What is Growth Hacking?
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 4:59 am
This is not the first time we have talked about this methodology in a post. In fact, below you can find the links to the other posts (social media gamification and mobile growth hacking) but... do you really know what growth hacking is? Yes? No? Come on, we are going to explain it to you very well!
In this post you will find:
Beginnings of growth hacking
What is growth hacking?
Growth hacking methodology
Strategies
Who to follow?
Beginnings of growth hacking
Sean Ellis coined the term “growth hacker” in 2010. In a blog post he defined a cpa email marketing database growth hacker as “a person whose true north is growth. Everything they do is analyzed for its potential impact on scalable growth.” Andrew Chen introduced the term to a broader audience in a blog post titled “ Growth hacker, the new VP of marketing ” in which he defined the term and used the home rental platform Airbnb as an example. He wrote that growth hackers are “a hybrid of marketers and programmers, someone who asks themselves: how do I get customers for my product?” and answers this question through A/B testing, landing pages, viral factor and email sending. In 2012 Aaron Ginn defined growth hackers as “data-minded, creative and curious.”
The second annual growth hackers conference was held in San Francisco and featured growth hackers from LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and more. In 2015 Sean Ellis and Everette Taylor created Growth Hackers , the world’s largest web community dedicated to growth hacking and they still run the annual Growth Hackers Conference .
What is Growth Hacking?
Growth hacking is a relatively new methodology and is focused on growth. It started out as a need for startups that needed massive growth in a short time with small budgets, but has since reached large corporations as well. The goal of the growth hacking methodology is generally to acquire as many users or customers as possible while spending as little as possible.
A growth hacking team is made up of marketers, developers, engineers, and product managers who focus specifically on building and engaging a company's user base. Growth hackers often focus on finding smarter, lower-cost alternatives to traditional marketing, for example by using social media and viral marketing instead of buying advertising through more traditional media such as radio, newspapers, and television.
growthhacker
Growth hacking is particularly common in startups, when the goal is to find a product/market niche or achieve rapid growth in the early stages of launching a new product or service to market. Growth hacking can focus on reducing the cost per customer acquisition, or it can focus on long-term sustainability. “The goal of any marketing is to be sustainable long-term growth, not just short-term gain. Growth hacking is about generating and optimizing leads.”
Some consider growth hacking to be part of the online marketing ecosystem, as in many cases growth hackers use techniques such as search engine optimization, web analytics, content marketing, and A/B testing. On the other hand, not all marketers have all the information and technical skills required of a growth hacker, which is why they are called differently.
Product development is also heavily influenced by the growth hacker mindset. Instead of long development cycles followed by user testing, growth hackers start user testing with wireframes and sketches, validating ideas at each stage. A growth hacker involved in product development would start user testing in a coffee shop rather than in a “corporate usability lab.”
In this post you will find:
Beginnings of growth hacking
What is growth hacking?
Growth hacking methodology
Strategies
Who to follow?
Beginnings of growth hacking
Sean Ellis coined the term “growth hacker” in 2010. In a blog post he defined a cpa email marketing database growth hacker as “a person whose true north is growth. Everything they do is analyzed for its potential impact on scalable growth.” Andrew Chen introduced the term to a broader audience in a blog post titled “ Growth hacker, the new VP of marketing ” in which he defined the term and used the home rental platform Airbnb as an example. He wrote that growth hackers are “a hybrid of marketers and programmers, someone who asks themselves: how do I get customers for my product?” and answers this question through A/B testing, landing pages, viral factor and email sending. In 2012 Aaron Ginn defined growth hackers as “data-minded, creative and curious.”
The second annual growth hackers conference was held in San Francisco and featured growth hackers from LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and more. In 2015 Sean Ellis and Everette Taylor created Growth Hackers , the world’s largest web community dedicated to growth hacking and they still run the annual Growth Hackers Conference .
What is Growth Hacking?
Growth hacking is a relatively new methodology and is focused on growth. It started out as a need for startups that needed massive growth in a short time with small budgets, but has since reached large corporations as well. The goal of the growth hacking methodology is generally to acquire as many users or customers as possible while spending as little as possible.
A growth hacking team is made up of marketers, developers, engineers, and product managers who focus specifically on building and engaging a company's user base. Growth hackers often focus on finding smarter, lower-cost alternatives to traditional marketing, for example by using social media and viral marketing instead of buying advertising through more traditional media such as radio, newspapers, and television.
growthhacker
Growth hacking is particularly common in startups, when the goal is to find a product/market niche or achieve rapid growth in the early stages of launching a new product or service to market. Growth hacking can focus on reducing the cost per customer acquisition, or it can focus on long-term sustainability. “The goal of any marketing is to be sustainable long-term growth, not just short-term gain. Growth hacking is about generating and optimizing leads.”
Some consider growth hacking to be part of the online marketing ecosystem, as in many cases growth hackers use techniques such as search engine optimization, web analytics, content marketing, and A/B testing. On the other hand, not all marketers have all the information and technical skills required of a growth hacker, which is why they are called differently.
Product development is also heavily influenced by the growth hacker mindset. Instead of long development cycles followed by user testing, growth hackers start user testing with wireframes and sketches, validating ideas at each stage. A growth hacker involved in product development would start user testing in a coffee shop rather than in a “corporate usability lab.”