Liz Giorgi is an Emmy-winning creative-turned cofounder and CEO of soona, the world’s first virtual photoshoot platform for e-commerce.
Growth hacking has long had a weird reputation. Cue images of people in hoodies furiously writing code in a dark room. In reality, growth hacking is more fun, diverse and important than ever for online brands hoping to reach their audience.
As customer acquisition costs increase to record high prices across verticals online, it’s becoming mission-critical for marketers and strategists to diversify their growth levers. Growth hacking can be one of those verticals for tapping into new audiences. For the uninitiated, the concept of growth hacking comes down to the simple philosophy that rapidly iterative, cost-light marketing tactics that can be repeated again and again can help drive insights and revenue for brands.
With that in mind, here are three steps any online brand can try this year.
1. Audience Sharing
Recently, I sat down with the founder of a shoe company for medical professionals when he reminded me of an important trend that I just am not seeing enough of in modern e-commerce: brand BFF’ing. What do you wear with shoes? Socks, of course.
He went and found the best sock maker in the world for medical professionals. And now, what do these two feet fitters do together? They cross-sell their products. Genius. The concept here can be applied to almost any business vertical, so long as the brands involved can identify what their audiences share in common and what the shoppers’ likely next step would be.
For example, if a shopper just bought a suitcase, what other items might they be searching for next? Vacation apparel and travel chargers are probably a safe bet. As a suitcase seller, you’ll want to seek out these complimentary merchants and ask them if they would like to partner by cross-selling your products. This can be done on your website natively. Or a really light way to get started is by simply mentioning partner brands in your marketing emails and social media posts.
2. Prioritizing Real Customer Stories
Harvard Business Review recently reported that over 75% of brands have an influencer budget. That means lots of marketing dollars are funneling to faces who may or may not love a product. This raises an important question: With this level of saturation in the space, is it even possible for this kind of content to stand out anymore?
If you haven’t taken a deep look at the review section of your website recently, now is the time to do it. Inside those positive (and negative) reviews are nuggets of wisdom and quotable snippets that can help drive content strategy for your business. Using those stories as a starting point for emails, lead funnels and even scripts for social content can bring about a new level of authenticity to your channels. This also does one very important thing: It helps you refine the message!
Beyond messaging value, the long-term value is in standing out from the sea of influencer-oriented dollars that your competitors are surely pouring their efforts into. Growth hacking is just as much about what you are doing as what you aren’t doing and choosing to zig when others are zagging.
3. Getting Serious About IRL Experiences
I may be speaking for myself and my friends, but there is one thing we are all craving more than ever: human connection. Blame the pandemic. Blame virtual work. Whatever you want to point the finger at, just know that the common thread is that many of us have spent too much time away from friends and family. So what does that have to do with growth hacking for your e-commerce store? Well, it’s about leveraging this cultural moment!
Many analysts have been surprised to find that retail foot traffic is up. It would be easy to assume that we were all done with in-person shopping forever, but the truth is that we are simply getting out there more. Online stores do not need to sit this trend out. They just need to think about it a little bit differently.
For example, with my own company, we are hosting meetups every quarter with free try-before-you-buy for the first 100 registrants. Getting registration numbers up front is also a great way to get emails too. And those emails can be handy for re-marketing later. Just make sure you don’t overspend on things like an open bar or pricey entertainment. Better to keep it simple and hone the focus of your product.
The benefits are three-fold: first, a deeper connection with your potential customer. Second, you grow your email list with every single registration, and finally, you don’t have to take on expensive retail space to enjoy some in-person demo with your core customer.
Growth hacking is part art and part science, but it isn’t just strictly for tech companies. It’s for any business that is trying to do more with less in 2023 and beyond.
Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
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