Marketing is one of those terms you'll inevitably hear in the business world, irrespective of how big or small your business is. It's essentially the process of promoting and selling products or services to potential customers. 

In many instances, marketing is further classified into content, digital, video, social media, and email marketing. Collectively, these marketing segments can be grouped under one umbrella term: growth marketing. 

Growth marketing is a data-driven approach to expanding your business. Here's a deep dive into growth marketing and useful tips to expand your clientele. 

What Is Growth Marketing?

Growth marketing is a strategic approach to growing a business by identifying, testing, and scaling effective marketing strategies. It's a constantly evolving process that relies on gathering and analyzing data to determine the best ways to reach and retain customers.

Traditional marketing methods often focus on goals like lead generation or brand awareness. However, growth marketing is growth-centric. 

Let's say you have 1,000 customers right now. If you want to increase them to 10,000 by the end of the year, you'll have to implement a series of growth marketing strategies to achieve this goal. 

Growth Marketing vs Demand Generation

The end goal of both growth marketing and demand generation is to increase sales and revenue. However, there are some key differences between the two approaches. 

For one, demand generation focuses on creating awareness and interest in a product or service. 

Suppose your company sells an AI chatbot software for businesses. You can create demand around it by creating a strong case for why AI adoption is a must-do for future success. 

Growth marketing will dig deeper and explore how to take that demand, convert it into leads, and eventually paying customers.

Another key difference is that demand generation is more focused on the top and middle of the sales funnel, whereas growth marketing covers the entire funnel from awareness to retention. 

8 Growth Marketing Strategies to Achieve Explosive Growth

Let's look at some strategies to take your growth marketing game to the next level. 

1. Offer Free Trials or Freemiums 

Who doesn't like free stuff? 

Free trials or freemiums (a basic version of a product offered for free with limited features) are excellent ways to attract potential customers and get them hooked on your product. 

Once they experience the value and benefits of your product, they are more likely to convert into paying customers. 

Although this approach is more suited for SaaS (Software as a Service) companies, other industries can use it, too. For example, if you're a skincare brand, you can offer free samples in exchange for email addresses to later target them with promotional offers. 

Similarly, you can share free samples of your product at an in-person event. 

The idea behind this method is to lower the entry barrier. It also gives your audience an opportunity to test your product before they commit for a longer period.

Canva is a good example of a company that uses this tactic. The free version offers a ton of features to users. It's feature-rich enough to show users that the advanced plan will be worth it.

2. Use Full-Funnel Content Marketing 

A report found that 73% of B2B marketers and 70% of B2C marketers use content marketing to reach their audience. You can use this tactic in growth marketing, too. 

The difference between using content for regular marketing and growth marketing is that in the latter, you need to create content for every stage of the customer journey. 

Basically, you provide value for your customers even if they are not buying your product or service. 

Take HubSpot's example. The company offers a variety of free resources, such as templates, guides, blog posts, free tools, and courses, to attract its audience. 

For leads that are at the bottom of the funnel and are ready to convert, HubSpot offers case studies, product demos, and free trials. It's due to this strategy that HubSpot remains a leader in the marketing space. 

Learn how to make a content strategy here:

3. Showcase Narrative In Your Video Marketing 

With 91% of brands using video for marketing, it shouldn't come as a surprise that video marketing is all the rage. But don't simply create videos for the sake of it. Use them to tell a story and showcase the positive impact your product or service has had on real people.

Suppose you create maternity clothes. Your video could feature a new mother discussing how difficult it was to find comfortable and stylish clothes during her pregnancy and how your brand changed her experience for the better. 

Such videos show potential customers that you're just out for their money. Instead, you want to make their lives easier and better. 

''Real Beauty Sketches,'' a video campaign by Dove, is an excellent example in this regard. The video featured a forensic sketch artist drawing women based on their descriptions of themselves. Then, the same artist drew these women based on how someone else described them. The difference was staggering, and the video's message of humans often being their own worst critics resonated with millions. 

A more recent example is Starbucks' ''Every Table Has a Story Campaign.'' It shows customers sitting in Starbucks, each of them with a unique story. The campaign highlights that Starbucks is more than just a coffee shop. It's a place where people come to celebrate, to meet, to work, and to connect. 

Wondering how to ace your video marketing strategy? Check out our complete guide to get started:

4. Build a Community 

Lately, a lot of companies have been focusing on building communities. You want to give your customers a place where they can connect with like-minded individuals. People often feel more connected to a company if they are part of its community.

Take GitHub for an example. The platform's product offering comes with built-in community elements. Users can work on projects or solve problems together. GitHub also has competitions and hackathons to help foster a sense of community. 

Another example is how Peloton built a community of fitness enthusiasts. The company's interactive classes allow members to feel like they're working out together, even if they're exercising on their individual bikes at home.

Human beings have an innate desire to belong and connect with others. That's why community-building does a great job of attracting new clientele. 

5. Leverage Social Media 

Social media use is one of the most effective marketing strategies due to the widespread use of these platforms. According to Backlinko, more than 4.95 billion people use social media. An average person uses 6.7 social media platforms every month. So, if you need to build a larger audience, social media is the place to be. 

Using social media for growth marketing is more than just churning out content. You need to have a strategic plan in place. 

Start by recognizing where your target audience is. Do you cater to GenZ, millennials, or the older generations? The former are more active on Instagram and TikTok, while the latter may be more present on Facebook. 

If you market to working professionals, X and LinkedIn should be your platforms of choice. 

Next, determine the kind of content that will resonate most closely with your audience. For the younger generation, it could be pop culture references or influencer collaborations. For professionals, it could be informative articles or industry news. 

After you publish this content, don't forget to engage with your audience. People don't want to feel like mere numbers; they want to be seen and heard. Responding to comments and messages, hosting Q&A sessions, and running polls are some ways to engage with your audience. 

Let's talk about a brand that follows all these steps to the T: Duolingo. The language-learning app targets young adults who want to learn a new language. Where are these people most active? TikTok. That's where Duolingo has the largest of its social media following. 

For the second step, Duolingo's content is highly entertaining. They create videos, memes, viral trends, and challenges that are trending on social media, especially TikTok. 

The end result? Millions of likes and views. 

But Duolingo doesn't leave its audience hanging. The platform's social media team responds to comments in a humorous and quirky way, due to which the screenshots of their interactions often go viral on other social media platforms such as Instagram and X, too. 

It's due to this reason that Duolingo saw a 6.2% growth in just one quarter of 2023, with its monthly active users going up to 88.4 million. 

6. Show Social Proof on Your Marketing Channels 

To dabble into product led growth marketing, you need to show people that your product is widely accepted and used. 

That's where social proof comes in. 

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where humans use actions of their fellows to correct their own behavior in a given situation. In simple words, if people see positive testimonials or reviews for your product, they're likely to trust and use it themselves. 

It works like this. An ice cream shop advertises itself to have the best pistachio ice cream in town. You'll be skeptical. 

But then your best friend tries it out and raves about how amazing it is. Now, you're more likely to believe that the ice cream is actually good. 

You can apply this principle to growth marketing by showing testimonials on your marketing channels. Here's how: 

• Website: Display the top testimonials or reviews on your homepage and product pages. 
• Email: Add customer quotes or reviews in your newsletter or email marketing campaigns. 
• Social Media: Share screenshots or snippets of positive reviews on your social media platforms. 
• Ads: Show customer ratings in your Google ads. 

For example, if you scroll down to Monday.com's website, you see reviews from esteemed professionals in their respective companies. All reviews show how the platform has improved efficiency in its clients' companies. 

7. Create Referral Programs 

Any growth marketing manager would tell you that referral programs are a go-to for acquiring new customers. Here's how it works. 

• You offer your existing customers an incentive to refer their friends and family to your brand. 
• They refer their friends and family, who then make a purchase. 
• In return, your existing customers receive the promised incentive. 
• Your company gets a new customer. It's a win-win for everyone. 

For example, Dropbox has a referral program in which you and your friend both get 500 MBs for free if you're a Basic user and 1 GB if you're a Plus user. 

Similarly, Tesla offers referral credits to customers when their friends or family use their referral link to purchase a Tesla product or take a demo drive. 

8. Run Google Ads 

Last but not least, Google Ads for the win! Paid advertisement is a part of pretty much any growth marketing strategy since it lets you reach search engine users, who make up the vast majority of internet users. 

Google has several ad formats, such as search, display, responsive, shopping, and video ads, giving you a variety of options to choose from. Check out this video to learn about all Google video ad formats:  

Most service providers use paid advertisements to reach new audiences. For example, if you search for the best law firms in New York, the top results are sponsored ads. 

Similarly, when we searched for ''candles for home decor,'' we got an ad from Amazon. 

Paid ads help you gain visibility in search engine page results (SERPs). It's not always possible for smaller businesses to reach the top organically. But paid ads can help you level up to meet your competitors. 

With Google Ads, you can target specific keywords, demographics, locations, and interests. So, it's possible to fine-tune your ads to reach the most relevant audience. 

Conclusion 

There you have it: the top effective strategies for growth marketing. Whether you work with a growth marketing agency or take an in-house route, the key is to constantly test and adapt your approach. 

The digital landscape is not static. Your growth marketing strategy shouldn't be either. Keep an eye on your competitors and industry trends. Then, take notes on what you can incorporate into your strategy to make it more impactful.