MSc digital marketing research on growth hacking for UK tech start ups. Key concepts: agile marketing, lean start ups, digital marketing

1. (Marketing 3.0?)

2. Formulating the Idea…

3. Why UK Tech Start Ups?
• London is Europe’s largest hub of technology start-ups (Smith,
2014) and in the first three-quarters of 2014, $1.02 billion in
funding for fledging technology companies in London has been
raised from venture capital firms (Murad, 2014)
• Google Ventures launched a $100 million fund in July 2014,
dedicated to European businesses and based in East London’s
‘Silicon Roundabout Start-Up District’ (BBC, 2014)
• The Government’s TechCity UK Report (TechCity UK, 2013) also
states that this growth is predicted to expand by 11% every year
until 2016, creating a digital economy worth £221 billion

4. Technological Change (in Context)
To make $1 billion…
46 years Oil Tycoon John D Rockefeller
14 years Michael Dell
12 years Bill Gates
4 years Founder of Yahoo
3 years Founder of eBay
2 years Founder of Groupon

5. ‘Old’ Product Marketing Approach

6. ‘Old’ Digital Marketing Approach

7. What is Growth Hacking?
• Sean Ellis devised the term ‘Growth Hacking’ in 2010
• Ellis (2014) says “Startups live and die by their ability to drive customer acquisition
growth. Of course many startups are doomed to failure and can’t grow because
they never reach product/market fit. But even with product/market fit, traction is
tough. Startups are under extreme resource constraints and need to figure out
how to break through the noise to let their target customers know they have a
superior solution for a critical problem…the best growth hacks take advantage of
the unique opportunities available in a connected world where digital experiences
can spread rapidly.”
• Chen (2011) expands this view to describe growth hacking as a “…hybrid of
marketer and coder, one who looks at the traditional question of “How do I get
customers for my product?” and answers with A/B tests, landing pages, viral
factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph. On top of this, they layer the
discipline of direct marketing, with its emphasis on quantitative measurement,
scenario modelling via spreadsheets, and a lot of database queries. If a startup is
pre-product/market fit, growth hackers can make sure virality is embedded at the
core of a product.”

8. What is Growth Hacking?
Source: Econsultancy (2014)

9. BUT….

10. Key Concepts (Strategic Level)
• Lean start-ups
• Marketing technology
• Agile marketing

11. Lean Start Ups
Source: Blank (2013)

12. Marketing Technology

13. Ten Commandments of Agile Marketing
1. Immerse yourself in the customer experience
2. Know the fitness landscape you are competing in
3. Develop rules of thumb for how to compete in your fitness
landscape
4. Make extensive use of pilots and prototypes
5. Conduct smart experiments using new technologies
6. Focus on asking the right questions
7. Use behavioural qualitative market research and econometrics
to sharpen selection
8. Use qualitative research to improve your intuition
9. Define and communicate the intent of new offers clearly, with a
process of briefing and back briefing
10. Give individuals in marketing and other functions freedom to
adjust their actions in line with the intent
Source: Freeling (2011)

14. Key Concepts (Tactical Level)
• Product/ Market Fit
• User Data Analysis
• Conversion Rate Optimisation
• Viral Growth
• Retention scalable Growth

15. First Conceptual Framework

16. Research Methods
• Sampling
• Qualitative approach: 11 face-to-face
interviews
• Semi-structured (7 open-ended questions)
• 2 questions used dimension cards with key
growth hacking terms on them (Rowley et
al, 2012)
• Average length: 41 minutes
• Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006)

17. Interviewees

18. Thematic Analysis

19. Findings
Definitions of Growth Hacking:
• It’s become a buzz word (6 participants)
• Mind-set is extremely important – focus on
accelerated growth on a minimum budget
• Being curious is key
• Internal culture: being open to
experimentation
• Needs a good (T-shaped) team

20. Findings
Definitions of Growth Hacking:
• It’s become a buzz word (6 participants)
• Mind-set is extremely important – focus on
accelerated growth on a minimum budget
• Being curious is key
• Internal culture: being open to
experimentation
• Needs a good (T-shaped) team

21. Findings
• MVP
• Viral growth
• Effective offline channels
• Agile Marketing: TEST, LEARN & COMMIT’
loops

22. Findings
Michael Birch, Co-founder of Bebo:
“Budgets make people lazy. They begin to
think in traditional terms and don’t innovate.”

23. Social Media

24. New Framework(s)
Technologist
Coder/
Developer
Marketer
Data
Analyst
Growth
Hacker
Ideal role of a growth hacker

25. New Framework(s)
Processes
• Rapid A/B experiments to
test hypotheses
• Use 19 traction channels
(Weinberg & Mares, 2014)
to test, measure, learn and
iterate
• Continuous focus on
conversion improvement
Skills
• Focus on growth
• Curiosity & understanding of
technology
• Understanding of branding
• Know what data to collect & ability
to interpret it
• Pi-Shaped people (Mortimer,
2012)
Tools
• Google Analytics
• Mixpanel
• Kissmetrics
• Optimizely
• Gekoboard
• Adjust
• Qualaroo
Metrics
• Tailored to business-type
• KPIs per channel
• Prioritise a few metrics
(e.g.Gekoboard have two per year)
• Use pirate metrics framework –
AARRR (McClure, 2007)
Growth Hacking Operating System

26. New Framework(s)

27. Conclusions
• Growth hacking can only be done with a good product
that has achieved product market fit
• Growth hacking is most effective when it’s implemented
by a multi-disciplined team
• The core principle behind growth hacking is to quickly and
cheaply test a marketing idea, use data to analyse the
outcomes and to: iterate, optimise, implement or change
the experiment
• Running A/B tests and using analytical software such as
Google Analytics, Mixpanel and Optimizely are essential
to this process

28. Conclusions
• Despite the high data analysis element of growth
hacking, it’s a extremely creative process that
requires people to “swim against the flow” and spot
emerging opportunities before anyone else does
• Although digital marketing is a key element of growth
hacking it is also important to use traditional
marketing methods to bridge the gap between the
physical and digital world

29. @DigitalTanya