This is what you need to know about Growth Hacking

The point is that "build it and they will come" isn’t true. You need to build it, and then show them exactly how it can be used, and then show them several explicit examples of why it’s powerful, and then they might come. - Dick Costolo in 2007

Product building and product marketing used to be mutually exclusive. Eventually something funny happened. Some people who were in charge of marketing realized they could use methods from the engineering departments to do better marketing. Enter the Growth Hacker.

Just like marketing, the goal of Growth Hacking is to acquire and retain customers. But the Growth Hacker is empowered with marketing methods AS WELL AS engineering methods to get it done. (Disclaimer: I'm not including design in this discussion. This is because great design is critical to both engineering and marketing, so I take it as a given). 

The reason why Growth Hackers can be so effective is because 1) they are capable of using and understanding data in a way traditional marketers usually are not and 2) have the training to build better products themselves. It's not magic, it just makes good sense. 

Engineering and marketing are both broad fields. So to say Growth Hacking will replace marketing is as silly as saying Growth Hacking will replace engineering. HOWEVER, the implications of Growth Hacking are much much more significant for marketers. Let me edit the title of this post a bit.

This is what you need to know about Growth Hacking and the future of marketing

The product and marketing worlds have collided. Well actually, they collided a long time ago, but the recent rise of the Growth Hacker is forcing marketing to evolve faster. This is a good thing. Marketers should be product makers. Marketing should be delightful and built into the products they are intended to serve. This is the implication of Growth Hacking. 

If you want to learn more about this you can watch my interview on Growth Hacker TV here.

It's really important to understand that Growth Hacking is not a singular job or study, rather it's a collection of disciplines used to pursue business growth. Here is a list of awesome Growth Hackers that have influenced me in some way.

3 growth hackers walk into a bar. 40 growth hackers walk into a bar. 500 growth hackers walk into a bar. @pv @SeanEllis http://t.co/B9ujvEZ4

— Nathan Zaru (@yes) September 25, 2012

Sean Ellis
Brian Balfour
Andrew Chen
Josh Elman
Lincoln Murphy
Sean Work
Mattan Griffel
Noah Kagan
Andy Johns
Neil Patel
Patrick Vlaskovits

For more Growth Hacking resources, check out
GrowthHackers.com
Growth Hacker TV 
Growth Hacker Marketing

One more thing...
Just like in marketing, one of the most basic goals of Growth Hacking is to figure out how to convince your prospects to do the thing that helps your business in some way. There are ethical consquences to influencing someone to do something.  Here's the catch: good and bad are magnified more quickly on the internet than anywhere else. So there are serious ethical considerations to Growth Hacking that perhaps do not exist in traditional marketing. Is all growth necessarily good? You need to calculate who bears the burden of your growth before you go after it. Here's a good rule of thumb -- make it delightful for everyone involved. 


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thanks for reading, you can find me @yes
quote from Dick Costolo