If you believe your marketing strategy should translate to real and tangible business growth (that’s actually sustainable), then you’re in the right place. That’s because when your business plays its cards right, your marketing strategy can directly lead to speedy business growth, translating to results such as more customers, more revenue, and more of a market presence.
But in order for this to be the case, your team needs to create + execute a comprehensive marketing growth strategy.
This type of marketing strategy throws old marketing practices and expectations right out the window (although it builds on tried and true techniques and knowledge). A powerful marketing growth strategy will help you achieve rapid business growth, thanks to things like data, experimentation, and a customer-centric approach.
What’s a Marketing Growth Strategy All About?
Why should you care about a marketing growth strategy anyway? To understand why, it’s important to differentiate this type of marketing strategy from marketing strategies of the past. A marketing growth strategy is just what it sounds like: it’s a marketing strategy that’s specifically designed to translate into IRL business growth at a speedy pace. With this type of marketing, we’re not playing the long game, and instead, we’re looking for more immediate results. This type of marketing is also known as growth marketing.
So, what’s the differences between this approach, and other marketing approaches? Previously, with age-old digital marketing practices, the emphasis was on long-term brand building and awareness, with the primary goals being related to brand image and customer loyalty. There was scant room for things like experimentation, and while data did inform decisions, data didn’t play that big of a role.
But with growth marketing, the goals are rapid and measure-oriented, and the approach is experimental. This means that marketers test different strategies, channels, messages, and approaches, to land on a result that really works best for the target audience. It’s also heavily influenced by data, and is informed by analysis and trackable metrics. This data-driven approach helps decision-makers make the most informed choices possible, and to optimize their marketing efforts to achieve targeted, precise results.
Why Do Folks Say “AAARRR”?
It’s not just pirate speak: folks who adopt a marketing growth strategy also say AAARRR. This acronym represents a type of funnel, known aptly as the “Pirate Funnel.” This framework was coined back in 2007, and it’s adopted by most growth marketers today, because it looks beyond the typical marketing funnel. Here’s what it stands for:
- A- Awareness
- B- Acquisition
- A- Activation
- R- Retention
- R- Revenue
- R- Referral
Typically, marketers of the past focused on the first one to three letters of the acronym: awareness, acquisition, and activation. These stages are important, and they address how customers find out about you, how they actually become customers, and how successfully they convert.
But a marketing growth strategy takes things a step further. For example, when we focus on retention, we’re really looking for customers who stick around (something that is critical to the success of B2B brands today), and what influences this retention. As you might guess, revenue is crucial because it represents how much money you actually get from your customers. And the last level of the framework might just be the most underrated: referrals can be a powerful way of achieving high levels of growth, because referral customers are valuable. Data tells us that referred customers can bring a 25% higher profit margin, and that they have a 37% higher retention rate than other customers.
What exactly should you be using this pirate funnel for? By segmenting your business and customers into this framework, you can see where your weaknesses are, and how you should tailor your marketing growth strategy. For example, you might be performing wonderfully in the retention phase, but falling short in the referral phase. A marketer in this position might ask themselves how they can tweak their marketing growth strategy to deliver more referrals.
6 Steps to Build a Marketing Growth Strategy
So you want your marketing strategy to (actually) help your business grow. We get it, and we’ve got you covered. Here are 6 steps to build your very own marketing growth strategy.
- Define your goals
In order for a marketing growth strategy to be successful, it has to be clearly tied to your IRL business goals and objectives. Your goals might include increased revenue, better customer acquisition, improved conversion rates, or more customer retention, for example. Whatever your growth goals are, they should definitely be measurable and bound by specific time frames.
After you’ve clarified your growth goals, you can align them to your marketing efforts.
- Deeply understand the AAARRR funnel, and how it translates to your business
The AAARRR “pirate funnel” is an incredibly handy tool, because of the way it segments your business and your customers. You should understand what each stage of this funnel currently looks like in your business, which data and metrics are associated with it, and where you would like to see improvement.
- Audit your current performance
In order to improve the results of your growth marketing efforts, you need to understand how your marketing efforts are performing today. Assess your current efforts and performance using metrics, business goals, and the pirate funnel (among other things). Once you have a handle on how exactly your marketing efforts are currently paying off, you can compare these results with your desired results.
- Develop a marketing strategy and tactics
Once you have goals and weaknesses clarified, it’s time to develop your powerhouse marketing growth strategy. This strategy might include things like B2B SEO, content marketing, and LinkedIn marketing, for example.
Your individual marketing strategy will depend on your business and its goals. If you’re looking to build a personal brand and nurture prospects for the long term, social selling might be in your playbook. If you’re looking for more Page One results on Google, then you’re likely going to need an aggressive technical SEO strategy.
Don’t forget, a well-rounded marketing growth strategy will likely focus on channel diversity, meaning you’ll need to embrace multiple marketing avenues.
- Deploy, test, measure, and improve
A hallmark feature of a marketing growth strategy that actually yields results is experimentation. When you deploy your marketing tactics, you’ll test different iterations, measure their results (using data) and use those insights to improve your work.
It’s important to note that testing and measuring is done at a rapid pace. Marketing efforts are deployed, and results are quickly measured. This pace allows improvements to happen as soon as possible.
By continuously measuring, analyzing, and improving your marketing efforts, you’ll be able to maximize your outcomes, and make sure they’re actually delivering the results you want.
- Leverage technology and automation
When it comes to a marketing growth strategy, you’re going to need certain technical tools to really get it right. Your tech stack might include tools that help with technical SEO (such as tools that help with keywords and competition analysis), automation tools that help you deploy your tactics (such as automated email software), and analytics tools which help you track metrics and distill insights from your data.
How does an SEO Agency Fit In?
Every org chooses to approach things differently, and if a robust marketing growth strategy is in your wheelhouse, then an in-house approach might be best. But as you can see, there are many facets of a marketing growth strategy which require in-depth expertise and experience, particularly when it comes to actually creating, deploying, and constantly monitoring your marketing strategy.
That’s where a SEO agency comes into play. When you partner with a leading SEO agency, you’ll have experts at the helm of your marketing strategy, who know how to achieve the results you want in the tightest time frame possible. They use their wealth of marketing knowledge to create a custom marketing growth strategy for your business, which is directly tied to your business goals.
This means less guesswork for you, and more results for your business.
What About Verbal Branding?
Your brand’s verbal identity tells quite the story, and plays a critical role in your company achieving the success you dream about. Everything from compelling copy to your brand story ultimately plays a role in your brand’s identity, and it’s not to be taken lightly.
When you partner with a full-service SEO agency, you’re not just getting a few blog posts here and there. You’re getting a complete masterclass in messaging, which helps you tease out things like your brand’s story, elevator pitch, tagline, go-to words, and general tone.
All of this ultimately plays into your company’s ability to convert customers. Your verbal branding can be a powerful asset, when it’s leveraged in the right way.
Rapid testing is key to an effective marketing growth strategy
In today’s business landscape, time is of the essence. Slow and inefficient marketing practices don’t just stall results: they can lead to cascading business challenges, and allow your competition to edge ahead of you. But with an excellent marketing growth strategy, you’ll quickly deploy targeted, precise efforts that solve your biggest pain points and deliver tangible business results.
But as you can see, an effective growth marketing strategy isn’t just a “shot in the dark.” It requires significant time, effort, and expertise in everything from traditional marketing practices to data analysis.
If you’re eager to accelerate your business growth using your marketing efforts, then we should talk. We know exactly what it takes to architect and deploy a marketing growth strategy that’s completely customized for your business. Book a call with us today to get started.
