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What is Growth Hacking?

What is Growth Hacking?

Hi guys. Do you have ever heard this word “Growth Hacking”? Some of you already look around. And I know that because 90.000 of you guys are searching every month in Google what’s Growth Hacking. Don’t you believe me? Look at this chart from Google Trends!

growth hacking

Let’s see what is Growth Hacking

Nothing scaring. It’s something I realized some years ago, because one of my students asked me: “What is a Growth Hacker?” So what is this? Don’t worry it’s nothing to be scared of.
Hackers are people entering in your computer, stealing your data, your pictures, your identity and your money, even while you’re sleeping! But Growth Hacking is a completely different story.

Growth Hackers are people with the typically IT mindset
that they know how to get clients from the Internet.

And not only clients. They look at your company charts, at your company numbers, and they figure out what are those little parameters, what are those little things that can be changed and make sure that you get improving your sales.
This is growth hacking, and Growth Hackers are getting more and more popular among the new culture. Most of them are millennials, you rarely see very old growth hackers! So, I’m probably one of the very few…!

 

Is Growth Hacking only for Startups or even big companies?

It’s interesting to know that not only Startups are growing with this methodology. Even large corporates, because every single day they hire Growth Hackers to get new ideas.

Let me tell you a story.

growing chartOne day my wife came home very very excited. Why? Because she just purchased the Apple Watch. So she was very excited not just because she bought the Apple Watch, but because of the experience she got in the shop. And then she told me that with Apple Watch she can do yoga, even the watch she’s telling her when to breath, stand, drink water… I mean… She became totally addicted and totally dependent by machines.

But the interesting, first, was the experience that she got. She purchased from a Mall of the Emirates, the Apple Store in Dubai and she told me there were so many passionate employees, kind to explain what the Apple Watch was. Actually, not even just explaining, but letting her try before purchasing. And even more: inviting her for a training session, so that she can learn about them, from the beginning even before purchasing the product.

I was even more excited than her because I realized that now the Digital Marketing techniques are going mainstream. Even Apple understands the importance of providing free trainings to their potential customers and to their existing customers. Because they know the more their customers know how to use their products, they will buy more products.

The interesting fact is that right now, in the Emirates, there are 180 employees for the Apple Store. That’s a massive number. That’s an army of employees. And this is what you need to make your company successful: an army of passionate trainers that they teach your products, your services like nobody else. And this is the reason why people are so loyal to Apple. Because it’s true that Apple products are very very simple to use, but it’s even better because when you have somebody explaining you how the product works, you buy even easily. Right?

 

Now, what can we learn from this?

That even companies like Apple are applying Digital Marketing tactics, which are not typically the online staff, but the offline staff. But using exactly the same idea and the same methodology as the online one. That’s why they’re so successful!

Apple everyday is building constantly advocates: people that love the product so much that they are ready to fight for it. So, if you are an Apple lover, what do you think if I tell you that iPhone is a crap phone?! You wanna kill me right now, right?! And I know that, because Apple is so good in building advocates within every single customer. That’s why when your friend tells you that Samsung is better… you wanna kill him! Because you know that Apple is better!

 

Now, we’re not here judging what’s better.
We’re here to build advocates
through Growth Hacking techniques.

 

How else we can use Growth Hacking?

We can even use Growth Hacking to manage companies. I know very good phenomena that are managing their daily activities with Growth Hacking techniques. They manage their agenda, even their meetings with Growth Hacking techniques.

I don’t know if it’s never happened to you, that you book a meeting with somebody and send you an invitation to a special calendar and through that calendar you book the appointment. That’s another simple trick.

marketing growth chartNow, at the time of my father there used to be secretaries and personal assistance. Now this job is done 99% by technology. And we can expect even more, thanks to artificial intelligence and chat-bots. That’s one of the latest tricks that’s in the pockets of the Growth Hackers. With the chat-bots, probably some of you don’t even know what it is. You can Google it, it’s the best way!

 

These are automatic systems that understand what you need and they give you exactly that, by simply interacting with a chat machine. Like when you chat with your best friend, your brother or your mother and you send your pictures to them. You can do the same things by interacting not with the Customer Service human being, but with the Customer Service artificial intelligence software.

It sounds scary! We’re not in the Terminator age, don’t worry, nobody’s gonna come after you. But we have to understand that the ones that we know is shifting so fast that if you don’t keep up, soon or later our company is gonna close. No matter how big and fast or strong is your company.

 

You need to adapt as fast and possible
to every new tool and technique
that make your company successful.

 

What can we get out of it?

We can get a lot of interesting topics that you’re gonna see at the Growth Hacking Day during the Global Digital Marketing Summit (GDMS).
I’m waiting for you!

Prof.Christian Farioli About the author

CEO, Digital Marketing Lecturer & Best Selling Book Author. Digital marketing pioneer since 2003, Digital Lecturer for the Digital Marketing Institute, Informa and PwC. He has spoken at more than 130 international conferences, including GOOGLE, NASA & Davos, trained and advised more than 16000 executives in 4 continents, from Armani, Bayer, Jumeirah Burj Al Arab, Etisalat, Huawei, ADNOC, Ferrari, just to name a few. He has formerly worked with Oracle in Italy, Spain and Ireland. He owns several businesses and advise clients on Digital Marketing Strategy, Performance, Inbound Marketing, Web Analytics and AI Digital Transformation. After 12 Awards, including Oracle Innovation Award, a Microsoft AI competition, and launching Digital Campaigns for major Banks, Events, Media, Telco, Hospitality, Real Estate, Healthcare and Pharma, his Digital Agency in Dubai has been awarded Agency of the Future. His book become a best seller in just one month.