Growth Hacking: How to choose the right approach for your company
There are two completely different types of grou hacking. One is for startups, the other is for companies at the growth stage. It is important to be able to choose the right strategy. If you make a mistake, it is very likely to screw it up in the future.
If you are not familiar with the concept of Growth Hacking, and want to pump in this topic, then be sure to read our first article - Do you know what Growth Hacking is? [11 cases inside] . From it, you will learn what it is, where it is applied and with real examples you will be able to feel the full power of the hawking hawking. So do not forget to join the closed online community GrowthHackingIdea.com (It already has more than 25,000 people). You can get there only by invitation , there are no other ways.
')
So, we will look at the two approaches in the grou hacking on the basis of two important people in this field - Andy Jones and Shaun Ellis. Some consider them to be the most influential growers of hackers. To some extent, they are the founders of this topic. But!
They are completely different people. And their approaches to the growth of hacking are completely opposite. Let's see why and why they are so different.
Andy Jones is a former employee of the largest companies in the Internet - Twitter and Facebook. Now he is in charge of the development department of the Wealthfront e-investment platform. Andy grew up on a farm near California. He is calm, unhurried, disciplined, with web analytics on "you."
Shaun Ellis is the former head of marketing at Dropbox (a company that could grow multiple times thanks to cool growth hacks), Lookout and LogMeIn, the creator of the Qualaroo service (service for conducting surveys) and the Internet community GrowthHackers.com. By the way, it was Shawn who coined the term “Growth Hacking” in 2010.
Sean uses completely different strategies in growing hacking. He is the exact opposite of his colleague. He began his career in direct sales long before Internet advertising became the main engine of development. Sean is persistent, tenacious, “hungry” to new customer sources and technologies. He is constantly searching for something new: he finds, checks, analyzes, draws conclusions. And this cycle goes on continuously.
Perhaps that is why he and his colleagues managed to increase the value of the company Uproar (one of the largest companies in the advertising market) to $ 1 billion. And then sell it to Vivendi Universal. Personally, I have no doubt that the constant desire to experiment, to everything new was one of the factors for this success.
The difference in approach is due to the fact that Andy Jones is engaged in and engaged in this in large and stable companies, and Sean Ellis used Growth hacking to turn small startups into multimillion and even billions of projects. It is from here that the roots grow.
Working on Twitter, Andy makes small changes that step by step, by several percent, increase the conversion, involvement and retention of users. This is something like horizontal growth, when the company develops by improving what is already there.
Article in the topic - How to increase conversion - 30 short tips for internet marketers
Sean is engaged in vertical growth. He is looking for new opportunities to attract and activate customers who will be able to give a multiple growth of the company, and not increase registration by a couple of percent.
In the original of this article, the author called the hawers' haws in two terms of the gold rush times. Sean Ellis is a “scout” and Andy Jones is a “prospector”. “Scout” personifies the stage of a startup, “prospector” - a stage of growth.
"Scouts" are needed at a time when the company is in search of its place under the sun, has not yet received investments, has not found and has not optimized sources of attracting and activating users.
The “miners” are needed at the moment when the company is doing well - the process of attracting users has been worked out, the activation process has been established. In such a situation, the skills of the hacker hawk are needed to analyze current data, generate and test hypotheses, and improve interaction with users. And this, in the end, leads to a gradual further growth of the company.
I think that now you understand the difference between two completely opposite approaches to the growth of hacking.
Despite the fact that these two approaches differ so much among themselves, the “scouts” and “prospectors” have common features. Features without which Growth Hacking is impossible.
This is a fundamental sign of grou hacking. And not only him. Any marketing activity is good if it can be measured and on the basis of this to draw conclusions about efficiency.
With the help of data, “intelligence officers” estimate the effectiveness of their actions, and “prospectors” find problem areas in the project. As a rule, a “scout” has less data at the time of the realization of his ideas (often qualitative data obtained from surveys and communication with the target audience are used). But much more information appears after the implementation of the hacks. And these data allow us to accurately assess the effect obtained.
Article in the topic - Overview of services for user surveys
Agree that if we can measure any of our activities, we can objectively evaluate it. And after making a decision - is there any sense and potential effect for the business from this action or not.
By the way, it also allows you to get rid of situations, sometime someone higher up in office imposes his personal opinion. It can be very difficult to prove the opposite, especially to your boss or colleague. With accurate statistics, you can always put such a person in place and avoid mistakes.
In general, data analysis and hypothesis generation based on the analyzed information is a must-have not only of the hacker’s grouch, but of any modern internet marketer. This allows you to do the so-called Data Driven Marketing, when all decisions are made on the basis of numbers, and not subjective opinion.
Article in the topic - They will help you find all the "killers" of conversion - 10 reports in Google Analytics
Implementing grou hacks both at the start-up stage and at the growth stage is almost impossible without technical skills. Of course, in most cases, developers will help hackers (especially in large companies), but minimal knowledge is still needed.
The hawker needs to understand how everything is implemented from a technical point of view and whether it is possible to do what he has in his head. Minimal technical skills also allow you to easily communicate with developers and draw up technical specifications.
Marketers and developers speak different languages. It is obvious. And sometimes some do not understand others. And how, in that case, will the hacker be able to explain what he needs from the developer? On fingers? No, friends, Growth Hacking in both approaches requires technical knowledge.
In addition, sometimes it is much easier to do something yourself than to involve employees from other departments. This is a time saving, which allows you to quickly test hypotheses, collect data and draw conclusions.
By the way, neither Sean Ellis, nor Andy Jones is an engineer by training and never studied at universities. They simply had to deal with technical issues every time they were working and gradually pumped into it. And yes, this is normal for the grou hacker. He has to understand many things.
Whatever the approach to growing hacking, the basis of everything is the client, the user. It was he and nobody else. Therefore, any grou hacker cares primarily about the client.
At the startup stage, “scouts” communicate with all their clients. This allows you to understand what problems the target audience has, what they lack and what they need from your project. And based on this, the gros hacker “scout” builds a further project strategy that will meet the expectations and needs of clients.
At the growth stage, the “prospectors” also focus on customers - they collect and analyze all possible data about users, build on the basis of this hypothesis and make decisions about their actions.
Sean Ellis spoke very well about customer focus: "Developers are focused on writing code, so they have too little idea about the real problems and expectations of potential customers." Therefore, any grou hacker, regardless of the approach, should put the client and his needs first.
Article in the topic - Know your target audience or die: 34 vital questions
Of course, there are grou hackers individualists. It is possible that at one time Sean was just that. But teamwork is much more effective. Not a single hacker hacker will find the time and energy to invent, implement and analyze all ideas.
As a rule, there are developers, designers, copywriters and other specialists in the team. To implement ideas as quickly as possible, you need to learn teamwork. You need to be able to listen to others, adequately evaluate criticism and objectively look at your ideas as well as your colleagues' ideas.
For example, take a brainstorm. The grouser hacker maverick can sit alone and steam above ideas. Or it will be 5-10 people with different competencies, skills and attitudes. Most likely, the second option will be much more efficient. That is why the growth of hacking assumes the presence of a well-coordinated team that moves towards the same goal - the growth of a business.
A cool grower hacker is a curious person, hungry for everything new, untested and non-standard. It is curiosity and craving for new knowledge that allows you to constantly pump your skills.
The grou hacker does not stand still. He monitors all the trends in the industry. He analyzes other people's cases. He does not agree with unconfirmed hypotheses. If he is told that a certain technique does not work, then he does not believe in the word. Either there is confirmation, the data collected and analyzed, or it needs to be tested.
The grou hacker is not afraid to learn new disciplines. If he needs to be able to write code in his work, then he plunges into this sphere. If you need to learn deep analysis of data, then he does it. If you need to explore a new marketing service, then it is always ready for this.
Yes, by the way, the grou hacker is never afraid to try a new, non-standard. After all, the unusual growth sometimes hides behind non-standard methods. Remember how Paypal launched a referral program in 2001, in which both the invitee and the invitee were given 10 bucks each. Real bucks. It seems that this is an incredible decision that cost the company a lot of money.
Yes, it was a non-standard reception for that time. Perhaps Paypal was the first company on the Internet that successfully applied this hack. And he bore fruit in the long term (attracting users through the referral program was much cheaper than through other sources).
Steep grou hacker must be consistent in their actions. Chaotic actions lead nowhere. That is why you need to be able to systematically approach your work.
Most groys of hackers use various systems to organize work. The HADI loop system is a good example. In one form or another (with certain changes, additions) it is used by many. HADI stands for Hypothesis> Action> Data> Insight.
At the first stage, the grou hacker generates hypotheses (which are prioritized by the degree of potential impact on the business, ease of implementation and importance - the PIE method). In the second stage, he tests the hypothesis. On the third - analyzes the test results. In the fourth, he concludes and starts testing the following hypothesis.
Article in the topic - Case Carrot Quest: What are HADI-cycles and how to accelerate the development of the project with their help
By the way, prioritization is a very important feature of the grou hacker. Ideas to improve the product can be countless. But to test all the ideas will never succeed - we are limited in time and money. Therefore, among all the ideas that come to mind the team, you need to choose those that have the greatest potential for business.
This is really important. Many people make a mistake when they start doing something that does not affect the main goal of the business. Therefore, we must be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. Although sometimes it is difficult, but without it anywhere.
Growing hacking will not improve your business in one day or even a month. Growing hacking is a long-term, consistent, and patient job that aims at long-term growth.
A competent grocery hacker must be patient and not give up on the first setback. The reality is that most hypotheses will not bring you anything. You will test and see the same result, if not worse. But there are 5-10-20% of hypotheses that will shoot and provide strong growth for the company.
Therefore, it is important to have self-control and consistently go to the goal.
In the next article I will talk about 10 interesting grow hacks, which have allowed a multiple to increase the growth of various companies.
By the way, if you forgot to join the GrowthHackingIdea private community, here is your personal invitation . Click on it, then you can get access to daily grooves.
Original article - http://venturebeat.com/2015/08/11/growth-hacking-has-two-phases-and-using-the-wrong-one-can-sink-you/
If you want your friends and colleagues to learn more about Growth Hacking, share this article on social networks. They will be grateful for that. And I even more so!
Prepared by the blog Boosta.ru and the project Changeagain.me
Read also our other popular articles:
1. They will help you find all the “killers” of the conversion - 10 reports in Google Analytics (5000+ views)
2. The biggest mistake in A / B testing (2,000+ views)
3. 100 ideas for A / B testing. Part One (2000+ views)
4. 100 ideas for A / B testing: Part Two (1000+ views)
5. How to find an idea for an A / B test: heat maps and polls (1000+ views)
If you are not familiar with the concept of Growth Hacking, and want to pump in this topic, then be sure to read our first article - Do you know what Growth Hacking is? [11 cases inside] . From it, you will learn what it is, where it is applied and with real examples you will be able to feel the full power of the hawking hawking. So do not forget to join the closed online community GrowthHackingIdea.com (It already has more than 25,000 people). You can get there only by invitation , there are no other ways.
')
Growth Hacking at startup and growth stage
So, we will look at the two approaches in the grou hacking on the basis of two important people in this field - Andy Jones and Shaun Ellis. Some consider them to be the most influential growers of hackers. To some extent, they are the founders of this topic. But!
They are completely different people. And their approaches to the growth of hacking are completely opposite. Let's see why and why they are so different.
Andy Jones is a former employee of the largest companies in the Internet - Twitter and Facebook. Now he is in charge of the development department of the Wealthfront e-investment platform. Andy grew up on a farm near California. He is calm, unhurried, disciplined, with web analytics on "you."
Shaun Ellis is the former head of marketing at Dropbox (a company that could grow multiple times thanks to cool growth hacks), Lookout and LogMeIn, the creator of the Qualaroo service (service for conducting surveys) and the Internet community GrowthHackers.com. By the way, it was Shawn who coined the term “Growth Hacking” in 2010.
Sean uses completely different strategies in growing hacking. He is the exact opposite of his colleague. He began his career in direct sales long before Internet advertising became the main engine of development. Sean is persistent, tenacious, “hungry” to new customer sources and technologies. He is constantly searching for something new: he finds, checks, analyzes, draws conclusions. And this cycle goes on continuously.
Perhaps that is why he and his colleagues managed to increase the value of the company Uproar (one of the largest companies in the advertising market) to $ 1 billion. And then sell it to Vivendi Universal. Personally, I have no doubt that the constant desire to experiment, to everything new was one of the factors for this success.
The difference in approach is due to the fact that Andy Jones is engaged in and engaged in this in large and stable companies, and Sean Ellis used Growth hacking to turn small startups into multimillion and even billions of projects. It is from here that the roots grow.
Working on Twitter, Andy makes small changes that step by step, by several percent, increase the conversion, involvement and retention of users. This is something like horizontal growth, when the company develops by improving what is already there.
Article in the topic - How to increase conversion - 30 short tips for internet marketers
Sean is engaged in vertical growth. He is looking for new opportunities to attract and activate customers who will be able to give a multiple growth of the company, and not increase registration by a couple of percent.
In the original of this article, the author called the hawers' haws in two terms of the gold rush times. Sean Ellis is a “scout” and Andy Jones is a “prospector”. “Scout” personifies the stage of a startup, “prospector” - a stage of growth.
"Scouts" are needed at a time when the company is in search of its place under the sun, has not yet received investments, has not found and has not optimized sources of attracting and activating users.
The “miners” are needed at the moment when the company is doing well - the process of attracting users has been worked out, the activation process has been established. In such a situation, the skills of the hacker hawk are needed to analyze current data, generate and test hypotheses, and improve interaction with users. And this, in the end, leads to a gradual further growth of the company.
I think that now you understand the difference between two completely opposite approaches to the growth of hacking.
Despite the fact that these two approaches differ so much among themselves, the “scouts” and “prospectors” have common features. Features without which Growth Hacking is impossible.
All decisions are based on data.
This is a fundamental sign of grou hacking. And not only him. Any marketing activity is good if it can be measured and on the basis of this to draw conclusions about efficiency.
With the help of data, “intelligence officers” estimate the effectiveness of their actions, and “prospectors” find problem areas in the project. As a rule, a “scout” has less data at the time of the realization of his ideas (often qualitative data obtained from surveys and communication with the target audience are used). But much more information appears after the implementation of the hacks. And these data allow us to accurately assess the effect obtained.
Article in the topic - Overview of services for user surveys
Agree that if we can measure any of our activities, we can objectively evaluate it. And after making a decision - is there any sense and potential effect for the business from this action or not.
By the way, it also allows you to get rid of situations, sometime someone higher up in office imposes his personal opinion. It can be very difficult to prove the opposite, especially to your boss or colleague. With accurate statistics, you can always put such a person in place and avoid mistakes.
In general, data analysis and hypothesis generation based on the analyzed information is a must-have not only of the hacker’s grouch, but of any modern internet marketer. This allows you to do the so-called Data Driven Marketing, when all decisions are made on the basis of numbers, and not subjective opinion.
Article in the topic - They will help you find all the "killers" of conversion - 10 reports in Google Analytics
Having minimal technical skills
Implementing grou hacks both at the start-up stage and at the growth stage is almost impossible without technical skills. Of course, in most cases, developers will help hackers (especially in large companies), but minimal knowledge is still needed.
The hawker needs to understand how everything is implemented from a technical point of view and whether it is possible to do what he has in his head. Minimal technical skills also allow you to easily communicate with developers and draw up technical specifications.
Marketers and developers speak different languages. It is obvious. And sometimes some do not understand others. And how, in that case, will the hacker be able to explain what he needs from the developer? On fingers? No, friends, Growth Hacking in both approaches requires technical knowledge.
In addition, sometimes it is much easier to do something yourself than to involve employees from other departments. This is a time saving, which allows you to quickly test hypotheses, collect data and draw conclusions.
By the way, neither Sean Ellis, nor Andy Jones is an engineer by training and never studied at universities. They simply had to deal with technical issues every time they were working and gradually pumped into it. And yes, this is normal for the grou hacker. He has to understand many things.
Customer focus
Whatever the approach to growing hacking, the basis of everything is the client, the user. It was he and nobody else. Therefore, any grou hacker cares primarily about the client.
At the startup stage, “scouts” communicate with all their clients. This allows you to understand what problems the target audience has, what they lack and what they need from your project. And based on this, the gros hacker “scout” builds a further project strategy that will meet the expectations and needs of clients.
At the growth stage, the “prospectors” also focus on customers - they collect and analyze all possible data about users, build on the basis of this hypothesis and make decisions about their actions.
Sean Ellis spoke very well about customer focus: "Developers are focused on writing code, so they have too little idea about the real problems and expectations of potential customers." Therefore, any grou hacker, regardless of the approach, should put the client and his needs first.
Article in the topic - Know your target audience or die: 34 vital questions
Teamwork
Of course, there are grou hackers individualists. It is possible that at one time Sean was just that. But teamwork is much more effective. Not a single hacker hacker will find the time and energy to invent, implement and analyze all ideas.
As a rule, there are developers, designers, copywriters and other specialists in the team. To implement ideas as quickly as possible, you need to learn teamwork. You need to be able to listen to others, adequately evaluate criticism and objectively look at your ideas as well as your colleagues' ideas.
For example, take a brainstorm. The grouser hacker maverick can sit alone and steam above ideas. Or it will be 5-10 people with different competencies, skills and attitudes. Most likely, the second option will be much more efficient. That is why the growth of hacking assumes the presence of a well-coordinated team that moves towards the same goal - the growth of a business.
Curiosity
A cool grower hacker is a curious person, hungry for everything new, untested and non-standard. It is curiosity and craving for new knowledge that allows you to constantly pump your skills.
The grou hacker does not stand still. He monitors all the trends in the industry. He analyzes other people's cases. He does not agree with unconfirmed hypotheses. If he is told that a certain technique does not work, then he does not believe in the word. Either there is confirmation, the data collected and analyzed, or it needs to be tested.
The grou hacker is not afraid to learn new disciplines. If he needs to be able to write code in his work, then he plunges into this sphere. If you need to learn deep analysis of data, then he does it. If you need to explore a new marketing service, then it is always ready for this.
Yes, by the way, the grou hacker is never afraid to try a new, non-standard. After all, the unusual growth sometimes hides behind non-standard methods. Remember how Paypal launched a referral program in 2001, in which both the invitee and the invitee were given 10 bucks each. Real bucks. It seems that this is an incredible decision that cost the company a lot of money.
Yes, it was a non-standard reception for that time. Perhaps Paypal was the first company on the Internet that successfully applied this hack. And he bore fruit in the long term (attracting users through the referral program was much cheaper than through other sources).
Consistency, prioritization
Steep grou hacker must be consistent in their actions. Chaotic actions lead nowhere. That is why you need to be able to systematically approach your work.
Most groys of hackers use various systems to organize work. The HADI loop system is a good example. In one form or another (with certain changes, additions) it is used by many. HADI stands for Hypothesis> Action> Data> Insight.
At the first stage, the grou hacker generates hypotheses (which are prioritized by the degree of potential impact on the business, ease of implementation and importance - the PIE method). In the second stage, he tests the hypothesis. On the third - analyzes the test results. In the fourth, he concludes and starts testing the following hypothesis.
Article in the topic - Case Carrot Quest: What are HADI-cycles and how to accelerate the development of the project with their help
By the way, prioritization is a very important feature of the grou hacker. Ideas to improve the product can be countless. But to test all the ideas will never succeed - we are limited in time and money. Therefore, among all the ideas that come to mind the team, you need to choose those that have the greatest potential for business.
This is really important. Many people make a mistake when they start doing something that does not affect the main goal of the business. Therefore, we must be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. Although sometimes it is difficult, but without it anywhere.
Patience
Growing hacking will not improve your business in one day or even a month. Growing hacking is a long-term, consistent, and patient job that aims at long-term growth.
A competent grocery hacker must be patient and not give up on the first setback. The reality is that most hypotheses will not bring you anything. You will test and see the same result, if not worse. But there are 5-10-20% of hypotheses that will shoot and provide strong growth for the company.
Therefore, it is important to have self-control and consistently go to the goal.
In the next article I will talk about 10 interesting grow hacks, which have allowed a multiple to increase the growth of various companies.
By the way, if you forgot to join the GrowthHackingIdea private community, here is your personal invitation . Click on it, then you can get access to daily grooves.
Original article - http://venturebeat.com/2015/08/11/growth-hacking-has-two-phases-and-using-the-wrong-one-can-sink-you/
If you want your friends and colleagues to learn more about Growth Hacking, share this article on social networks. They will be grateful for that. And I even more so!
Prepared by the blog Boosta.ru and the project Changeagain.me
Read also our other popular articles:
1. They will help you find all the “killers” of the conversion - 10 reports in Google Analytics (5000+ views)
2. The biggest mistake in A / B testing (2,000+ views)
3. 100 ideas for A / B testing. Part One (2000+ views)
4. 100 ideas for A / B testing: Part Two (1000+ views)
5. How to find an idea for an A / B test: heat maps and polls (1000+ views)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/297694/
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