A Growth hacking agency is a company that applies Growth methodology to its client engagements. The idea is to generate sales, marketing, and service wins using Agile philosophy and scientific methodology. There are several ways to describe Growth hacking, and we're going to share details about our specific structure — along with why we use it.
First, what is Growth?
"Growth" (aka Growth Marketing, Growth Hacking) is rooted in the idea that marketing can and should be used as a tool for generating tangible Growth. The first time it was ever described to me, there were two main things that mattered — it was experimental in nature, and it's seeped in data.
Over the years, after our transition from an Inbound Marketing agency to a Growth agency, we've come to learn that it's much more than that.
- It's strategic
- It's experimental
- It's sales-obsessed
Strategic
The term "strategy" often gets abused in the world of marketing. It usually gets confused with "tactics." You have a "social media strategy," a "blogging strategy," an "email strategy," and so on.
However, "strategy" is supposed to describe the big picture. So, you have a single Growth strategy and several supporting tactics. Blogging is part of your strategy, but it is not a strategy by itself. The same applies to social media, email, and literally any other tactic you deploy.
Thinking of strategy in this way will help you ask good questions during your vetting process. "How does this impact my North Star? How is this going to affect the big picture?"
Not sure? Not strategic.
Growth strategy specifically carries some interesting implications because being Agile means you're not married to any individual tactic or any part of the customer experience. There are two metrics we obsess over, and ONLY two metrics: The North Star Metric (NSM) and Pirate metric.
The North Star Metric (NSM): Your single most important objective... the repeatable reason why your company exists. A proper North Star is simple to measure, directional (it never changes), cultural (everybody knows their role), and balanced. Learn more about the North Star and how to develop yours in our free lesson.
Pirate Metrics: These are your KPIs and OKRs that lead to repeatable success. They capture the entire customer experience and help us focus on relevant ideas without the distractions. Here are the different stages:
- Acquisition
- Activation
- Revenue
- Retention
- Referral
Experimental
Marketers tend to live in content calendars. GROWTH marketers and hackers live in short 2-week sprint cycles. So, instead of waiting until the end of the quarter (or engagement) to validate or respond to impact, it's a 2-week cycle.
"Experimental" has some rather interesting implications.
- Everything is intentional in its role for achieving North Star wins
- Nothing is done in a vacuum
- Failure is an option
- Data, not gut instinct, drives decision-making
To learn more about Marketing Experiments, check out the description for our lesson on the subject by clicking HERE.
Sales-obsessed
Growth hackers are marketers. They're scientific marketers steeped in curiosity and process. But nonetheless, they're marketers. SALES, however, cannot be left out of the equation. This applies to the work itself as well as the numbers they derive from marketing.
Many Growth hacking agencies, however, obsess over click rates, open rates, and ANYTHING related to marketing as long as it's not Sales. But without sales, there is no success.
What makes a good Growth hacking agency?
It's one thing to understand the value of Growth, but it's another thing altogether to have a system for accomplishing it. If you're considering hiring a Growth hacking agency, it's important to note: not all Growth agencies are alike. Some use the words, but nothing else. With so many options, how does a Growth nubile make sense of it all?
Look for these three things:
- Philosophy
- Template
- Process
Philosophy
This includes the three concepts already discussed: Strategic, experimental, and obsessed with sales. What's the best way to find out this answer?
Ask the question - "What is your North Star?"
Their response should be something along the lines of helping YOU win. At Orange Pegs, we tied our North Star to yours. ALL we care about is helping you achieve NSM wins (watch to learn more).
And, we've proven our commitments to your North Star and our philosophy by creating tools like Catalyst and our Growth Strategy methodology: Experimental Marketing.
Template
Growth is a big concept (being strategic will do that). Running a Growth program takes serious organization. However, staying organized when your purpose is to be Agile can seem impossible. But it's not. It's all about what the template entails.
With Growth hacking, the template should focus on cycles. Everything has a cycle to it, regardless of the content type. It should also make standing up new experiments easy by providing basic steps for common activities.
Here's what our Growth hacking template looks like:
Basecamp 4 - this is where all projects are managed — this is the main event:- Step-by-step sequences for EVERYTHING involved in launching a Growth program
- Timing for launch
- Workshop coverage and output
Catalyst - this is our tool for tracking marketing experiments
- North Star tracker
- Experiment tracker & notifier
- Idea generator & prioritizer
Other templates:
- ARCI matrix (similar to RACI)
- Inbound sales process
- Inbound marketing mechanism
Process
Methodology is never complete without the processes to run it. We build our processes directly in the template to ensure smooth sailing from day 1. Your awesome hack doesn't happen by chance. Here are some of the ways we drive process using our growth hacking template:
- Standup meetings (ideation, tactical, and enablement - those are THREE separate sessions)
- Template-embedded sequences
Conclusion
A Growth hacking marketing agency is a process-obsessed firm that puts all of their energy into growing your company. They are strategic, experimental, and sales-obsessed. Their methodology is rooted in philosophy, and they execute with templates and standard operating procedures.
Learn more by visiting HERE:
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