Growth Marketing: What is it and How to Do It

Maybe you’re already familiar with the term growth hacking, right? But let me tell you that we have one more topic on growth strategy to discuss: growth marketing.

I know there are many similar terms to understand, but I promise to build this article in a simple and objective way.

By the end, you’ll be able to take another step in your growth marketing specialization.

Let’s go!

What is Growth Marketing?

Growth Marketing, or growth marketing, is a strategy aimed at the exponential growth of companies.

However, unlike growth hacking, this strategy doesn’t take as many risks with experimentation, preferring to focus on agile growth, customer acquisition, and retention.

Thus, we can observe that this tactic brings in new customers, engaging them consistently, and then turning them into long-term consumers who can even become promoters of your business.

Why is Growth Marketing Important?

In addition to promoting the growth of your business, growth marketing positively impacts areas beyond marketing, such as sales, customer experience, and customer success (CS).

By influencing growth, it consequently influences sales, but there are also advantages in profitability, understanding the audience, market differentiation, and brand authority.

Also read: 240% Growth: What We Learned from a Product-Led Growth (PLG) Strategy

What Are the Differences Between Growth Marketing and Growth Hacking?

Growth hacking is an essential aspect of the growth marketing strategy, focused on experimentation, continuously testing content, messaging, and website design.

To avoid confusion between these two definitions, let’s clarify their differences.

Quick results vs. long-term results

While growth hacking seeks immediate results, growth marketing bets on the long term, and it can take time to achieve effective outcomes.

Technology vs. personal relationships

Growth hacking prioritizes the use of technology to generate sales and profits. Growth marketing, on the other hand, opts for developing personal relationships. Even though technology is used for this purpose, it is merely a means to an end.

What Does a Growth Marketing Professional Do?

The growth marketing professional is the one who will guide the company’s growth in various areas, especially marketing.

By applying concepts and knowledge of this strategy, this professional will direct actions and planning.

What Are the Strategies of Growth Marketing?

Here are five strategic points for you to follow and put your growth marketing into practice:

Identify your target audience

First and foremost, you need to analyze your target audience, identify them, and then begin planning your next actions in your growth marketing strategy.

Remember that even within your audience, some people are more likely to close deals than others, so it’s necessary to analyze carefully.

Get to know potential customers

After identifying the target audience, it’s time to get to know them more deeply, seeking and establishing closer relationships with potential customers.

To do this, start by researching trends for specific demographic characteristics, as well as contacting these people directly, for example, through email marketing.

Also read: ICP, Persona, and Target Audience: Don’t Confuse These 3 Concepts

Select your Platforms Carefully

Think about which channel will be the most suitable for your company and audience.

There are hundreds of social media platforms on the internet, so do some research on the audience of each one, the trends they follow, the language used, and if your potential customer is present on that platform.

Let’s break down some of the main social media platforms in the market:

• Facebook – The largest social media platform in the world. Almost a third of its users are between 25 and 34 years old.

• Twitter – More popular among people living in urban centers. Users are between 18 and 49 years old.

• YouTube – All age groups, from teens to adults to seniors, widely watch content on this platform.

• LinkedIn – A professional social network, often used by B2B companies.

• Pinterest – 71% of users are women, mostly between 18 and 49 years old.

• Instagram – Similar to Pinterest, but with users between 18 and 34 years old.

Also read: Social Ads: How to Use Social Media to Generate More Leads

Create the Right Content

Now that you’ve identified your target audience, gotten to know potential customers, and chosen the media you’ll use, it’s time to create content.

There’s a vast variety here, and you can invest in:

• Blog posts;
• Newsletters;
• Email marketing;
• Infographics;
• Webinars;
• Videos;
• Podcasts;

Once again, remember to focus on what makes the most sense for your audience and market segment. Aim to provide clear, objective information that enhances the customer experience.

Regularly Test Results to Measure and Improve ROI

Like all marketing strategies, growth marketing prioritizes data analysis.

After all, it’s only by tracking data and conducting regular tests that you’ll know how your strategies are progressing and what adjustments need to be made.

How Can Companies Use Growth Marketing?

By following the strategies presented in this article, you’ll already be implementing growth marketing.

Still, we’ve brought other alternatives for your company to use, whether internally or outsourced.

Branding specialist

 A branding specialist will help define your brand and ensure that your name and brand are recognized across various channels.

Content creation team 

As the name suggests, the content creation team will be responsible for creating a wide variety of posts, articles, videos, emails, etc., to boost engagement and results on platforms.

Acquisition specialists 

The acquisition specialist will know what your audience is looking for and what actions to take to regularly bring in new customers.

Social media professionals 

The social media team will manage your social platforms, planning posts, stories, and campaigns that will drive better results for your business.

SEO specialist 

If you want to boost and maintain good rankings in search engines like Google, count on an SEO specialist.

Learn more: Website Optimization: Should You Focus on SEO or Conversion?

Customer service specialists 

Public relations tasks, such as handling online feedback or complaints about your products and services, will be handled by customer service specialists.

Data analysts 

As we mentioned earlier, data analysis is essential for your strategy’s progress, so rely on a professional in this field.

Chief Information Officer (CIO) 

Finally, the CIO will be responsible for determining the overall direction of your campaign, ensuring that everything flows smoothly and without communication issues.

Examples and Case Studies of Growth Marketing

Even though we talk about contemporary Growth Marketing tools and techniques, that doesn’t mean the concept is a 21st-century novelty.

Different efforts from various areas contribute to Growth Marketing, and the techniques that are cataloged and shared worldwide today had to come from somewhere, right?

Many of them originated so far in the past that you might even be surprised.

To show you some successful examples of Growth Marketing, we need two perspectives: one for our times and another for those who worked in this field during our grandparents’ time.

Let’s start with the past:

Pepsodent

Pepsodent is one of the earliest examples of classic Growth Marketing, and the best part is that this success story can be fully explored in the book *Scientific Advertising* by Claude C. Hopkins.

The story begins in the early 20th century, in 1915. Hopkins, an advertising executive of the time, was approached by the owner of Pepsodent, who wanted to bring his new invention to market: a mint-flavored toothpaste with pepsin, which helps dissolve food debris on teeth.

The problem: only 7% of Americans brushed their teeth. How do you launch a new brand of a product no one had seen before in a market where less than 10% of the population would use it?

Yet, the brand succeeded. In about a decade, the 7% skyrocketed to over half of the population, largely due to Pepsodent’s relentless campaigns that focused not on oral diseases caused by poor hygiene, but on the beauty of a smile.

Where’s the Growth?

Growth Marketing in those early years, however, was measured not in months or weeks, but decades. Pepsodent went from an underdog with a new product that no one had ever seen or was interested in, to dominating global markets in 30 years.

Its biggest problem, however, was failing to add fluoride to the toothpaste, as its competitors were doing.

Apple

The 1980s were a whirlwind for the electronics industry. After the post-World War II industrial boom, the U.S. and Japan were fiercely competing in the home appliance market, and prices were lower than ever.

In the 1970s, the innovation of the century emerged in the form of microprocessors, and the U.S. created and dominated the personal computer market. IBM and Apple were the biggest brands at the time.

During the 1980s, under the leadership of Steve Jobs, Apple began to focus on the design of its PCs and user experience. In 1984, the true personal computer was invented: that was the year the Apple Macintosh was born.

Where’s the Growth?

Apple launched the Mac alongside the most influential commercial of the 1980s, and on the same night it aired — Super Bowl night! — over $3.5 million in sales were made.

You can watch the commercial below. The result of this Growth Marketing campaign, which involved product marketing, design, and word-of-mouth, is still unfolding to this day.

Microsoft

Microsoft couldn’t stay behind in this market revolution that Apple ignited.

The Macintosh had something no other computer of the time could offer: an unparalleled user experience based on graphical features.

What we do today, looking at the screen and seeing a visual representation of what we’re doing, didn’t exist before.

Apple started this journey with its MacOS, which was still in its infancy. Microsoft helped pave the rest of the way with Windows, launched in 1985, shortly after Apple’s commercial.

But that road was long and winding. Windows 3, the only system at the time capable of competing with Apple, was only released in the early 1990s. But in 1995, everything changed forever.

That year, Microsoft launched Windows 95. It was 100% graphical, allowed the installation of different applications, and came with an extra feature: any computer could use it.

Where’s the Growth?

With this strategy, Microsoft finally overtook Apple in market share. Analyzing the market, Bill Gates’ giant realized people were already assembling their own machines independently.

You didn’t need to buy a Microsoft computer to use Windows. By purchasing everything separately and assembling it, the operating system worked just the same, following the idea of Linux, which was gaining popularity among engineers and developers.

With this, Microsoft secured commercial partnerships that were impossible for Apple or IBM, which sold not just the operating system but the entire computer.

This inaugurated a new phase of growth for Microsoft: suddenly, the overwhelming majority of computers sold in any country came with Windows pre-installed from the factory.

And each of those Windows licenses went directly to Microsoft, which, with this move, not only positioned itself as the largest player, dethroning Apple and IBM but also inaugurated the global software market.

Volkswagen

The automotive sector has always been highly competitive, ever since the first Fords hit the market.

During the Ford Model T era, there were already dozens of car manufacturers in the U.S., but few had the discipline needed to create an assembly line. It was this technology that allowed Ford to dominate the market.

Fast forward to World War II: enormous industries were set up around the world. Their specialty? Mechanical engineering.

And that’s where our Growth Marketing case begins:

Where’s the Growth?

Post-war, Germany’s Volkswagen had the perfect prototype for something that didn’t yet exist in the world: the popular car, represented by the Volkswagen Beetle — or the beloved “Fusca.”

Volkswagen arrived in the U.S., the world’s largest car market at the time, in 1949. In its first year, only two units of the “Victory Wagon” (VW) were sold. Five years later, that number jumped to 5 million.

Volkswagen’s growth stemmed from the invention of a new concept in cars: the popular car should be affordable, fuel-efficient, low-maintenance, and comfortable.

These are the same parameters we use today, nearly 100 years later.

MTV

In the 1980s, the world had just undergone a major musical revolution. New technologies allowed for musical experiments never seen before. But it was MTV that broke new ground by combining music and video.

Before MTV, the idea of creating an original music video to accompany a song simply didn’t exist. At most, artists would do a live performance — often fake — and overlay the music.

What the channel did was create a space dedicated to music videos. With bands like Talking Heads leading the New Wave music style, the original music video was just starting to take shape.

Where’s the Growth?

By partnering directly with artists and record labels, MTV created both the space and the market for music videos at the same time.

Before them, music on television was only seen in live shows. With this new format, easier to digest and cooler, MTV gained 2 million viewers in less than a year.

NHS

The NHS is the UK’s equivalent of Brazil’s SUS. No other public health service has used marketing as effectively as the NHS throughout its existence, and during the 1980s and 90s, the NHS was the global standard for healthcare and medical marketing.

But its growth skyrocketed during the pandemic. The NHS was already known to all Britons by then, but between 2020 and 2022, that recognition became global.

Where’s the Growth?

During the pandemic, the NHS showed the world how health marketing should operate, inspiring the positioning of several other brands involved in efforts to curb the pandemic — including Brazil’s SUS, the WHO, and even the Butantan Institute.

During the pandemic, the NHS, which previously had YouTube video views that peaked at tens of thousands, suddenly saw interest in its content skyrocket to seemingly unreal percentages.

The video below, for example, garnered over 1.7 million views. And that was just one video. It alone had more views than all the videos the channel posted in 2018 combined.

And it was the first video on the channel to hit the 1 million view mark. Throughout 2018, the combined videos brought in about 800,000 views.

Throughout the pandemic, the NHS continued its digital efforts, combining YouTube, newsletters, and social media to bring even more recognition to its channel and, of course, to make the NHS known worldwide.

So, what do you think of these examples from the past? With the NHS, we’ve almost reached the present 😅

How about continuing this conversation by discussing some contemporary examples, especially in the SaaS market?

Let’s proceed:

Slack

All of this came from recognizing what the market needed: a corporate communication tool and internal marketing that could adapt to any use.  

The world was waiting for an app as interactive and simple as Slack. Through hundreds of integrations, teams managed to structure all their communication and work processes. Today, those who use Slack wouldn’t switch for anything.  

Where’s the Growth?

Slack went from 0 users to over 10 million in 5 years. If that’s not successful Growth Marketing, what is?  

The startup was founded in 2013, and by 2018 — when it made its IPO, its stock market debut — its valuation reached US$ 7 billion. To this day, it’s one of the biggest growth cases in startups worldwide.  

In 2022, Slack reported revenue of over US$ 900 million, putting it on par with the largest corporate communication products in the world: Discord, Google Chat, and Microsoft Teams.  

In fact, this link tells the whole story of the disputes between Slack and Microsoft. It’s worth reading for those who enjoy the startup universe.  

Growth Hackers

No one better represents Growth Marketing than the company that practically defined what Growth means.  

In its early operations, Growth Hackers managed to get about 90,000 users in 3 or 4 months. And then growth stopped.  

Its business model at the time was simple: the company sold project management software while offering support to its community of growth hackers, creating articles, courses, etc.  

The halt in growth was the company’s worst nightmare. A company with that name can’t afford to stagnate. It’s like a bakery without bread.  

See how they managed to turn things around:  

Where’s the Growth?

The turnaround, however, came very quickly. Growth Hackers had the largest hiring period in its history during this stagnation phase, and everyone in the company had one concern: how can I innovate today?

By investing in content, getting influencer support, launching major marketing campaigns, and completely revamping their product, GH pulled itself out of this slump and resumed growth.  

And the growth was explosive. In one month, the company jumped from about 80,000 users to over 150,000, growing at a faster pace than in its best periods.  

PayPal

PayPal’s growth in the U.S. was driven by the banks: there, virtual payments had always been very complicated. Online payments with credit cards were cumbersome and required entering the full number every time.  

PayPal created a product that simply didn’t exist at the time: a virtual wallet. You add money to the wallet, and its balance is accepted by partner stores.  

It’s like Pix before Pix. And in a country where the banking system is only now becoming more digital, PayPal enjoyed a prosperous reign.  

Where’s the Growth?

One sentence can summarize almost the entire article: PayPal was launched in 2000. And in 2002, it was bought by eBay for US$ 1.5 billion.  

Although PayPal is not as widely used in Brazil, which is traditionally innovative in the banking sector and already offered most of the conveniences PayPal provided, it has remained irreplaceable in the U.S.  

Only now are apps like Venmo and CashApp beginning to steal the spotlight from PayPal, thanks to their ability to handle real money rather than credit card transactions.  

Zapier

Before API integrations became as simple as they are today, Zapier dominated the SaaS world.  

Take the example of Slack: today, it integrates with virtually any well-known app, offering previews, delivering notifications from other tools, and even responding to emails.  

In the past, apps like these were rare. Slack itself was rare in this regard, and that’s one of the main reasons for its success.  

Zapier came along to connect everything to everything. Your apps didn’t need to connect to each other: they just needed to connect to Zapier.  

Incredibly, the idea didn’t take off right away. Y Combinator, a startup accelerator, refused to fund the tool.  

But the developers held on where they could, and today, the company has surpassed US$ 5 billion in market value.  

Tools a Growth Professional Should Use

To facilitate and optimize your growth marketing strategy, let’s look at a few tools.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is an essential tool for analyzing, setting goals, and tracking traffic to your website.

Google Tag Manager

To delve even deeper into the metrics established in your growth marketing plan, Google Tag Manager is fundamental.

NPS Surveys

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) tool will show you your customers’ satisfaction level, an important metric for monitoring a lead’s retention potential.

Hotjar

To assess your site’s user experience, use Hotjar. The tool conducts surveys, creates heat maps, and visualizes browsing recordings.

Cohort Analyses

Finally, Cohort Analysis is a growth tool that evaluates customer acquisition based on entry periods.  

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So, are you ready to implement growth marketing strategies in your business?

If you want to achieve even better results, there’s one more strategy to invest in: Conversational Marketing.  

This tactic promises to engage in real-time, personalized conversations with your visitors to assist them in their purchasing decision process.  

If you’re ready to put it into practice, start now with a 14-day free trial of Leadster’s Conversational Marketing Chatbot!