Growth Hacking: Timeless Formula for Small Business and Start-Ups

Growth Hacking: Timeless Formula for Small Business and Start-Ups

What do Airbnb, Dropbox, and Uber have in common? Aside from being successful companies, they all use growth hacking strategies to acquire more users. Growth hacking is a term for a technique that uses creativity, analytical thinking, and exploitation of loopholes to achieve exponential user growth.

Small businesses and start-ups often have difficulty achieving growth due to limited resources. However, with the right growth hacking strategies in place, even the smallest businesses can experience significant growth.

Many different growth hacking strategies can be successful, and it’s important to find the ones that will work best for your business. This blog post will discuss some of the most popular growth hacking techniques and offer tips on implementing them.

So, whether you’re looking to increase your website traffic, acquire more customers, or boost your sales, keep reading for some useful tips.

Utilize social media platforms to access a wider audience.

One of the best ways to get your business in front of new users is through social media. In fact, you can use this medium to get more targeted traffic that’s aligned with your business goals.

For instance, if you’re starting a pet store and want more visitors from a specific area, creating Facebook pages for each city in the region would be beneficial. Then, use Facebook ads to promote these pages. You can even incentivize people to like your page by offering coupons or discounts for following you on social media.

Craft valuable content that people will want to share. If they see their friends liking or sharing it, they’ll be more likely to check you out. Plus, if your posts are highly relevant to your target audience, they’ll have a better chance of getting shared.

Don’t forget about Instagram. It’s important that businesses also allocate some of their time towards marketing on this platform. Also, it’s better to create a business account instead of a personal profile, so you have more flexibility.

Also, I’ve found successful in creating infographics and a written blog post or article and then sharing them across social media platforms.

Implement an SEO strategy

Search engine optimization is an applicable tool if you’re looking for website traffic. Bigger brands often dominate Google search results, but SEO can help you stand out. Once your website is optimized, use social media to link back to it. This will help improve your search engine rankings, which will result in more targeted traffic. Don’t forget to periodically do an SEO audit of your website to ensure you haven’t committed any major errors.

Remember, this can take up a lot of time, so you’ll have to be patient. For instance, if you implement SEO strategies for your website, it could take several months before you can witness any significant results. Expect that it won’t achieve a positive return of investment overnight.

It’s vital that businesses understand how to calculate their SEO cost and SEO gain. This will help them determine whether or not the investment is worth it. There are many tools available to help calculate the cost of traffic and engagement, as well as calculate your return on investment.

Turn your website into a lead magnet.

Think about it. Your site is one of your business’s most valuable assets. It’s the place where customers can learn more about you and what you have to offer. If you have valuable articles or content related to your business, promote them as landing pages. This will allow you to capture new leads who are interested in your products or services.

Don’t forget to include call-to-action buttons on these pages, so prospects know what they should do next. For instance, you can promote your lead magnet through social media and email marketing software, so audiences have the option of sharing it with their friends or subscribing to your list.

Below are some examples of lead magnets that you can use:

  • Free e-book or whitepaper on a related subject
  • Checklist or worksheet
  • Infographic or data visualization
  • Video tutorial on how to do something

Focus on the “onboarding” experience.

Once you acquire new leads, you’ll want to nurture them so they become customers. According to Techcrunch, 58% of familiar brands are less relevant when compared with their competitors.

What does this mean? You need to create a great first impression for your business and offer your audience a unique experience that will set you ahead of others in the industry.

You can do this by creating a special welcome page that explains to visitors what you offer and why they should continue following your website or social media accounts. For example, if you’re launching a new product, update your subscribers on the release date, its features, and pricing information.

One of the best practices to get new users to stick with your product is by making the registration process quick and painless without requiring too many details up front.

Use guerrilla marketing tactics to stand out from the competition.

Once you’ve established a strong brand presence, use guerrilla marketing tactics that will help you stand out from the competition. You can thank 37signals for this clever name.

Basically, guerrilla marketing is all about using low-cost methods to promote your business – like word-of-mouth advertising through referrals and discounts. It often involves taking risks, which can make it a more effective strategy than traditional methods. 

Be creative with the way you promote special offers or discounts to make them more noticeable. For example, you can create an ad that directs people to a coupon code for 25% off, which they can redeem by mentioning your product or brand name.

Build relationships with customers and clients, and provide excellent customer service.

No one knows your business better than you do. But, even with your intimate knowledge of what you do and how you do it, customers are always at the heart of your success.

By establishing strong relationships with your clients, you create a base of loyal customers who will help promote your business through word-of-mouth marketing. Win-win!

Here are four ways to ensure your customers feel appreciated and supported: 

  • Connect with them on a personal level 
  • Go above and beyond to complete their needs 
  • Keep them updated on what’s going on in your business 
  • Thank them for their loyalty and support.

These six growth hacking strategies we outlined today should give you some ideas on how you can achieve this goal with little effort or experience necessary. In fact, there are so many things you can do to achieve growth hacking success in your business.

With that being said, it all starts with a strong commitment from you. The fact is, whether you’re growing your business or scaling up your existing one, growth hacking techniques have the power to take your profits and revenue through the roof.

So, it’s time to get started. Ready?