Mediaboss Marketing

When starting a business, it is pretty easy to become overwhelmed. The digital age of the Internet has changed the marketing landscape tenfold, and even longtime seasoned marketers are being forced to adapt to the new technological advances in order to remain competitive.

Nowadays, the key difference between a good startup and a great startup is whether or not the business has mastered a set of tactics called growth hacking namely, strategies such as search engine optimization, social media integration, and more.

A relatively new term, growth hacking refers primarily to innovation in online businesses. Because of its low cost, growth hacking is especially useful for startups with a low budget. The term was coined in 2010 by entrepreneur Sean Ellis, who recognized a void in the startup industry.

Traditional marketing skills are successful at pushing products and services in established businesses, but the skill set may or may not be technologically oriented enough to develop growth without external resources. In contrast, growth hackers will identify a niche in the industry and develop a way for a product to sell itself. In other words, growth hackers and marketers can be the same, but the words are not synonymous.

Growth hackers are technologically savvy, results oriented, innovative growth promoters. Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla Motors), Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon.com), and Richard Branson (Virgin Group Founder) are all entrepreneurs and business investors who can be identified as growth hackers. Thanks to their innovative strategizing, each of them have risen to the top of their respective fields. There are several notable, creative investors and entrepreneurs in society using growth hacking techniques to drive the future of trade in unprecedented directions.

Lets look at 10 growth hacking concepts and best practices you can use to see a difference in your startup or established company:

Accessibility to a wide user group enables businesses to successfully develop their products. With the adoption of mobile devices and abundant competition in almost every industry a company that can offer several touch points in trending platforms to enhance connectivity will see an increase in user adoption.

Case in Point: Spotify is now worth more than $10 billion, and the company has only been around since 2008. It successfully used a multi-pronged approach to encourage users to listen to its free platform. Now it has 12.5 million paying customers who are brand loyal to Spotifys pricing model, features, and availability of music.

Screenshot taken 02/03/2015 of qz.com

Spotify is one of only a few products that features both free music and a premium service to let listeners choose what they want to listen to when they want to listen to it. The company partnered with Facebook as its exclusive music service in 2011 to further expand Spotifys accessibility. As an established company, it is now leveraging its model to enjoy further mobile growth and international brand recognition along with exploration into cutting edge platforms and partnerships that spring forward every day.

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10 Growth Hacking Concepts and Best Practices by @alexanderkesler