Growing a business takes time; we all know that. The problem is that slow growth is difficult to distinguish for no growth at all, and if a company isn't growing, it's declining. This can significantly impact its chances of long-term success or even its existence.

That's why the idea of growth hacking is so appealing—finding the secret that drives a company's growth and using it to boost a business's expansion sounds like a dream come true for most business owners.

This guide will deal with the most important growth hacking techniques and strategies you can implement to grow your business. But first, let's discuss growth hacking as a concept and how it applies to modern business.

What Is Growth Hacking? Similar to life hacking, growth hacking has been a massive buzzword over the last ten years or so and doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

The concept of growth hacking is based on the fact that all businesses have a limited supply of capital, so there's always a decision to be made between maximizing profitability and maximizing growth.

Therefore, growth hacking as a field focuses on using all of the available resources to create conversions and growth rather than brand building, communications, PR, and other marketing fields.

Early-stage startups with limited capital used to perform growth hacking to achieve enormous growth as quickly as possible on a limited budget. However, nowadays, the concept is implemented by established businesses and big enterprises as well.

The goal hasn't changed, though. It is all about finding hacks (low-cost techniques) to make as many conversions as possible. The philosophy behind it is pretty simple — growth means more cash flow, leading to higher performance in overcoming most challenges. For a successful growth-hacking operation, all other forms of marketing must be put to a halt until the target growth is reached.

As is the case with most aspects of business, the best methods in growth hacking are data-driven. They rely on finding and analyzing the available data and locating hacks that can boost traffic and conversions, achieving as much growth as possible, as quickly as possible.

This approach is one reason why startups like Airbnb and Uber were able to grow their customer bases within just a few years, and you can also use it to boost your own company's growth.

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to growth hacking, and each company will have to find its own way. Even a company performing custom web design in Chicago would likely take a different approach from a San Diego web design business, depending on their respective situations.

That said, there are some general rules each brand should follow to get the most consistent growth-hacking results. Check them out below!

Effective Growth Hacking Strategies to Use in 2021 Now that you've been acquainted with the idea of growth hacking and the reasoning behind its implementation, it is time to focus on specific techniques and strategies you can use to grow your own business effectively. Let's begin!

1. Use Customer Feedback as a Guide

In this day and age, it is very difficult to launch a mediocre product and sell lots of it simply because you have a massive marketing budget. Some of the biggest companies in the world can still pull this off, but most small businesses have to focus on having a high-quality product that fits the needs of their customer base.

With social media, it is much easier for people to find reviews and opinions of educated professionals, meaning it is almost impossible to push a sub-par product for a premium price. The audience can do their research and will likely know a lot about your product before even getting a glimpse of it.

Therefore, the most surefire way to get more people interested in your product is to listen to customer feedback and improve what you're offering. This not only results in a more competitive product but also lets your audience know that you care about their opinion.

2. Encourage Engagement Through Reward Campaigns

We admit, creating a high-quality product is not exactly a hack. It will probably take a lot of time and effort, but it is a way to get consistent long-term results.

Our next tip, on the other hand, belongs to the opposite end of the effort-to-reward spectrum. It is a relatively cheap trick but still just as effective when it comes to getting your brand in front of as many faces as possible.

We are, of course, talking about running a reward-based campaign, such as a contest or giveaway, to attract a wider audience and encourage faster growth.

Free stuff and prizes are universally well-liked, and it is difficult to get this wrong. That said, the success of your giveaway will depend on what you're offering. If it is too basic or cheap, you might not attract as many customers as you would like to.

Conversely, if the offer is too generous, you might attract a bunch of prize hunters who aren't all that interested in your brand and may only be looking to make a profit. These are not likely to become ideal long-term customers, so you'll be spending a lot of money advertising to the wrong audience.

Besides, the whole point of growth hacking is to grow as much as possible as fast as possible while spending as little as possible. This means finding the exact right balance when it comes to the value of your offer is crucial.

The best advice we can give you in this regard is always to offer things directly related to the other products you sell or services you perform. As attracting your ideal audience is of utmost importance, aligning the prize with your brand is most likely to produce tangible results.

3. Turn Your Loyal Customers into Advocates

The best way to achieve fast growth without spending much money is to let your customers market your brand for you by making them happy with your services and products. This approach will enable you to achieve exponential growth as each happy customer will be more likely to bring in a few more.

People trust their friends' recommendations when it comes to purchasing new products. This is why customer advocacy plays a massive role in accelerating growth.

There are a couple of ways to achieve this, and we already talked about one of them — creating a high-quality product. If you can produce something that genuinely amazes your audience, you're almost guaranteed to make a splash in the market. That said, your product doesn't need to be a game-changer as long as you meet the second requirement for customer advocacy — excellent customer service.

The future of service is digital, and for your customer support team to truly stand out, you'll have to keep up with the times. This means opening as many contact channels as you can, making yourself and your team easy to reach, and doing everything in your power to make the customer feel appreciated.

You'll never get anywhere if your customers are not satisfied with their interactions with your brand. On the other hand, if you can make your loyal customers feel like they are part of the team, they are almost guaranteed to speak positively about your company and your products.

Author bio:

Tomas is a digital marketing specialist and a freelance blogger. His work is focusing on new web tech trends and digital voice distribution across different channels.

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