Growth marketing has become one of the most talked-about strategies for businesses to get behind in 2023. With the right growth marketing techniques, it's possible for marketers to affect corporate revenue streams for the long haul. Nevertheless, knowing which tactics to try - and which to leave behind - can be difficult. A recent report on the state of ecommerce growth marketing from Digital Marketer and Hawke Media can shed light on how to proceed.
First, though, it's important to understand growth marketing. Many marketers get the concept confused with traditional marketing and growth hacking. This makes sense given the commonalities of the verbiage used in all three approaches. However, they are very different in nature.
Traditional marketing tends to revolve around pushing out messages that are driven by internal corporate needs and "gut instincts". The goal is more of a show-and-tell arrangement between the brand and consumer. Growth hacking resists traditional marketing and only focuses on driving leads into the upper part of the sales pipeline. Growth hackers continuously test to see what initiatives will get people in the buying funnel. The idea is that the more people who enter the top, the more sales will happen at the bottom.
Where does growth marketing fit into the mix? It takes a little from both disciplines. Growth marketing is more data-driven and consumer-based than traditional marketing. Instead of telling consumers what they need, marketers try to find what consumers want - and then deliver that. However, growth marketers don't just focus on the top of the funnel to build leads fast. They look at all possible growth locations throughout the whole funnel.
Handled effectively, growth marketing leads to a systematic, measurable expansion of revenue and sales. Yet because it looks at every element of the sales pipeline and customer journey, it can become complicated rapidly. The aforementioned recent data-driven insights can help growth marketers figure out where to put their efforts. That way, they get the most mileage for every campaign or initiative they design and deploy.
Below are some of the top growth marketing areas for you to concentrate on based on Hawke Media and Digital Marketer's findings. By narrowing your energies, you'll conserve resources and get a better ROI from everything you do.
1. Aim to boost your customer lifetime value.
If you aren't aware of your average customer lifetime value, you'll want to learn it. Put simply, the customer lifetime value is the average "spend" each buyer makes. The higher your customer lifetime value, the higher your overall revenue.
As the Hawke Media-Digital Marketer points out, customer lifetime value is on the rise. This is due in part to a 31% increase in the cost of the average online order. Here's the issue, though: Inflation is rising, too. Therefore, you want to figure out ways to raise your customer lifetime value as cost-effectively as you can.
One way to give your customer lifetime value a bump is through retention marketing. Retention marketing is designed to encourage existing customers to buy more. For instance, you might nudge customers with emails and texts containing exclusive coupons or discounts. Or, you could invest in an AI-driven program that will automatically deliver product suggestions to buyers. You've already spent the money to acquire your customers. With retention marketing, you keep upping their lifetime value without incurring additional acquisition costs.
2. Prioritize team member training.
The world of growth marketing is evolving at breakneck speed. It can be very difficult for people to keep up or even feel competent. Estimates from a late 2022 poll suggest that about seven out of 10 workers aren't prepared for the future. The problem isn't that they can't learn. It's that they haven't been introduced to the latest marketing tools, technologies, and options.
This year, set aside part of your budget to advance your team's growth marketing acumen. There isn't a shortage of workshops, courses, bootcamps, and conferences covering growth marketing topics. Many of these training choices are offered for free or at very reasonable rates. Consequently, you'll be able to stretch your professional development dollars without sacrificing a quality return.
Not sure what your team needs? Conduct a survey or have a group conversation to pinpoint your learning curve gaps. Then, work this year to close those gaps. Simply sharing and discussing reports like Hawke Media and Digital Marketer's can expand knowledge and prompt innovation.
3. Consider adopting affiliate and influencer marketing strategies.
In the social era, both affiliate and influencer marketing are becoming powerful marketing components for many brands. Affiliate marketing had an especially good year in 2022, showing a per-session increase of 16% and transaction increase of 35%.
Affiliates and influencers can appeal to cool prospects, warm leads, and customers alike. Because they're already trusted by their followers and fans, they have the credibility and visibility your brand may lack. By partnering with them, you can reinforce and amplify your company's products or services and persona. Best of all, you can structure your contractual agreement in a budget-friendly commission or "per click" way.
If you're not accustomed to affiliate and influencer marketing, be sure to carefully vet all potential relationships. Use your internal lead and customer data to identify niche audiences. Then, find affiliates and influencers with plenty of heft with those very specific audiences. Oh, and be certain to put metrics in place so you can gauge whether or not an arrangement is producing results.
Moving toward more of a growth mindset in 2023 makes sense based on customer and marketing data from 2022. As a growth marketer, you'll improve your chances of building a stronger revenue stream. Best of all, you should be able to gain benefits without having to ask for a bigger budget.
