Established businesses often fall into a certain level of routine. Repeating a range of tasks and activities that have worked in the past on the assumption they will continue to work in the future.
If you ask the person responsible for marketing why they do something a particular way and they say: “because that’s how we’ve always done it”, then it’s a sure sign that there is an opportunity to shake things up.
Growth marketing is an approach whereby you challenge all existing assumptions and take the view that the business is only scraping the surface of a much bigger opportunity.
What is a growth marketing consultant?
Armed with cutting edge knowledge of the latest marketing tools and techniques, a growth marketing expert can help with the following:
- take a fresh look at your business performance from a marketing perspective.
- establish realistic growth goals based on historic data and market opportunity analysis.
- develop an aggressive growth marketing plan to deliver on growth targets within budget constraints.
- train you or your team on how to execute the plan, or do so on your behalf.
What does a growth marketing consultant do?
True growth marketers will be unconstrained in their thinking around which methods can be utilised in order to deliver on your growth targets. They will ensure all appropriate conventional channels are in place then examine the potential for more unconventional approaches.
As long as they are legal and ethical, they are considered!
A growth marker will think relentlessly about who the target customer is and how to effectively identify and connect with them.
Much of the skill will be around their experience and understanding of the latest technologies and techniques that can be used to generate new business.
What does a growth marketing plan look like?
A growth marketing plan should start with an unfiltered list of opportunities.
Some examples of opportunities a growth marketing plan can uncover:
- New channels – are there some channels that the business has overlooked in terms of business generation?
- New customer targets – can your existing offering be repackaged for a new type of customer, opening up more sales opportunities?
- Upsell opportunities – is there an untapped area of demand amongst your existing customer base that you are well positioned to capitalise on?
- Partnerships – is there a mutually beneficial collaboration opportunity that could immediately open up your offering to a vast new audience?
The list should be long and broad with a view to narrowing it based on budget required, time/resource required, and likelihood of success. This narrowed list becomes a ‘testing’ roadmap with a view to rapidly trying out ideas and being prepared to fail fast. Once you identify initiatives that work you simple double down on them and shift more resource in so you can scale them.
You will find that growth marketers will often more likely enjoy working in startups and smaller businesses where they are unconstrained by the bureaucracy of larger businesses where there is a much lower appetite for risk and innovation – crucial for businesses looking to achieve rapid growth.
