sales and increase your profits. Ways to build your email list include, exit pop-ups, landing pages and offering something of value such as an ebook or free webinar.
30. Educate your team members: spending time to educate your team members can be a great way to ensure that you are all on the same page and that you are all working towards a common goal. Especially if your business relies on the help of your team members, it is really important to not only educate them but also communicate with them and encourage them to communicate with you.
31. Be bold: if you want to make an impact you have to be bold. This includes running bold marketing campaigns and making bold statements in order to generate interest. Just remember that while being bold is all well and good, you don’t want to make a mistake that your business can’t recover from.
32. Talk to your customers often: take every opportunity you get to talk to your customers, this not only helps to build your reputation but it also helps to build trust. When customers feel like they are getting personalised attention they are also far more likely to feel satisfied with your product or service and are far more likely to recommend you to their family or friends. Ways that you can connect with your customers include, live chats, webinars, Q&A’s and responding to comments on social media.
33. Concentrate on goals that deliver the biggest outcomes: this involves working on activities that deliver the biggest outcomes and ignoring the rest. Learning what to focus on and what not to focus on can help you to maximise your time and enhance productivity and profits. It can also help you to feel less stressed and more in control over the direction of your business.
34. Find ways to make your process more efficient: efficiency is key when it comes to growth. You may be able to spend the time to respond to every single email that comes your way now, but what about in 10 months time when your user base has almost doubled or even tripled? Making processes more efficient is not something that you should wait for until you strike it big, begin today and see how much free time you have to spend on other things (like growing your business). Making processing more efficient includes automating, scheduling, outsourcing and cleaning up any unnecessary steps or work for yourself.
35. Encourage User Generated Content: user generated content is when your customers or fans promote your product or service through photos, hashtags or shares. When you encourage your customers to share their experience of your product or service, it helps to expand your reach and adds a level of value and trust to your brand. This is also one of the fastest ways brands have gone on to become viral. Encourage your users to share a photo using your product or service on social media or run a competition that promotes the use of a particular hashtag.
36. Never stop developing your product or service: whether you are in a product or service based business, never stop developing what you offer to your customers. You should always be tweaking and refining your services and products based on trends, customer feedback and the particular needs and wants of your target audience. By developing what you offer, it also helps to deliver a better customer service experience and helps you to stay ahead of the competition.
37. Set goals every day: when it comes to running a successful business, you should really work on setting small, manageable goals for yourself every day. This helps to create a snowball effect and not only enhances productivity but also allows you to feel more confident about the success of your business. Most startups that succeed are ones that break apart the big goals into smaller, more doable tasks.
38. Learn from other businesses: study and assess business that you admire even if they are not in the same industry as you. Work on applying what you like about the business into your own business and adopt similar practices and strategies to help you get ahead. You can also look at some of the things you don’t like about a particular business and ensure that yours does not do the same.
39. Get Reviews and Testimonials from Customers: encourage your users to leave reviews as this helps you to generate social proof and helps to build consumer trust. You can read more about social proof strategies here.
40. Share Your Content: the best way to promote your business is to keep sharing your content on different platforms and in different ways. Consider converting your blog post to an infographic, video or slide in order to reach more people and cater to different learning styles. You may also find it beneficial to repurpose timeless content in other ways so you are always making the most of your content.
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