What do have Dropbox, AirBnB, Instagram, Tesla, and Tinder in common? Digital start-ups are now more booming than ever, but why? The answer to both questions is growth hacking (Rockboost, 2020)! Sean Ellis, a start-up investor of Silicon Valley, used this term for the first time in 2010, he is the founder of growth hacking (Bai, 2020).
Growth hacker stories did rise due to the rise of digital start-ups. Digital start-ups changed the traditional view of marketing and showed that it is possible to create massive growth without a (huge) marketing budget. Although the term growth hacker was new at that time, the used tactics were there already for a long time (Marley, 2015).
The combination of marketing and codes creates this new concept: Growth hacking. Many think of it as a new marketing technique, but it goes beyond those bounds. With creative and innovative campaigns, elaborate analytics and a lot of A/B tests, companies want to sell their products, increase brand awareness, and drive customer acquisition (Bai, 2020; Marley, 2015; Relf, 2016). It is a new technique for start-ups with little to no budget. Growth hackers use the lean start-up method that focuses on innovation and wants to shape the organization around its product with low-cost tests (Relf, 2016).
As mentioned, there are already many organizations that are famous for using growth hacking, although some think of it as unethical. For example, AirBnB used another platform: Craigslist, for its own success, many think of it as unethical. New users of AirBnB were automatically posted on Craigslist, which was the biggest platform where people could rent their homes. The founders of AirBnB called it the ‘genius Craigslist API reverse engineering hack’ and made use of the huge customer base of Craigslist (Rockboost, 2020).
Growth hacking is a new term but the techniques that are used existed already. However, the combination of marketing, data analytics and development all into one did rise due to digital start-ups. With this new technique, digital start-ups try to acquire as many customers as possible without a budget. Dropbox, AirBnB, Instagram, Tesla, and Tinder already succeeded. However, some say it is an unethical way of business, see the example of AirBnb. What do you think about this?
References:
Bai, J. (July, 2020). ‘The history of Growth Hacking’. Retrieved on: 5/10/2021 from: https://growth97.com/the-history-of-growth-hacking/
Marley, M. (March 2015). ‘Growth hacking: History and success stories’. Retrieved on: 6/10/2021 from: https://www.business2community.com/marketing/growth-hacking-history-success-stories-01181327
Relf, E. (February, 2016). ‘The rise of the growth hacker’. Retrieved on 6/10/2021 from: https://medium.com/@edrelf/the-rise-of-the-growth-hacker-5a655d2a33b2\
Rockboost (2020). ‘Most iconic growth hacking examples’. Retrieved on 5/10/2021 from: https://rockboost.com/blog/most-iconic-growth-hacking-examples/#dropbox
