What is common between a data scientist and a growth hacker?

Both of them are not who they claim to be, but at least 95% of them would fall into this category. Unfortunately, these professions are the most confused ones. Just like being a data engineer or a data visualization expert does not make you a data scientist, being a digital marketing specialist does not make you a growth hacker.

The clue is in the name – “Hacker”!

What does hacker mean? There are various definitions. Some hackers exploit vulnerabilities and security loopholes to access computer systems. Others call themselves ethical hackers (in all honesty, I’m not sure what that means especially when talking about computer systems) and lastly there is the hacker mentality which means using vulnerabilities or some trick to grow your market/users/product. Being unorthodox and unconventional in your approach is a hacker mentality.

Even digital marketing is targeting growth, no?

Yes, everyone is looking for growth in business, but in the case of digital marketing, they are only looking at the digital side of things, that is, their Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, content creation and publishing – in short, the usual stuff targeting 5,10,15, or 20% growth. In growth hacking the person is responsible for digital strategy and product development. There are various stages of product development and it is the role of the growth hacker to ensure that a “fail fast” approach is used.

What is fail-fast?

Ever heard of getting to no faster? Basically, you know that some of the audience isn’t your target audience. The best way to optimize and plan your next steps is to filter out those who do not belong to your target audience. The faster this process is, the more time you can give to your target audience and improve your product for them based on their feedback.  The same approach is used by the growth hackers.

Is growth hacking expensive?

It is not supposed to be or else it would not be growth hacking. Even on very limited budgets, growth should be increased by 10 or 20 times.

Do you think you are a digital marketer and a growth hacker?

Kudos to you. Well done! You are definitely an asset for your company. But, can you answer the following question? You have a client spending $1,000 on their ad campaign to get revenues of $5,000. You have been running their campaign for 2 years and have improved the cost per user acquisition every month using your ad copies and other creatives. Now the client wants to make $50,000 in revenue. How much would you increase the ad spend?

We are sure you know the answer by now. I read somewhere that the larger the advertising budget, the greater the share in the market. From the looks of it whatever you are saying is the opposite.

Ever heard of the best-selling book, Crossing the Chasm? There are different stages in the product cycle – introduction, growth, maturity, decline. As growth hackers, your maximum efforts are put in phase 1 and phase 2, i.e. introduction and growth.

OK, I am a growth hacker, what is next? Let’s get in touch and grow exponentially!

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