how to growth hack your marketing plan

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How toGrowth HACK Your Marketing Plan

Jim HuffmanVP of Marketing

TheTake

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Acquired for$500M

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$24B Valuation

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$10B Valuation

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What is a Growth Hacker?Sean Ellis (Dropbox) came up with the phrase “Growth Hacker” in 2010 when he was trying to hire his replacement. Because a the Marketing candidates weren’t working out.

“A Growth Hacker is a person whose true north star is Growth. ” – Sean Ellis

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Wait, So What Does that Mean?

“After product-market fit and an efficient conversion process, find scalable, repeatable and sustainable ways to grow the business.” – Sean Ellis

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Product

Data / AnalyticsMarketing

Growth Hacking

What Goes into Growth Hacking?

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GH = Distribution Built into Product

LINKEDIN Add Your Address Book and Build Your Network.

GILTInvite a Friend and Get $25 When They Buy.

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Growth Hacking Summary1. North Star = Growth

2. Find scalable, repeatable and sustainable ways to grow

3. Use Product, Data & Marketing

4. Distribution Built into Product

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STOPHow do you know you’re ready to GROW?

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You Need to Answer Three Questions

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1. Do You Have Product Market Fit?How do you measure Product Market Fit?

1. 40% of Users would be “Very Disappointed” if your product disappeared.

2. NPS Score

How would you feel if you could no longer use [product]?(A) Very disappointed(B) Somewhat disappointed(C) Not disappointed (it isn’t really that useful)(D) N/A – I no longer use [product] (Survey.io)

DISCLAIMER: False positives could emerge from surveys. Make sure your engagement & retention data supports your results.

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How Do You Maintain PMF?CASE STUDY

Talk to users and understand their problem. And do it every single day. We call our experience the “Happiness Initiative” and we measure it daily.

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2. Are You Optimized for Growth?

CONVERSION: Can you convert a user?

RETENTION: Can you keep a user?

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How We Messed Up Conversion and Then Fixed It

CASE STUDY

< 1% Sign-Ups

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We Leveraged Our ‘Magic Moment’CASE STUDY

• Users coming through SEO (70% of traffic) are trying to Solve a Problem,• Identify when you solve a user’s problem = “Magic Moment”• RESOURCE: Alex Schultz, Head of Growth – See your friends• Demonstrate why they should sign up

Over 4% Sign-Ups

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We Bring them Back with EmailCASE STUDY

• Editorial team dedicated to keeping you users engaged through high quality content.

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3. Is Growth a Priority?Then you better track it every single day. Facebook’s #1 Metric:

How Many More Users (as a percentage) Were Added Per Day?

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Summary1. Product Market Fit

2. Conversion & Retention

3. Everyone’s Focused on Growth

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GOCongrats, you’re ready for growth.

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Lets Get in the Growth Mindset

1. Your Goal is to Expedite the Speed of Your

Feedback Loop.

2. A/B Testing & Analytics are the Language of Growth.

3. Over 80% of your Growth ideas will FAIL. (And that’s okay.)

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GROWTH HACK: Plan of Attack

STEP 1: Identify Growth Ideas to Test

STEP 2: Test for Scalable & Repeatable Ideas

STEP 3: Measure & Model Your Growth

STEP 4: Repeat

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How to Come Up with Growth Ideas?

It starts with thinking about your Customers.

1. What does the customer or the market want?

2. Who are my customers / users?

3. Where do I find my customers / users?

4. What language do my customers / users speak?

STEP 1

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Here are 19 Traction Channels1. Viral Marketing2. PR3. Unconventional PR4. SEM5. Social & Display Ads6. Offline Ads7. SEO8. Content Marketing 9. Email Marketing10.Engineering as Marketing11.Targeting Blogs12.Existing Platforms13.Business Development14.Affiliate Programs15.Trade Shows16.Community Building17.Sales18.Offline Events19.Speaking Engagements

STEP 1

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Get Inspiration from Market Research

1. Study a Brand or Competitor2. Research their Traffic Drivers3. Analyze their channels that have traction4. See where they’re putting their creative energy

STEP 1

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What to Consider When Testing?• Biggest Impact

• Free vs. Paid

• Fastest Feedback Loop

• What A/B tests are you the most excited about?

• What segments are you targeting?

And most Importantly . .

Are these Ideas are Repeatable & Scalable?

STEP 2

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How to Measure Your Growth?• Simplicity. Simplicity. Simplicity.• Pick One Thing: Traffic, Sign-Ups, Engagement/Retention, Whatever. • Automate Your Reporting.

STEP 3

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How to Model Your Growth?• Model Growth Based on Your Growth Channels• Use Your Inputs to drive growth. Do NOT use growth rates

STEP 3

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Repeat.

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Case StudiesGrowth Hacking Inspiration

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Google Images + Timing = TrafficCASE STUDY

Capturing Users Through Organic SEO

Screenshots taken in an incognito window

• Be the first website to submit images & pages for movie & TV show products

• Search = over 70% of Traffic

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Coach.Me: How They Found 70k UsersCASE STUDY

• GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER: How are people talking about your product?• QUORA: Where are they talking about your product?

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Hitlist: Engineering as MarketingCASE STUDY

Chrome extension went viral on product hunt & featured in the Chrome Web Store

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Mint: Growth through Content• Challenge: Personal finance (not viral) and requesting personal

data• Product Wasn’t Viral but their Personal Finance Blog Was viral. • 1.5 Million Users in 2 Years, Sold for $170 Million

CASE STUDY

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SumoMe: Just Get in the DoorCASE STUDY

• Promote Free Products (ahead of Paid)• Frictionless Sign-Up: No Credit Card Required

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Evernote: Find a New Growth ChannelCASE STUDY

• App Store = New Distribution Channel• “We really killed ourselves in the first couple of years to always be

in all of the app store launches on day one.”• 19,000 New Sign-Ups / Day

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My Favorite Resources1. How to Start a Startup: Alex Schultz, Growth at Facebook

(Video)2. Lean Startup Marketing (Book)3. The Viral Startup (Book)4. Traction (Book)5. The Viral Loop (Book)6. Growth Engines (Book)7. Hooked (Book)8. The Ultimate Sales Machine (Book)9. What Great Brands Do (Book)10.First Round Capital Review (Blog)11.GrowthHackers.com (Forum)12.Startup Grind (Podcast)13.The Growth Show (Podcast)14.Paul Graham’s Essays (Blog)15.Neil Patel (Blog)BONUS: jimwhuffman.com (Blog)

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Let’s TalkJim Huffman

VP of MarketingJim@thetake.com

Twitter: @jimwhuffman