What is a growth hacker?
A growth hacker is a T-shaped marketer who uses data-driven strategies to increase the sales and profitability of a company. Growth hackers are typically well-versed in search engine optimization, user experience design, customer acquisition, and analytics.
Growth marketing relies heavily on experimentation and experimentation to identify which marketing or product strategies work best for a given company.
Growth hackers are often tasked with finding new and innovative ways of getting customers for their business. This could include developing partnerships with other companies, leveraging viral marketing campaigns, setting up referral programs, or optimizing websites for search engines.
A growth hacker’s goal is to quickly identify and implement strategies that generate the biggest impact on a business's revenue.
Why you need a growth hacker
Growth hacking focuses on rapid results, user testing, and out-of-the-box marketing strategies. This type of approach is especially useful in startups pushing their product to market for the first time. As these brands are still unknown, they need a quick way to drive awareness and customers.
Some things growth hackers can do include:
- Develop and execute targeted marketing campaigns
- Identify and test new marketing channels and tactics to reach your target audience
- Use data and analytics to continually optimize and refine the acquisition strategy
- Improve the user experience and make the product more appealing
- Tap into untapped potential by identifying and testing new marketing channels and tactics
- Execute strategic marketing campaigns that leverage word-of-mouth and user engagement
- Set up tracking and reporting systems, which they can use to make improvements
- Analyze and improve key metrics, such as user engagement, retention, and lifetime value
- Take a cross-skilled approach to marketing and manage your marketing team
- To drive user acquisition and increase the exponential growth rate of your product or service
- Optimize conversion rates by improving the user experience and making the product more appealing
- To develop and execute viral marketing campaigns to rapidly increase brand awareness
How to hire a growth hacker
Want to hire a growth hacker? Here are some steps to help you through the process.
1. Define your needs
You can't find the right candidate if you don't know what you need. Clearly define the scope of the project, your budget, and the specific skills you're looking for in an effective growth hacker. Also, think of whether you need a full-time, part-time, or freelance partner for your project -- this will help you narrow down your search and focus on the options that fit your needs.
2. Come up with your goals
Before looking for a growth hacker or a growth marketing agency, you need to set the specific growth goals you want to achieve. Be as clear as possible – do you want to increase the number of users, boost engagement, or improve the customer experience? Having an idea of what exactly your desired outcomes are will help you find the right candidate for the job.
3. Look for candidates
The good news is that the market abounds with experienced and qualified growth hackers, so you should have no trouble finding the right fit for your company. However, it's essential to start your search in places with a high likelihood of quality candidates, such as:
- Referrals: if someone recommends a growth hacker, it's worth considering them, as you can be sure they have good references.
- GrowthHackers: this growth hacker job board is an excellent source of quality candidates, as it specializes in this niche
- AngelList (now Wellfound): a job board that fuels the global startup scene by connecting talented candidates with interesting projects
- Mayple: a platform that allows you to hire pre-vetted marketing specialists with a track record of success in different areas
Although there may be other places where you can start your search these are tried, tested, and well-known in the industry. The market is full of self-proclaimed growth hackers, so it's better to stay clear of unbeaten paths.
4. Interview
Once you have a list of suitable candidates, you should interview them. This is the part where you can get a better sense of whether they are a good fit for your project and needs, so ask as many relevant questions as you see fit. For example, here are some questions you should ask each candidate:
- How do you identify and prioritize growth opportunities?
- Can you give an example of a successful marketing campaign you’ve executed in the past?
- How do you measure the success of a campaign or channel and determine if it’s worth scaling?
- How do you approach A/B testing and data analysis for experiments?
- Can you share your experience with acquiring and retaining users through referral programs and viral loops?
- How do you stay up-to-date on the latest techniques and tools?
- How do you balance short-term gains with long-term sustainability and scalability?
- Can you share your experience with mobile apps versus web products?
- How do you involve other teams, such as product and engineering, in your processes?
- Can you give an example of how you’ve used non-standard or unconventional tactics to drive results?
5. Conduct a test project
Words are one thing, but where a growth marketer will truly show their worth is actual work. Conducting a test project can help you assess a candidate’s skills, see if they understand your objectives, and determine if a partnership between you two can be successful. It also eliminates the risk of hiring a candidate who doesn’t meet your expectations or isn't a good fit for your company.
Here are some test project ideas to inspire you:
- A/B Testing Exercise: Provide a hypothetical scenario and ask the candidate to design and analyze a simple A/B test to test a specific hypothesis, such as improving sign-up conversion rates.
- Funnel Optimization Exercise: Present a real or hypothetical conversion funnel and ask the candidate to identify bottlenecks, suggest hypotheses for improvement, and prioritize tests based on expected impact and ease of implementation.
- Viral Growth Loop Exercise: Give the candidate a scenario and ask them to design a viral loop that encourages users to invite their friends to join the product. The candidate should explain their reasoning for each design choice and estimate the potential impact on user acquisition.
6. Analyze culture fit and growth mindset
Hiring a good growth hacker is not just about skills, experience, and expertise — a successful collaboration also depends on the company culture fit and growth mindset. Ask questions to assess the candidate's personality, such as:
- What motivates you?
- How do you stay creative and come up with new ideas?
- What methods do you use to ensure that your projects are run efficiently and effectively?
- Describe a challenging situation you faced and how you overcame it
- How do you move past unsuccessful projects?
Growth hacker skills to look for
Every growth hacking job is different, and the requirements should be adapted to the project. However, here are some general skills you should be after if you're hiring for this role:
- Data analysis and experimentation - strong analytical skills and be able to design, execute and interpret results from experiments.
- Customer empathy - the ability to understand the motivations, pain points, and behavior patterns of the target audience.
- Creativity - growth marketing requires creating innovative and out-of-the-box solutions to problems.
- Technical chops - familiarity with web and mobile technologies, marketing and analytics tools like Google Analytics and Google Data Studio, SEO tools, A/B testing tools, and more.
- Cross-functional collaboration - the ability to work effectively with teams across the organization, such as engineering, design, and product teams
- Strategic thinking - the ability to identify and prioritize opportunities, develop and execute a plan, and continuously iterate and improve is critical for success in growth marketing
- Agility and adaptability - the marketing landscape is constantly evolving, and marketers need to pivot quickly and adapt to new tactics and technologies.
Generally, growth marketers are T-shaped professionals with a broad set of knowledge and skills, as well as expertise in certain areas. They should have a good understanding of the entire customer journey and how to leverage it for growth.
When you shouldn't hire a growth hacker
Hiring a growth marketer shouldn't be a band-aid for all your product and marketing problems. Although hiring for this position can be extremely beneficial for your business, there are situations where you might want to reconsider the type of marketer you're looking for.
For example, a growth hacker isn't an "acquisition only" role -- they can do a lot more than just that. A senior marketer will want to work with every touchpoint in your sales funnel, from acquisition to retention and loyalty.
Also, if you don't have a solid understanding of growth hacking, it will be hard for you to evaluate and manage the marketer - not to mention enable them to do their best work. So if you want to hire the right person, ensure you're ready to invest in the process and dedicate resources to your growth strategy.
Plus, a growth hire is a bad idea if you don't have a team to support them. You're aiming for sustainable growth, not one-off projects that may or may not work -- and for that to happen, you need to make sure your growth person has all the support they need to perform.
Finally, a growth hacker isn't a miracle worker and will need time to adjust to your business, market, product, and audience. Just because growth hacking is labeled as a "quick" way to fuel a sales funnel, it doesn't mean that your marketer can whip out a wand and magically pour leads into your business. And just because all the hot companies work with growth hackers, it doesn't mean you have to.
Analyze your needs and hire for your specific situation rather than whatever trends dictate at any given moment. And remember that Mayple can help you with whatever marketing professionals you're looking for. Just contact us and let's chat, we'll make sure your success is our priority!
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