WTH is Growth Marketing & Why It Matters To Every Business Now
A brief history
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I’ll keep the historical recap short and sweet: 2020 through now has been one of the most challenging times for marketers everywhere. Period!
Over a year of living in the pandemic has significantly shifted the economy, business, consumer behavior, you name it. Speaking of consumer behavior, I almost forgot how hard it was to find toilet paper. Sidebar: when the pandemic took shape in March 2020, I was on a business trip in Atlanta and bought TP there before bringing it back on the plane to NYC. Oof, those were the days…
2020 was also a heated election year, making paid advertising that much more expensive and difficult to get someone’s attention. Generally speaking, many businesses and marketers needed to reinvent their positioning completely, all while making more out of less (i.e., reduced staff and smaller budgets). Not everyone suffered, however. For companies like Zoom or Peloton, the pandemic was likely the best thing that ever happened to their business, as controversial as that sounds. It slingshotted them into household names, even verbs, in a matter of months—what a dream.
Then, enter 2021, where digital marketers are trying to understand (and prepare for) Apple’s new AppTracking Transparency measures, which may change digital advertising as we know it. Ugh. So, what does this have to do with anything? Hold these thoughts and read on.
What is growth marketing?
First, before I go any further, I should define what growth marketing is (no it’s not a buzzword). Iterable.com has a solid definition of it here, but at a high-level, it’s “attracting, engaging, and retaining customers that’s focused on relentless experimentation and an intense focus on the unique, changing motives and preferences of your customers.”
In my definition, it’s having a three-phased approach across all levels of your marketing funnel, inclusive of Testing, Measurement, and Growth (TMG). In a brief, but ubiquitous example, let’s say we want to improve website conversions for a new startup e-commerce brand.
- Testing: We have a hypothesis and need to run an experiment to see if it’s true. This hypothesis could be something as simple as “I think changing the call-to-action button from blue to red will improve conversion because red signals urgency.” You need to ensure your experiment has a control and variable group and consider a few other factors: audience, length of time, and KPIs (i.e., how will we know the hypothesis is correct?).
- Measurement: This how we determine if the hypothesis is wrong, right, or indifferent. What is the click-through rate of the button with the control group vs. the variable group? What are the sales outcomes from both groups? Did the color-change between groups make a difference and, if so, by how much? How confident are we in these results? These are just a few questions you might ask when it comes to measurement.
- Growth: This is the outcome of the hypothesis, the learning that you walk away with, that will help you on your way—and most importantly—grow! Theories fail, and that’s OK. Ultimately, it’s a learning process, and each business has its unique challenges. A “failure” is a win in my book because now you know and can move forward. What works for you won’t work for others and vice versa.
While the growth marketing mindset is not something entirely new, it’s becoming more crucial to our work as marketers to send the right message, to the right person, at the right time, especially now.
The world is changing, marketing is too
As we come out of the pandemic, no one is leaving the same way they entered it. Are you? For example, consumer buying behaviors are so much more digital-first than they were a year ago, and prominent internet brands are leading the way with convenience, ease, and simplicity. What does that mean for your brand’s marketing?
Another example from a different angle: few people are commuting these days like they were pre-pandemic. Will they ever? How does this affect your media planning?
Plus, the ever-changing platforms we use in our day-to-day, like Facebook/Instagram Ads, are slowly but surely parting ways with ad tracking capabilities. How does your brand measure conversions and attribution?
The reality is the marketing playbook has changed and is still changing. This means for marketers, we need to be scrappier, more data-driven, and most importantly, be willing to embrace the new.
The ~new~ normal
I’m sure you see where this is going. With all of the unknowns and changes we’ve got going on, we have no choice but to champion the growth marketing mindset, or some form of it at least. Testing new channels, new creative, new messaging, new audiences, measuring them correctly, and iterating on them on behalf of our brands or clients is just the start. Sure, it may be intimidating, arduous, and costly, but resting on your marketing laurels will only end up costing you even more down the road.
What’re your thoughts on growth marketing? Has your marketing approach changed pre and post-pandemic? I’d love to hear more.
