There are promotions, there are sales …and then there is growth marketing. The unique and specific approach to growing a business hones in on the long game. It puts the spotlight on your customers as you endlessly study their behaviors and cater to their needs.
The open-ended nature of growth marketing makes it a powerful tool. But it can also make it feel a bit overwhelming at times. Where should you focus right now? What about tomorrow? A year from now? What tools should you use? What audience segment should you prioritize?
If you’re feeling mired in analysis paralysis, here are a few suggestions for ways to break out of that slump and take charge of your growth marketing this year.
1. Don’t Just Set Goals. Create OKRs.
As with all work-related activities, it’s difficult to achieve things if you don’t define what that looks like in the first place. The easy answer here is to “set goals.” Sure. Okay. But what does that mean? What does it look like to set a good growth marketing goal?
Data growth brand Segment (by Twilio) starts this process by setting high-level goals. Identify what you want to accomplish over time, and don’t be afraid to be specific about what that looks like.
Once that’s in place, create metrics to measure your progress toward those goals. KPIs (key performance indicators) are clear metrics that you can use as signposts along the way to track your progress. This could be achieving a certain growth in revenue or improving customer retention by 5% — you know, solid, measurable stuff.
OKRs are the best goal-setting tool that brings both objectives and KPIs together. The acronym stands for “Objectives and Key Results.” OKRs are one of Silicon Valley’s best-kept secrets. In the past, it’s fueled massive growth in companies like Intel, Netflix, and Google. If you want to regain control over your growth marketing strategy, make sure everything you do is centered on an objective with key results mapped out to help you get there.
2. Decide How You Want to Manage Your Workload
Setting clear objectives and measurable metrics helps you see what you want to accomplish with your growth marketing. The next step in taking back the reins is deciding how you’ll activate this strategy.
What people, tools, and services will help you turn your growth marketing vision into a reality? This is where you need to stop thinking about the big picture and dig into the logistical reality of your day-to-day marketing activities.
There are several tech tools available that can help turn your growth marketing vision into a reality. These tools assist in various aspects, from analytics and data management to automation and campaign execution.
For instance, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms enable you to manage and track customer interactions, segment your audience, and analyze data to inform your growth marketing strategies. They help maintain a centralized customer information database for targeted messaging and personalized campaigns.
To test your marketing campaigns, you can use an A/B testing tool to experiment with variations of your website, landing pages, or email campaigns. It lets you determine the most effective elements for driving growth. Plus, you get to test and optimize your marketing assets for optimal conversion rates and overall performance.
If you want to manage your workload in one place, ringless voicemail drop software may be what you need. It lets you do a variety of tasks for coordinated marketing, like leaving pre-recorded voicemail messages directly in the recipient’s mailbox without making a phone call.
With ringless voicemail drop software, you can easily scale your outreach efforts, allowing you to send out many voicemails simultaneously. This feature is handy when you have a high volume of messages to deliver, such as when conducting marketing campaigns for a large customer base.
Marketing Lineup
What kind of marketing lineup is best suited to execute your growth marketing vision? Is it a big, sprawling department filled with different marketing teams or a single, scrappy group of multi-talented individuals? Are they internal, contracted, or both? Here are a few of the primary team-building options you have:
- Building an internal team is expensive, but it gives you the most control over your growth marketing.
- Working with freelancers allows you to fill in targeted gaps within an internal team where talent is lacking, or there is too much grunt work required.
- Hiring a fractional CMO gives you access to affordable, though limited, C-suite talent to guide your growth marketing efforts over time.
- Getting the entire package with an agency can take the entire execution of your growth marketing strategy off of your plate — but again, it comes at a steep price.
Each of these options has its own merits. If you’re torn between limited internal capabilities and the cost of a full agency, the best bet may be to use a more flexible marketing service like Hawke Media. The outsourced CMO brand offers an a la carte service that makes it easier to pick and choose the support you need to regain full control over your growth marketing efforts.
3. Follow Best Practices as You Go Along
Once you have your OKRs set, measurable metrics to gauge your progress, and a team in place to execute your growth marketing vision, the final step is to avoid the tendency to put everything on auto-pilot. Yes, you’ve invested in a stellar growth marketing infrastructure. But growth marketing is a dance that you perform with your customers over time. It has different steps and stages, and you need to pay attention as you go along.
The best way to prepare for this is by studying and following growth marketing best practices. Jot Form identifies six of these that are excellent starting points, including:
- Measuring and tracking everything that you do (create those OKRs!).
- Using A/B testing on a regular basis to stay focused on effective activities.
- Diversifying your marketing channels to avoid over-dependence on a single area.
- Repurposing existing content across multiple channels to maximize its effectiveness.
- Encouraging customer engagement through feedback and community interactions.
- Considering the customer journey across the entire marketing and sales funnel.
If you can do things like staying diversified and actively using A/B testing, it keeps your head in the game. This, combined with clear objectives, key metrics, and a talented team, can help you take charge of your growth marketing strategy in the present and retain that control in the future.
