Let’s open with a harsh little metaphor;
Selling the idea of SEO as ‘new marketing strategy’ now, is literally the old generation of techno- orthodox yelling “Old is gold!’, while dying of paralysis and Alzheimer’s disease in their wheelchair. You don’t want to ask them how to befriend and rule the new generation that ride on Segway Hoverboards.
The second greatest thing to happen to a startup-idea is its tangible inception. The greatest, is its growth. Here in this article, we’ll see how that can occur within a short stipulated period of time by using certain “growth hacks”. Quite simply, this means creatively using dynamic online marketing strategies which are low in cost and provide maximum sale, exposure and growth.
-
Table of Contents
Accurate Analytics Of Channels:
Metrics are important for startups because they give an accurate measure of numbers which can help us set our goals and move towards them. They help us know the strategic strengths and also the weaknesses which we can subsequently eliminate from the course of actions. But the next question is, what KIND of metrics matter? The answer lies in knowing what stage your startup is in. If its in the prelaunch stage, customer engagement and feedback metrics matter, for example, DAU/ MAU or churn. Since we are focusing on the growth stage, metrics like invite percents, sign-up percents, etc., matter. A simple and popular tool to use for analytics is Google Analytics which has important metrics like- Social Media Traffic referral, Pageviews, Bounce Rate, etc. Most importantly, these metrics help startups grow by preventing them from the “fall” from which most startups don’t recover.
-
Going Viral through Invites:
This is a popular and growing trend among companies which have referral programmes that give something extra to the invitee, as well as the invited. This technique massively grows the consumer base, simply because those joining it have a direct incentive- free gift! Another way to go about this hack is to simply leave the customers no choice other than to invite another ‘friend’. For example, if he wants to progress in a game, he must invite another friend to join the game. We’d think that this would piss the consumer off, but current stats show that his love for the game overwhelms his laziness to invite another.
-
Partnerships- for different areas of work:
Our parents always asked us to make good friends and they were right. Building great partnerships is a fundamental requirement for startups and the better partner one has, the more progress it is likely to make. The importance of this is accentuated when your partners are segregated and organised for different areas of work. To explain, Integration Partners are those which help us connect with a wider audience, by using the adjacent market already provided for, by the partner- for example, Mailchimp or Silverpop. There are also partners which combine product ideas and expose it to the same audience. Then, you have Referral Partners which act like ‘agencies’ and use your product for themselves, but in the process, also link new customers to you!
-
Social And Communal Sharing:
It is known now that this isn’t a mere strategy, but a solid channel of marketing. Social marketing, by sharing posts, on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., works to grow your company. Here, different social campaigns and techniques have been researched and known to have worked on specific networks. For example on Instagram, we choose the top profile for the hashtag we want to follow and like their pictures and follow them. This increases follow-back rate to 25% and after employing the hack for one week, amasses over 10,000 followers!
If you’re going to be born, you are going to need to learn how to crawl, walk and run. Getting to the zenith and maintaining isn’t easy but these researched and proven methods of marketing are sure to make you fair well in the race. All the best!
About Carson Derrow
