How to dominate your growth marketing strategy in 2023

Growth marketers are all about boosting their business through tangible results. And while that usually means sales, success can also look like higher customer retention rates and more qualified leads. These results do not just happen. They are the result of careful planning and well-executed strategies.

However, plans and strategies often need to be revised and adjusted. A critical part of any growth marketing strategy is experimentation, and an experimental mindset is necessary to make improvements. You can’t raise your line of attack if you’re not willing to test new ideas and follow the data. If your goal is to dominate your growth marketing strategy and efforts in 2023, here’s how to do it.

Determine where conversions fall short

All buyers go through a journey related to the so-called pirate funnel. This funnel has six main steps: Awareness, Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, and Referral (AAARRR). Compared to traditional strategies, growth marketing focuses on getting conversions at all stages of the funnel.

It’s not just about turning leads into customers once they know your business and what it has to offer. Growth marketing strategies aim to move as many leads and customers as possible from fame to referral. Growth marketers want to build relationships, drive loyalty and motivate customers to refer others. But strategies need to do more than focus on all stages of the buyer’s journey or pirate funnel.

Your efforts should investigate where leads and customers aren’t converting. Or at least they should capitalize on where they don’t convert enough. Your strategy can do a great job moving prospects from awareness to activation. The company’s offers and advertisements are enough to boost website traffic and online purchases. But most new customers don’t stay because there isn’t enough incentive to do so. You can try different rewards to see which discourages churn the most.

Build brand credibility

A brand’s reputation can follow it everywhere. Growth marketers have bigger hurdles to overcome when that reputation is bad or nonexistent to begin with. At the same time, inconsistent marketing messages and strategies that are not specific enough can tarnish a brand’s reputation. Establishing and building brand credibility is essential to getting leads and keeping customers.

Building or repairing brand credibility takes time. It also asks reliability and expertise. If consumers aren’t sure they can trust your brand, they’re less likely to convert at every stage of the funnel. Expertise often goes hand in hand with confidence. People want the assurance that companies have the knowledge and authority to speak up about the topics they cover.

Creating unique and insightful online content is one way to build credibility for your brand. Content that aligns with your audience’s needs and search intent demonstrates an understanding of that consumer segment. You begin to build a bond and trust. Working with other industry influencers and incorporating customer reviews are additional ways to build brand credibility. However, it’s important to make sure what you say matches what your company delivers.

Make data-driven decisions

Effective marketing strategies for growth don’t rely on gut feelings. Data and test results should guide the actions and strategic moves of growth marketers. Owning your industry is not possible without paying attention to the breadcrumbs that can lead you to that ultimate goal.

Those breadcrumbs are often the most important performance indicators you want to measure. Yet KPIs are not always numerical; they can be more qualitative, such as consumer confidence. By establishing metrics and goals for each funnel stage, you can determine whether your strategies are working well or need refinement.

Maybe customer referrals are lower than your desired benchmark. Data from your net promoter score surveys shows that sentiment is unenthusiastic due to inconsistent service quality. While some customers are happy to recommend your brand to others, your list of passive consumers is growing. Passives are people who can take or leave your offer. They need more persuasion to become loyal brand advocates.

If you ignore this data, you are not following the breadcrumbs. You may want to review your referral program to determine if it’s out of line with customer experiences. You may need to work with other departments to resolve those inconsistencies. Perhaps the rewards for remaining a loyal customer are not enough and need attention. Listening to how consumers vote with their behavior will lead to better decisions.

Invest in omnichannel experiences

Knowing how different segments move through the sales funnel helps brands target the right consumer at the right time. It also supports consistency in messages and experiences across multiple marketing channels. The chances of leads and customers interacting with a brand through more than one channel are high. And today’s consumers expect consistent and personalized omnichannel experiences.

By mapping where and how segments interact with your brand, you can discover opportunities to refine and expand omnichannel experiences. Let’s say your pay-per-click ads and blog posts are the first touchpoints a consumer group sees. These ads and posts create awareness among the segment, but many people call customer service for more information. They find your webshop confusing and the checkout process too extensive.

Consumers in this segment don’t understand why they can’t ship your products to a home address. Since they have to have their order delivered to a local store, this goes against their expectations for online shopping. Why should leads convert through your website if they have to visit a store anyway? By adapting your online checkout and shipping methods to consumer expectations, you can improve conversions and meet needs at the bottom of the funnel.

Dominate growth marketing

Growth marketing strategies are not a one time deal. At the heart of these approaches is the desire to test hypotheses and learn from the results. Growth marketers must continually reevaluate their efforts to achieve the end goals of increasing sales and retaining customers. Executing a winning strategy is not about confirming that your suspicions were correct. It’s about discovering what consumers think your brand got right and correcting what they think you got wrong.