What is Growth Marketing?

Megan Cagigas , Senior Account Manager

Megan Cagigas

Senior Account Manager

Meet Megan. #boymom and mycophile who loves all things West Coast. Organization and details are her game, and keeping things on track is her passion. She's excited to work with clients who are looking to grow brand presence and awareness in the digital space through just about any avenue.

January 30, 2023 | Gain Knowledge

Grow, baby, grow! What is growth marketing?

Simply put, growth marketing is a strategy used to drive sustainable growth for a business by focusing on customer acquisition, retention, and optimization. It is a holistic approach to digital marketing that combines data analytics and user experience to define an iterative, tailored strategy. Growth marketing focuses on achieving long-term success by understanding the customer journey, optimizing the product or service to meet customer needs, and leveraging data to inform experimentation. We love data and informed decision making (see #4 in the next section) which you’ll note in our blog on the digital marketing basics.

Common Types of Growth Marketing

There are several types or areas of growth marketing, and it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation.

You’ll want to have detailed goals outlined for each area and share them with internal and external stakeholders and partners so you are aligned. This sets clear goals and expectations at the start of your relationship and makes it easy to measure success. Common types of growth marketing include:

  1. Content Marketing: the creation and promotion of content to drive audience engagement and generate leads. This content can be blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, and more. Blog content specifically helps drive users to the site and convert traffic to leads. Bonus points: it can also double as social content! Read more about the benefits of blogging.
  2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): the optimization of web pages and other online content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This includes optimizing for distinct keywords and phrases your users utilize, creating backlinks, and creating content that is optimized for search engines. Optimized for search engines is the process of making improvements to your site to improve visibility for search engines like Google and Bing.
  3. Paid Search Advertising: digital marketing activities that involve creating ads and paying for them to be displayed on various online platforms. This includes search engine marketing (SEM), display ads, video ads, and social media ads. You know, the Metas, Googles, YouTubes and the Bings of the world.
  4. Paid Social Media Marketing: paid social media marketing involves creating content for paid social and engaging with followers on social media platforms. This can include organic content, running paid ads, and engaging with followers to build relationships and brand awareness.
  5. Split Testing (A/B Testing): a method of comparing two versions of a page, digital advertising or a piece of content to determine which one performs better. This is used to determine which elements of a page or content are most effective in driving conversions and engagement. The cool thing about split testing is that you can utilize that data to improve user-experience on your site. This is also known as conversion rate optimization (CRO). Basically, optimizing your site for users to convert to leads.

What are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Growth Marketing?

The list of KPIs below is not exhaustive, and each business should review and tailor them to the respective goals. Here are a few of the most common KPIs:

  1. Conversion Rate: The percentage of all visitors who take a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter, downloading an app, or making a purchase [our favorite].
  2. Retention rate: The percentage of customers who remain loyal to a company over time, typically Year-over-year.
  3. Engagement Rate: The percentage of users who interact with content or take an action on a website, social media ad or a paid search ad. Think: like, comment, subscribe.
  4. Traffic Sources: Where customers originated when they visit a website. Traffic sources include direct and referred traffic from paid advertising or email marketing efforts.

Here are a couple of common KPIs specific for retail and e-commerce:

  1. Average Order Value (AOV): The average amount of money a customer spends per order.
  2. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU): The average amount of money a customer spends over the lifetime of their relationship with a company.
  3. Customer lifetime value (CLV): The total value of a customer’s purchases over the course of their relationship with a company.

Is Growth Marketing Right For Me?

Growth marketing is a great fit for any organization, large or small, that is looking to increase its customer base and grow its revenue. Depending on your business size and goals, there are many tactics you can use to drive growth.

Before you invest in growth marketing, you’ll want to consider the type of customers you want to reach, which channels you have access to, and the resources you have available. If you have the resources and the commitment to build a strategy that works for your business, then you should strongly consider growth marketing to meet your goals.

What Should I Look For in a Growth Marketing Agency?

There are several qualities to look for when selecting an agency that fits your business. Firstly, experience. Select an agency that has a proven track record of success. Don’t be afraid to ask to see case studies of projects that meet the deliverables you’re looking to achieve. Be sure to find out what verticals or categories they specialize in and whether they have the expertise to deliver the results you are looking for.

A well-rounded growth marketing agency should be able to adjust its strategies and tactics to meet your specific needs and industry. Make sure the agency is transparent and communicative about its methods and results. Ask to meet the team you might work with to see if it’s a good personality fit. While it’s something you measure with your heart, a gut feeling of the team involved goes a long way in the relationship. This ties in with the transparency piece, but be sure to ask about and understand the pricing structure to ensure it’s in line with your budget.

If you’re nodding your head as you’re reading this, maybe it’s time we connect.

Did I mention we’re quite experienced, have proven results, are communicative, transparent and an all-around good group of people to collaborate with?

 

Let’s do it!

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