Shatter Your Agency's Goals with These 7 Growth Hacking Strategies

Growth hacking is a concept that's rapidly gaining traction among business owners and marketers.

Inspired by the inefficiencies of traditional practices, creative entrepreneurs are seeking out ways to scale quickly and intelligently. Thought leaders are creating and implementing new growth tactics that can help new agencies reach their sales goals faster.

However, not everyone is in love with the idea of “hacking.”

In this article, we'll clear up any misconceptions you may have about growth hacking. We'll show you some examples of hacks in action, and teach you some proven strategies that can help you reach your agency goals this coming year.

What Is Growth Hacking?

Growth hacking is the practice of utilizing carefully selected, cost-effective marketing techniques to achieve scalability and growth quickly.

Businesses and marketers have set expectations of what needs to be done to maintain the status quo. You need to publish content to your site, optimize for SEO, run paid campaigns, and get on social media.

However, every online business is practicing the same exact tried-and-true techniques to boost its discoverability and sales. As a result, the digital marketing landscape is aggressively competitive and it can take longer than desired to achieve growth. No matter how you cut it, maintaining a successful brand requires patience and determination.

Forward-thinking business leaders aren't satisfied with current progress. They're now leveraging resources to uncover new ways that might lead to more rapid growth. However, they need to do so without neglecting daily responsibilities or placing a financial burden on the agency.

This effectively describes a growth hacker's mindset.

Image Source: FourWeekMBA

A growth hacker is interested in testing new methods of digital marketing. They're aiming to disrupt the normal flow and reach new customers quickly while using minimal expenses and resources. Safe and effective growth stems from selling more while spending as little as possible to do so.

Growth Hacker vs Growth Marketer

If you research the growth hackerspace, you're going to come across the term growth marketer.

Both are effectively the same idea.

The reason for the name difference is the inherent stigma that comes with the term “hacker.” “Hacking” is a loaded term that leads people to think of:

• Taking shortcuts
• Cheating the system
• Taking advantage of others
• Stealing success without providing value

Thus, growth hacking becomes a misnomer for many. Instead, they opt for the term growth marketer to veer away from negative connotations and emphasize the importance of their work.

The truth is that there is no way to cheat the system. Marketers have certainly tried, which is why there are a variety of black hat techniques like link selling, cloaking, or PBNs. Eventually, Google catches on and blacklists the genuine “hackers” to maintain fair, competitive results.

Calling yourself a growth hacker versus a growth marketer amounts to preference. Neither are abusing any systems. Instead, they're exceptionally skilled and knowledgeable marketers and salespeople that aren't afraid to risks and experiment with standard marketing practices. They demonstrate a deep understanding of the product and the audience in order to expedite results.

Image Source: Grow with Ward

Growth Hacking Benefits

Since most traditional marketing techniques require patience before you see their results, growth hacking tactics help you scale intelligently sooner.

Growth hacking techniques like paid advertising on social media channels like TikTok help you improve your cash flow. You can use this additional revenue to further boost your business.

The greatest benefit of implementing such tactics is that they help you overcome initial business costs and the investment required to implement traditional marketing methods.

Discovering and implementing new cost-effective solutions before others provides you an edge over your competition.

Growth Hacking Examples

To demonstrate the viability of growth hacking, let's take a look at some examples from brands you may know.

Growth Hacking Example 1 - Constant Contact's Free Trial

Constant Contact is one of the most popular email marketing automation platforms available. They help other brands like yours boost their engagement and sales by enabling you to deliver smart email marketing campaigns.

Their growth hack is to let your agency in on the action at zero cost.

The free trial is fairly standard practice. Most companies offer seven to thirty days depending on the nature of the service. Constant Contact saw room to beat those offers and provides two full months of nearly-complete access.

This is a substantial amount of time to allow prospects to get integrated. They're not investing any expense, so there's zero risk as they experiment with the various features. By the end of the trial period, they are likely to invest a lot of effort into the platform to get the most out of the offer.

Getting people familiar with your service is essential for growth. But, allowing those users to fall in love with the product is one of the best ways to build a larger community. But, what do you do after the offer ends?

Constant Contact allows users to keep their progress for the low cost of $10. Not only is this relatively affordable for almost anyone, but it's also a no-brainer investment for an agency. It's easier to keep working within the platform you've been using to upend your business and move it elsewhere after two months.

Bear in mind that this company can do this because of its existing scale and revenue. The decision isn't as simple as giving it away for free. Their accountants ran a cost-benefit analysis of providing such a benefit and presumably predicted furthered growth and sales as a result.

When curating your free trial, think about what you want to provide versus what you can afford. Smart scaling must minimize expenses while reaching as many new consumers as possible.

Growth Hacking Example 2 - MeUndies Ongoing Referral Program

If you follow channels online or listen to podcasts, you've heard of MeUndies.

This trendy underwear and clothing brand became a household name thanks to its catchy name, product quality, and reach. Much of that brand awareness comes from influencer marketing, which we'll get to later in this article.

For this growth hacking example, we're focusing on retention. MeUndies retains customers by offering them a strong referral program.

Existing customers get their own referral code. They share this with others to bring attention to the brand and to bring them more sales. The reward for doing this is a $20 credit every time a person makes a purchase of $12 or more.

That credit is effectively the cost of pair of underwear or a couple of pairs of socks. The savings incentive is huge when asking your audience to spread the word.

However, MeUndies knows its capabilities with this program. The stipulation of requiring a minimum spend ensures that the program remains profitable and worthwhile. They may be giving you a strong discount, but they're hacking their way to more customers and sales with each new referral.

Growth Hacking Example 3 - Google Drive's Free Storage

Google is a household name. Countless users under their umbrella make use of their office products by making them free to use. Among these is Google Drive, an online storage space to compete with the likes of DropBox or OneDrive.

Google makes use of a common hacking strategy by giving away its product for free - with limitations. It costs nothing for users to create a Google account and gain access to 15 GB of free storage space.

For comparison, the two aforementioned competitors offer 2 GB and 5 GB respectively. Google's size and recognition grant it the ability to provide a much stronger incentive to become a part of its ecosystem. You're then able to easily store and share files from other Google office programs like Sheets, Docs, and Slides.

While 15 GB for free is generous, Google makes it easy for businesses to get their entire team on board by offering a plan for just $12. They recognize how powerful their offer is and carefully planned this upgrade point knowing that this hacking strategy will work.

Growth Hacking Strategies

Growing an agency quickly is possible, but you need to know how to make it happen.

There are several key components of digital marketing that agencies must make careful use of to improve key performance indicators. Keep your current growth strategies in mind when checking out these seven crucial growth hacking tactics.

1. Reinvent Your Content Strategy

Content is the cornerstone of every message you send to your audience online.

Content touches upon all of the following areas, making them inextricably connected:

• Organic Search (SEO)
• Website copy
• Blogs
• PPC Campaigns
• Email Marketing
• Video Marketing

This is why it's baffling to see so many brands put little effort or care into their content creation or delivery strategies. Thousands of brands are vying for your attention online daily, and you only have a few seconds to capture their attention. Your agency is no different in this struggle.

There are tactics you can implement to get more mileage out of your content. Try introducing these to your content team and start measuring your results.

A. Repurpose High-Converting Content

When you make more than you spend on creating something, it's considered a great investment.

High-converting content should be treated no differently.

We focus particularly on your content that is already creating sales as it's an established success. Instead of snuffing out that flame, consider the ways you can repurpose that content for other channels.

For example, your agency creates a video for a paid ad campaign that generated great returns. The video is filled with valuable, actionable information that the general audience can benefit from.

Now that you've gotten the mileage out of your paid campaign, repurpose that video for other social channels. You can upload it to YouTube. You can edit our specific segments to create Instagram Reels or TikToks. We know that the content is valuable, so we just need to optimize it for an audience on a different platform.

This gets a better return on your content efforts both by way of conversions and consumer feedback. You can use those insights to guide future content creation and craft the right material for each marketing channel.

B. Go to Your Community

This seems obvious, right?

If you're a company selling homeowner's insurance, then why would you try to market to renters? They're not interested in what you have to say, and you're wasting resources that could be better spent elsewhere.

The same principle applies to marketing online. Your agency needs to understand its target audience so that you can find out where to reach them.

A great way to do this is by building out your buyer persona. Understand important details like the ideal age range, location, occupation, income level, and any other detail that's of relevance. Then, check out the existing to determine where those demographics spend their time most online.

C. Make It Into Roundups

The Roundup article is an amazing tool for helping brands build their backlink profile.

An important part of your organic search strategy is to earn links and recommendations from other established brands. Ideally, you're looking to forge connections with others in your industry that share similar values, ideas, and expertise. When a site with SEO value links back to your site, it can help boost rankings and help more users discover your agency.

Achieving this takes work. You'll need to work on building your brand recognition, preferably by creating some valuable and thought-leading content. Once more of the community begins to get familiar with your name, they'll be more willing to collaborate with you on projects. It's a business transaction just like any other.

D. Experiment With Alternate Content Styles

Content marketing is never static. What works well today will likely change by this time next year. For this reason, you shouldn't keep repeating the same formula and expect your results to improve for scalability.

What we're not suggesting is for you to go completely off-brand. Your future content still should adhere to your company voice, values, and ideas. Instead, start split-testing different variations of content to see what resonates more with your audience.

Also, be vigilant with current trends. Studies show that more than 90% of teenagers and adults consume videos regularly online. As we see more platforms place a greater focus on video formats (Facebook Stories, Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts), we can identify how audiences prefer to consume content.

What type of content you create and how to deliver it will vary depending on your core audience. By taking the time to research and gain an understanding of the consumer, you'll naturally learn what type of content to create and where you should upload it.

E. Create Intent-Based Content

The days of boosting your discoverability online with keyword stuffing are long gone.

The content that earns the highest rankings and the most traffic is content created with clear intention. Google's algorithm now understands how well your content answers the demands and needs of its users.

You need to pay close attention to the intention behind the keywords you choose. Different words or phrases come loaded with assumed or additional meanings that we call semantics. When you understand the semantics of a keyword, you're better equipped to create content that converts.

For example, when someone searches “smartphone comparison,” we can understand two things:

• The person is looking for a clear breakdown of similarities and differences between brands and their product.
• Because they’re looking for the best product, they’re likely closer to making a purchase on their buyer’s journey.

We give those users exactly what they need. By understanding the intention, you now know to create a killer comparison page that highlights what makes your brand superior to any competition. You're not trying to make the hard sell. You're allowing your audience to review the facts and make smart decisions for themselves. When the facts are on your side, you come out the clear winner.

Keep intention in mind anytime you choose a topic or keyword to tackle. Respect your audience's needs and the results will follow.

2. Try Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing has changed the game for marketers and growth hackers in recent years. It's highly effective regardless of what business goals a brand has set. Here are some of the reasons you should try influencer marketing.

A. An Exploding Marketing Channel

Influencer marketing has exploded in the past five to seven years, especially in the past decade. Hundreds of thousands of marketing campaigns have been successfully executed with the help of influencers since 2018. Influencer marketing has become an integral part of the marketing mix for most brands, and they are benefiting from it in different ways.

B. Helps Build Trust and ROI

Influencer marketing builds a high level of trust, which is why brands are investing more in influencer marketing. It's also influenced by the increasing ROI from influencer marketing spend. The 2015 Tomoson study reported that marketers generated an ROI of $6.50 from every dollar spent on influencers. It was ridiculously high compared to other marketing channels, and you'll be pleased to learn that it's increasing yearly.

The influencer market grew from $9.7 billion in 2020 to $13.8 billion in 2021. It's projected to soar to a whopping $16.4 billion in 2022.

C. Helps in Increasing Brand Exposure

Influencer marketing is a proven method to boost brand awareness, a crucial factor in pipeline building and consistently increasing sales and revenue in the long run.

Pro Tip: Collaborate with well-known influencers on social media to reach a wider audience. Look for influencers having over 50,000+ followers, as they are the most impactful.

3. Implement Rewarding Retention Tactics

Returning customers can easily convert, and the best way to bring them back is to introduce rewards, offers, and discounts. You should also use personalization. Customers want to be treated like individuals, and you can do it by personalizing recommendations.

You must create a program to reward your loyal customers. According to research, an average person enjoys roughly 15 loyalty programs. Here are some of the loyalty programs you can try, but you should do your homework before implementing any of these loyalty programs.

• Tiered Loyalty Program
• Spend Programs
• Points Loyalty Program
• Fee-Based Loyalty Program
• Cash Back Loyalty Program
• Punch Program

Try sending newsletters with exclusive content offers. You can also introduce member-only discounts and bonus features to reward loyal customers.

4. Test and Optimize Your Paid Ad Campaigns

Refrain from sticking to safe formulas when running paid ad campaigns. It would help if you tried A/B testing etc. You can also test different ad creatives with split-testing and allow these insights to guide you when designing ad creatives and crafting marketing messages.

It shouldn't be a one-time activity. People want something new and exciting every time. So, you should consistently fine-tune your efforts.

Last but not least, make it easy to convert. If it's a form that your prospects need to fill out, make it instantly available and keep it short. Don't make them fill out lengthy forms spread over multiple pages. People may soon bounce off with such annoying stuff.

5.Create Brand Partnerships

As a growth hacker, you should try innovative tactics. Find other companies with audiences that can mutually benefit each other. Attend live events to meet industry figures and well-known personalities. Networking brings amazing rewards for startups.

Use personality as a strength. People become aware of your brand and products when you network with other brands and register your presence in your neighborhood by participating in industry events and community service programs.

Image Source: ResoluteB2B

6. Get Direct Feedback

According to Entrepreneur magazine, great marketing starts with understanding and empathizing with your customer. Asking for direct feedback helps you improve your services and brings you closer to your customers. For most customers, asking for feedback means a lot. You can use it to inform your biggest messaging decisions and data enrichment. You can also use customer feedback to surprise and delight your customers.

Customers feel empowered and become loyal to the brand that asks for feedback. Content marketers use it to create attention-getting, lead-generating content.

You can also use it as a mechanism to match your customers' expectations and work on addressing the complaint. Besides that, customer feedback also helps in pricing and packaging decisions.

7. Give Something Away for Free

People love free stuff. You can offer the following as a free gift as an agency.

A. InstaReports:InstaReports is a DashClicks app that generates instant performance reports for different campaigns. As an agency, you can offer it to your clients as a gift. It comes with DashClicks' white-label platform.

B. InstaSites:InstaSites is a DashClicks app that helps you develop high-quality content-ready websites. The tool makes creating bulk websites a breeze. It solves a big issue your customers face, so they will love this gift.

C. Storage Space: Storage space is another gift that businesses need and love. Enterprises have limited storage, and any such offering will be more than welcome.

D. Limited Account Access: Limited account access allows customers to try your product or platform. When they experience its benefits and get used to it, they ask for more and usually convert.

E. Free Samples: It’s a very old tactic product marketers practice. Providing free samples is the best way to make your prospects try your product without buying it. Once they experience it and find it good, they shop for it at the market.

Conclusion

Growth is an increasing challenge for agencies. Creative marketing campaigns are not conducted regularly; hence, these are highly unpredictable as the audiences are unfamiliar with them.

Amid such stiff competition, growth hacking strategies become the only solution. You can't resolve all of your customer's pain points, so you shouldn't wait to implement strategies that yield higher returns than traditional marketing practices.