Growth Hackers – Stripped Down

5 years ago, no one had ever heard of the term “Growth Hacker.” But since Sean Ellis, a start-up marketing guru, coined the term in 2010, the term evolved from being just a buzzword to an almost abused term. Since then, growth hacking has been an and a growing number of people would want to become a growth hacker. It becomes a serious career that almost anyone would want to have. He said, “A growth hacker is a person whose true north is growth. Everything they do is scrutinized by its potential impact on scalable growth.”

The first thing that pops up in our minds when we hear the term “hacker” is someone who breaks into computer software in any illegal way. But when the whole world became abuzz with growth hacking, we have perceived a different “hackers” altogether. We usually associate them with brilliant minds who can solve problems using innovative ideas to boost the growth of the company. Stripped down from all the prestige, a growth hacker must first of all have the ability to take responsibility for the growth of the company. Equally important is having an entrepreneurial drive. Growth hackers are a mashup of creativity, curiosity and data. Hence, these qualities should be present: The qualities (1) to think big; (2) meet challenges; and (3) to analyze data.

The Quality to Think Big

A successful growth hacker should have the habit of exploring new ways that deeply ingrained into their system. Technology should be their new best bud. They should have a lingering curiosity on product usage, innovation, and how to improve user experience. He does not stop when he finds out the answer and if growth has attained. Rather, he desires to have customer mindset. From zero marketing budget, they should think big to explore the practical applications marketing, innovation and reinventing.

The Quality to Meet Challenges

The biggest challenge that growth hackers face is how to build a success platform with limited budget. A growth hacker has a brilliant mind to think of fresh ideas to connect with customers. He goes on seeking frontiers from unknown territories to find company growth. To meet challenges, he should be quick to design the best approach to satisfy the customers. Successful growth hackers are driven not only by a curious mind but also operate across company functions. This allows them to have a systematic approach to achieve growth faster.

The Quality to Analyze Data

We can never disregard the value of data in growth hacking. It is very important in creating, designing, measuring, and analyzing which are used in critical decision making and problem solving. Hence, a true growth hacker should be able to search rigorously through the data. By mapping geographical locations, he can discover important patterns that encourage customers to be more engaging. Data and analytics are critical to how growth is discovered. He is open to use business intelligence tools like a mapping software to look for patterns – a necessity to ignite new ideas and inspirations. His focus is to attain growth and by utilizing the power of maps as a data visualization platform, he comes to realize new actionable ways to achieve growth in half the time.

Indeed, curiosity, creativity and data go hand in hand for successful growth hackers.