Growth marketing is a data-driven approach that uses experimentation and creativity to find the best ways to attract and retain customers. In this article, we'll explore 19 (yes, 19!) growth marketing strategies that work.
It's vital to remember that not all of these growth marketing strategies will be suitable or effective for every business. The effectiveness of each strategy can depend on factors such as the industry you operate in, the size of your business, your target audience, and your marketing budget.
For example, suppose your business is a B2B service provider. In that case, you may find that email marketing, content marketing, and webinars are particularly effective for reaching and engaging with potential customers. On the other hand, if you operate an e-commerce business, you may find that paid search advertising, retargeting, and user-generated content are more effective in driving sales and increasing brand awareness.
Take a strategic approach to growth marketing and evaluate which strategies will most likely be effective for your business. Don't get overwhelmed by the abundance of these growth marketing strategies. Some overlap and interconnect; usually, you only need to implement a few to succeed. Experiment with different tactics, analyze data and metrics to measure each approach's effectiveness and adapt your marketing strategy over time as you learn more about what works best for your business.
Referral programs can be a powerful growth strategy for successful growth marketers and companies of all sizes, as they rely on the power of word-of-mouth marketing to attract new customers. The basic idea is to incentivize your existing customers to refer their friends, family members, or colleagues to your business, promising a reward or benefit for both the referrer and the new customer.
Imagine you run a small online store that sells handmade soap and beauty products. You decide to launch a referral program to attract new customers and build loyalty among your existing customer base.
You create a simple and appealing offer: for every new customer that an existing customer refers, both the referrer and the new customer will receive a 10% discount on their next purchase. You make it easy for customers to share the offer by including a referral link in your marketing emails and website.
Within a few weeks, you start seeing results. Your existing customers are sharing the referral offer with their friends and family members, and new customers are signing up for your newsletter and making purchases using their discount codes. You can track the success of your referral program by analyzing data such as referral sources, conversion rates, and sales revenue.
Over time, your referral program becomes a key driver of growth for your business, helping you attract new customers and build a loyal fan base. And best of all, you can do it all while leveraging the power of your existing customers' recommendations and word-of-mouth marketing.
To implement a successful referral program, you'll need to follow a few key steps:
Here are some commonly overlooked recommendations for success with referral programs:
Overall, referral programs can be a powerful growth strategy when executed properly. By defining your goals, creating a compelling incentive, making it easy to participate, promoting the program, and tracking your results, you can create a successful referral program that drives growth for your business.
Email marketing is a powerful growth strategy that can help businesses of all sizes to connect with their target audience, build relationships, and drive sales.
Let's say you run an online store that sells eco-friendly products, such as reusable water bottles and shopping bags. You decide to launch an email marketing campaign to attract new customers and build loyalty among your existing customer base.
You start by building your email list through a pop-up on your website that offers a free e-book on "10 Simple Ways to Live More Sustainably" in exchange for subscribers' email addresses. You choose an email marketing platform that allows you to segment your list based on subscribers' interests, such as "outdoor enthusiasts" or "working parents."
Next, you create engaging content for your emails, such as product recommendations, sustainable living tips, and exclusive discounts for subscribers. You make sure to personalize your emails with subscribers' names and include a clear call-to-action to encourage them to make a purchase.
You regularly test and optimize your emails by testing different subject lines and analyzing metrics such as open and click-through rates to see what's working and what's not.
Over time, your email marketing campaign becomes a key driver of growth for your business, helping you attract new customers, build loyalty among your existing customer base, and increase sales. You can grow your business and promote your eco-friendly message to a broader audience by providing valuable content and building relationships with your subscribers.
Here are some steps to follow to use email marketing effectively as a growth strategy:
Social media advertising can be a good growth strategy for many different types of businesses, including e-commerce stores, service-based businesses, and B2B companies. However, it may not be the right fit for all businesses. For example, some businesses may not have a large enough budget to support social media advertising, or their target audience may not be active on social media.
Assessing your business's specific needs and goals before investing in social media advertising is essential. If you're unsure whether social media advertising is the right fit for your business, you can start small and test different ad formats and targeting options to see how they perform. Over time, you can refine your strategy and optimize your results to drive growth for your business.
Social media advertising is a growth strategy that involves promoting your business or products through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Here are some benefits of social media advertising:
Influencer marketing can be a powerful growth strategy for many businesses, but it may not fit everyone. Similar to referral marketing, influencer marketing varies with one exception. Referral marketing relies on the limited reach of many, while influencer marketing relies on a broad audience reach of a few.
Influencer marketing involves partnering with individuals who have a significant following on social media or other online platforms to promote your brand or products. The idea is that these influencers have built trust and credibility with their followers and can help you reach a wider audience and drive sales.
While influencer marketing can be effective, it may not be the right fit for businesses with a limited budget or niche target audience. Additionally, it's imperative to ensure that the influencers you partner with align with your brand values and messaging. Working with influencers who don't resonate with your target audience or have a poor reputation could damage your brand's reputation and credibility.
Another consideration is that influencer marketing can sometimes be difficult to measure in terms of ROI. It can be challenging to determine the exact impact of an influencer campaign, particularly if you're not tracking metrics such as engagement, click-through rates, or conversions.
Using influencer marketing as a growth strategy will ultimately depend on your business's specific needs and goals. Suppose you have a product or service that would benefit from exposure to a broader audience and have the budget to invest in influencer marketing. In that case, it may be worth exploring this strategy. However, it's essential to carefully vet potential influencers, track your results, and adjust your plan as needed to ensure you're getting the most out of your investment.
Content marketing can be a powerful growth strategy for businesses looking to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to their website, and generate leads by sharing relevant content, such as blog posts, videos, and infographics, with your audience.
Content marketing can significantly impact search engine optimization (SEO) by helping improve your website's visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs. Here are just a few ways that content marketing can help with SEO.
Most companies lack the discipline to follow through on content marketing, which is an excellent opportunity to outshine your competitors. But here's one thing to remember, increasing traffic organically with content marketing takes patience and investment. It's like planting a tree that one day will yield fruit.
We'll be launching a whole content marketing series soon. Sign up for updates to learn more about creating a successful content marketing strategy and growing your business through content.
Going hand-in-hand with content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) is the art of optimizing your website and content to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords and phrases. SEO can be a powerful growth marketing strategy for businesses that want to increase their visibility and attract more traffic to their website.
Let's say you run a business that sells organic beauty products online. You want to attract more traffic to your website and increase your sales. You start by doing some keyword research and identifying several relevant keywords, such as "organic skincare products," "natural beauty products," and "vegan cosmetics."
You then optimize your website using these keywords in title tags, meta descriptions, and on-page content. You also create high-quality content optimized for these keywords, such as blog posts about the benefits of natural beauty products and how to use organic skincare products.
You start to build high-quality backlinks by reaching out to beauty bloggers and influencers who might be interested in your products. You offer them free samples for reviews and links to your website.
As a result of your SEO efforts, your website ranks higher in search results for your target keywords. You attract more traffic to your website and see an increase in sales of your organic beauty products.
Let's say you run a business that sells handmade jewelry online. You want to increase your visibility and attract more traffic to your website. You start by doing some keyword research and identifying several relevant keywords, such as "handmade jewelry," "artisan jewelry," and "unique jewelry."
You then create targeted ads using these keywords, such as "Shop Our Unique Handmade Jewelry Today!" and "Discover Artisan Jewelry Made with Love." You set your budget to $50 daily and start running your ads on Google Ads.
As a result of your paid search advertising efforts, your ads appear at the top of search results for your target keywords. You attract more traffic to your website and see an increase in sales of your handmade jewelry. You monitor and optimize your ads regularly, adjusting your ad copy and keywords as needed to improve your ROI.
Paid search advertising, also known as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, allows businesses to place ads on search engine results pages (SERPs) and pay each time a user clicks on their ad.
Gone are the days when business owners could easily manage their programmatic advertising for optimal success. While it can be an effective growth strategy for businesses of all sizes, managing programmatic advertising can be complex and time-consuming. Remark recommends working with an agency like ours to guarantee success and maximize your return on investment.
That's where working with a programmatic advertising agency like Remark can be beneficial. Here's why:
At Remark, we specialize in programmatic advertising and have a track record of success. We work closely with our clients to understand their unique needs and develop custom strategies that align with their business goals. By partnering with us, you can trust that your programmatic advertising campaigns are in good hands and that we'll work tirelessly to help you achieve your desired results.
Let's say you run an e-commerce store that sells athletic apparel. You notice that many users add items to their cart but abandon their purchase before completing it. You install a retargeting pixel on your website and create targeted ads that showcase the products the user added to their cart.
Your ads appear to the user when browsing the web or scrolling through social media, encouraging them to complete their purchase. You set your budget to $50 per day and monitor your ad performance regularly.
As a result of your retargeting efforts, you see an increase in conversions and revenue. Users previously interested in your products are reminded of their interest and are likelier to complete their purchase when they see your ads. By monitoring and optimizing your ads, you can continue to improve your ROI and drive growth for your business.
Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a type of digital advertising that allows businesses to target users who have previously interacted with their website or products.
Customer loyalty programs are a growth strategy incentivizing customers to continue purchasing from a business by offering rewards, discounts, or other benefits. By providing a positive experience for customers and rewarding them for their loyalty, companies can encourage repeat purchases and increase customer retention rates.
One way to use customer loyalty programs as a growth strategy is by offering a points-based system. Customers can earn points for every purchase and redeem them for rewards such as discounts, free products or services, or exclusive access to events or promotions. This kind of incentive encourages customers to continue making purchases to earn more points and receive more rewards.
Point systems incentivize customers to continue visiting the coffee shop and encourage them to purchase more often to earn more points. For example, a coffee shop may offer a loyalty program where customers earn points for every coffee they buy. Once they reach a certain number of points, they can redeem them for a free coffee or a discount on their next purchase.
Another way to use customer loyalty programs as a growth strategy is by offering tiered membership levels. Customers can earn different benefits and rewards based on their membership level, with higher levels offering more exclusive and valuable rewards, encouraging customers to continue purchasing and working their way up the membership levels to access more benefits and rewards.
To effectively use customer loyalty programs as a growth strategy, it's essential to tailor the program to your specific business and target audience. Consider what rewards and benefits will most appeal to your customers, and ensure the program is easy to understand and use. Additionally, it's vital to promote the program through various marketing channels to ensure that customers are aware of the benefits and encouraged to participate.
Let's say you're a marketing consultant and want to showcase your expertise to potential clients. You could create a webinar series on topics such as social media marketing, email marketing, and SEO. You promote the webinars through your social media channels, email list, and website. You also create a landing page with a signup form to capture leads. After the webinar, you follow up with attendees to offer additional resources and answer any questions they may have. Follow-ups can lead to potential clients hiring you for your marketing services.
If the years of the pandemic taught us anything, it's that webinars are a great way to build a relationship with your audience while providing valuable content. They are a powerful tool for educating your prospects and can help you establish yourself as an authority in your industry.
Mobile marketing is a growth strategy that targets customers through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. With the increasing number of mobile device users, mobile marketing has become essential for businesses to reach and engage with their target audience.
One way to use mobile marketing as a growth strategy is through mobile advertising, which includes creating mobile-friendly ads optimized for viewing on smaller screens and targeting them to specific audiences based on location, interests, and demographics.
Targeting people where they are (physical proximity and their state of mind) can help to drive foot traffic and increase sales. For example, a restaurant owner may use mobile marketing to promote their new menu items to customers in the local area. They could create an eye-catching mobile ad featuring mouth-watering photos of the new dishes and target it to people within a certain radius of their restaurant.
Another way to use mobile marketing is through mobile apps. Developing a mobile app can help businesses provide a more personalized and convenient customer experience. For example, a retailer may create a mobile app that allows customers to easily browse and purchase products, track their orders, and receive personalized recommendations based on their browsing and purchase history.
To use mobile marketing as a growth strategy effectively, work with technical professionals (like us) who can ensure that your mobile marketing efforts are optimized for success. Whomever you choose to work with, deliverables should include the following:
Public relations (PR) is a growth strategy that involves building relationships and engaging with the media and the public to promote a positive image of a business or brand. PR aims to increase brand awareness, build credibility and trust, and establish the company or brand as a thought leader.
For example, a new fitness studio could use public relations as a growth strategy by developing relationships with local media outlets and pitching stories on the benefits of exercise and the importance of self-care. They could also create shareable content, such as workout videos and healthy recipes, and promote them on social media to increase their visibility and reach.
By using public relations as a growth strategy, you can increase brand awareness, build credibility and trust, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. However, it's crucial to develop a media outreach plan, build relationships with journalists and editors, create shareable content, and measure your results to ensure your PR efforts drive growth for your business or brand.
Let's say you run a software company that offers a project management tool. You create a series of videos that showcase the features and benefits of your tool, including how it can help teams stay organized and on track. You promote the videos on your website, social media channels, and through paid advertising on relevant platforms like LinkedIn.
As a result of your video marketing efforts, you see an increase in website traffic and signups for your software tool. Potential customers are more likely to understand the value of your product when they see it in action through video and are more likely to sign up as a result. By creating high-quality video content and promoting it to your target audience, you can continue to drive growth for your business.
Video marketing can take many forms, including product demos, tutorials, customer testimonials, and more. While video content is usually the most expensive, it doesn't always have to be. Creativity is your friend. Some of the most famous viral videos were produced on a shoestring budget.
Community building is a growth strategy that involves creating a group of people who share a common interest or goal and fostering a sense of connection and engagement among them. The goal is to create a community of loyal customers and brand advocates who will promote your business, share your content, and provide valuable feedback.
Challenges of community building can include attracting new members, keeping existing members engaged, and moderating discussions to prevent spam or inappropriate behavior. To overcome these challenges, create clear guidelines and rules for community members and actively moderate the community to prevent negative interactions.
One example of a business successfully using community building as a growth strategy is Peloton. Peloton has created a community of loyal customers passionate about its products and sharing their experiences and enthusiasm with others. Peloton's community includes a variety of platforms, from social media groups to in-person events, and the company actively encourages engagement through challenges, milestones, and other incentives. By building a strong community of brand advocates, Peloton has been able to drive growth and establish itself as a leader in the fitness industry.
Partner marketing, also known as affiliate marketing, is a growth strategy that involves partnering with other businesses or influencers to promote your products or services. This approach can help businesses expand their reach, tap into new audiences, and drive more sales.
For example, a clothing brand could partner with a fashion blogger or influencer to promote its products on social media. The blogger would receive a commission for each sale through their unique referral link or promotional code. This type of partnership can help the clothing brand reach a new audience and drive more sales.
Partner marketing is a powerful growth strategy that can help businesses expand their reach, tap into new audiences, and drive more sales. By identifying potential partners, developing a partnership agreement, providing marketing materials, and tracking and measuring results, businesses can establish successful partnerships that drive growth and increase revenue.
Live events are an effective growth strategy businesses can use to connect with their audience, generate leads, and build brand awareness. Live events can take many forms, including conferences, trade shows, product launches, and other industry-specific events.
For example, a software company could host a user conference to showcase new features, provide training, and connect with users. The conference could include keynote speakers, product demos, and networking opportunities. This type of event can help the company build brand loyalty, generate leads, and increase customer retention.
Live events are a powerful growth strategy that can help businesses build relationships with their audience, generate leads, and increase brand awareness. Businesses can establish successful live events that drive growth and increase revenue by identifying their target audience, planning their event, promoting it effectively, executing it smoothly, and following up with attendees.
Let's say you run a beauty brand that sells skincare products. Using a branded hashtag, you encourage customers to share photos of their skincare routines on social media. You offer a discount code to customers who share their routine and choose a winner each month to receive a free product.
You showcase the UGC on your website and social media channels, including photos of happy customers using your products and testimonials from satisfied customers. You also engage with users who create UGC by commenting on their posts and thanking them for their support.
As a result of your UGC strategy, you see increased brand awareness and engagement on social media. Potential customers are more likely to trust your brand when they see happy customers using your products and are more likely to purchase from you. By continuing to encourage UGC and engaging with your community, you can continue to drive growth for your business.
User-generated content (UGC) is content created by users or customers rather than by the business itself. It can be anything from social media posts, online reviews, blog comments, or product photos.
Gamification is using game-like elements and mechanics in non-game contexts to engage and motivate users. It's a fun and interactive way to incentivize users to complete specific actions or behaviors, such as purchasing or sharing content.
For example, a clothing retailer could create a virtual styling game that incentivizes users to create outfits and share them on social media for a chance to win prizes. This game not only engages users in a fun way but also promotes the retailer's products and drives sales.
Gamification can be an effective growth strategy that drives user engagement, encourages desired behaviors, and increases brand loyalty. Businesses can create a successful gamification strategy that supports growth and drives revenue by determining goals, choosing game mechanics, developing a game, promoting it effectively, and measuring results.
Personalization is the process of tailoring the customer experience to individual preferences and needs, providing a customized experience that makes them feel valued and appreciated. By providing a personalized experience, businesses can increase customer satisfaction, improve customer retention, and drive revenue growth.
For example, an online retailer can use personalization to provide product recommendations based on a customer's browsing history and purchase behavior. The retailer can increase customer satisfaction and drive repeat purchases by using algorithms to analyze the customer's data and provide personalized recommendations.
Personalization can be an effective growth strategy that helps businesses build stronger customer relationships and increase customer loyalty. By collecting customer data, analyzing it, creating a personalized experience, and continuously testing and refining it, businesses can build a successful personalization strategy that supports growth and drives revenue.
In conclusion, we've covered 20 proven growth strategies to help your business succeed in today's competitive market. Each strategy has unique benefits and challenges, so it's essential to consider which will work best for your business and target audience.
Remember, the key to successful growth is continuously testing and refining your strategies, so don't be afraid to experiment and try new things. With the right combination of these strategies, you can achieve your business goals and take your company to the next level.
We hope you found at least one strategy in this article that is new to you and can help you grow. If you need help with your strategy, please let us know. Stay tuned for more insights and tips on marketing, and don't hesitate to reach out if you need any help with your growth strategy. Best of luck!