You've probably heard that cooking is a science, and each ingredient plays a specific role in the chemical reactions that occur. (And if you've ever baked a cake and forgotten to add the eggs, then you know from experience it's true.)
Growth marketing might not be quite as tasty as a freshly baked pie, but it does have that in common with one: Each element of a growth marketing strategy has a specific role to play, and without one of them, you're unlikely to get the results you want.
Want your growth marketing strategy to be the best it can be? These are the four elements you need.
4 Essential Elements of a Successful Growth Marketing Strategy
1. Testing, Testing, and More Testing
A/B testing is to growth marketing what taste testing is to cooking: absolutely essential if you don't want your results to be a surprise.
And since growth marketing is all about achieving, well, growth, you certainly shouldn't want the results you get to vary wildly.
So the solution is to stop going with your gut and start using A/B testing. With this testing method, you take two versions of one thing — whether that means a landing page, CTA, color scheme, or layout — and test your audience's response to each.
Version A is your control, and version B is your variant. Depending on which one garners the best results, you'll know which one you should choose.
Simply put, if you want to know whether you should stick with your existing version of something or move on to the next, A/B testing can give you the answer you're after and help you keep your audience happy.
2. Data-Based Decisions
A/B testing isn't the only way that you can use concrete data to inform your next move. In fact, if you use data to inform as many of your decisions as possible, then your marketing growth strategy will only grow stronger.
In that sense, data-based decisions are like your favorite sauce — they just make everything better.
For instance, you can use data to improve your brand's:
- Audience targeting
- Personalized email campaigns
- Design and aesthetic
- Cross-channel marketing
- Content focus
- Keyword strategy
- SEO backlink portfolio
In other words, there's not any aspect of your growth marketing strategy that data can't upgrade.
3. A Modern Marketing Funnel
Growth marketing without a modern funnel would be like macaroni without cheese: bland and more than a little sad.
That's because the traditional marketing funnel has just three levels. At the first and top level, customers become aware of a brand. At the second and middle level, they begin to consider a brand as a viable option. At the third and bottom level, they're ready to make a decision and take action (such as by making a purchase).
But a modern marketing funnel improves upon that basic framework by accounting for what happens to customers after they make a purchase.
Take, for example, the Pirate Funnel. In addition to the first three levels, it adds three more — retention, referral, and revenue:
With such a funnel, you can drive dramatic growth (and revenue) by turning your existing customers into your best advocates.
4. Automation and Scalability
The cherry on top of any well-rounded growth marketing strategy is the heavy-hitting combination of automation and scalability.
That's because growth marketing is all about efficiency. If you're not efficient, then any growth you achieve will inevitably plateau — after all, there's a finite number of hours in the day. So if you fill them up with repetitive marketing tasks, then your results will be finite, too.
The answer is to embrace automation and scalability.
With the right tools at your disposal, you can automate:
- Social media posts
- Personalized emails
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Lead nurturing
- Product recommendations
- Special offers and incentives
To do so, start by looking for a marketing automation platform that works for you.
In a Complete Growth Marketing Strategy, Every Ingredient Counts
The secret to a successful growth marketing plan is that there isn't just one key element — there are four, and if you're missing one, then your recipe will fall flat.
While that may sound like a tall order to fill, the results are sure to be worth it. So if you want your strategy to work, you need to stop skimping on the star ingredients and start driving real growth.
