How to implement Growth Marketing: A six-step process
How to implement Growth Marketing: A six-step process
Grow your marketing outcomes with this 6-step Growth Marketing process.
Grow your marketing outcomes with this 6-step Growth Marketing process.
Last edited on:
Feb 7, 2024
Author:
Jordy Oost
Introduction: a 6-step process for implementation of a Growth Marketing process
Over the past years I have had the honour to implement a growth marketing process at multiple companies. Along the way I found that implementation is not the hardest part. Managing your team, staying focused on long term objectives and managing stakeholders is.
If you are not familiar with the tactics and filosophy of Growth Marketing in general - I suggest to take a look at the Guide to Growth Marketing and Growth Hacking frameworks first.
That is why I wrote this guide. To explain both the technicalities of implementing a Growth Marketing process, and to list the points to take into account during implementation, written from experience rather than theory.
Introduction: a 6-step process for implementation of a Growth Marketing process
Over the past years I have had the honour to implement a growth marketing process at multiple companies. Along the way I found that implementation is not the hardest part. Managing your team, staying focused on long term objectives and managing stakeholders is.
If you are not familiar with the tactics and filosophy of Growth Marketing in general - I suggest to take a look at the Guide to Growth Marketing and Growth Hacking frameworks first.
That is why I wrote this guide. To explain both the technicalities of implementing a Growth Marketing process, and to list the points to take into account during implementation, written from experience rather than theory.
The 6-step growth marketing plan
(1) Gather a cross functional team
Start by assembling a cross functional team. In which every member can deliver input for discovering strategies for acquisition, retention, and revenue growth.
Ideally, you should have at least three out of five key roles covered. Within early-stage companies, the roles might be filled by fewer persons wearing multiple hats.
Common roles within a cross functional growth team
Growth lead
Data analyst or Revops specialist
Paid specialist
Graphic/ux designer
SEO and copy specialist
"Nice-to-have" and supportive functions
SDR
Product marketer
Data engineer
(2) Setting clear objectives
A shared understanding of the product, customer and growth goals are key to create alignment in the team. These elements should be taken into account to huddle together to choose a central objective.
The objective ensures that all initiatives that are developed and executed by this team are aligned towards a common, measurable goal.
(3) Map your customer journey
Mapping out the customer journey creates a customer-centric understanding of the marketing funnel, from initial awareness to post-purchase engagement.
This allows the team to identify opportunities and friction, ensuring that initiatives are tailored towards the customer.
(4) Identify opportunities
Hold a brainstorm session to come up with insights and ideas. Doing this periodically will create a constant inflow of growth marketing initiatives. The sessions will by itself align the team with on your chosen growth objective(s) and deepens their understanding of the market.
Subsequently prioritising the initiatives allows the team to focus on high-impact initiatives.
(5) Create a marketing experiment backlog
Before execution, create an experiment backlog. List each experiment with expected results in order to learn from outcomes and promote continuous improvement. Once you have built started the growth marketing process and the team is comfortable with it, you can add hypotheses to the experiment backlog and validate these with data.
This practice establishes clear expectations and objectives for each initiative.
(6) Create momentum: work in sprints
Time to put in the work. Use a lean cadence of ideation, prioritization, execution and evaluation to learn about the market and reach your marketing goals.
Start your first growth sprint: a cyclical process in which you work in an agile and data-driven way towards your business objectives.
The 6-step growth marketing plan
(1) Gather a cross functional team
Start by assembling a cross functional team. In which every member can deliver input for discovering strategies for acquisition, retention, and revenue growth.
Ideally, you should have at least three out of five key roles covered. Within early-stage companies, the roles might be filled by fewer persons wearing multiple hats.
Common roles within a cross functional growth team
Growth lead
Data analyst or Revops specialist
Paid specialist
Graphic/ux designer
SEO and copy specialist
"Nice-to-have" and supportive functions
SDR
Product marketer
Data engineer
(2) Setting clear objectives
A shared understanding of the product, customer and growth goals are key to create alignment in the team. These elements should be taken into account to huddle together to choose a central objective.
The objective ensures that all initiatives that are developed and executed by this team are aligned towards a common, measurable goal.
(3) Map your customer journey
Mapping out the customer journey creates a customer-centric understanding of the marketing funnel, from initial awareness to post-purchase engagement.
This allows the team to identify opportunities and friction, ensuring that initiatives are tailored towards the customer.
(4) Identify opportunities
Hold a brainstorm session to come up with insights and ideas. Doing this periodically will create a constant inflow of growth marketing initiatives. The sessions will by itself align the team with on your chosen growth objective(s) and deepens their understanding of the market.
Subsequently prioritising the initiatives allows the team to focus on high-impact initiatives.
(5) Create a marketing experiment backlog
Before execution, create an experiment backlog. List each experiment with expected results in order to learn from outcomes and promote continuous improvement. Once you have built started the growth marketing process and the team is comfortable with it, you can add hypotheses to the experiment backlog and validate these with data.
This practice establishes clear expectations and objectives for each initiative.
(6) Create momentum: work in sprints
Time to put in the work. Use a lean cadence of ideation, prioritization, execution and evaluation to learn about the market and reach your marketing goals.
Start your first growth sprint: a cyclical process in which you work in an agile and data-driven way towards your business objectives.
Attention points to take into account as a growth lead
Show and discuss your strategy with stakeholders
Growth marketing is a long-term process. To implement this in an organisation, you need the support of stakeholders. It is important to ask for feedback, document the process, and engage in active discussions.
Jumping straight into tactics and quick wins
Before doing this, remain focused on the larger picture. Maintain an overview of the budget and resources. Address risks and potential threats early. Ensure alignment with key stakeholders.
Align and connect with other departments
Working with a cross-functional team involves collaboration with other departments. First, define responsibilities, ownership, and accountability among the departments. Then, discuss and align with the leadership of those departments and product owners.
Create an operating document
Make sure to create a document in which you write down the process. Share this document on Notion, Jira or in another way that is widely preferred in the organisation.
Advocate for the necessary resources
Executing growth initiatives and achieving your objectives requires resources and a budget. Begin this conversation early to set expectations and tailor your strategy and goals to the available resources.
Share insights and learnings along the way
Some experiments will fail, while others will succeed in unexpected ways. Certain campaigns will offer valuable learnings for the entire organisation. Regularly share results, insights, and learnings to keep everyone informed and engaged.
Keep your updates concise and juicy, and keep the team excited and motivated.
Attention points to take into account as a growth lead
Show and discuss your strategy with stakeholders
Growth marketing is a long-term process. To implement this in an organisation, you need the support of stakeholders. It is important to ask for feedback, document the process, and engage in active discussions.
Jumping straight into tactics and quick wins
Before doing this, remain focused on the larger picture. Maintain an overview of the budget and resources. Address risks and potential threats early. Ensure alignment with key stakeholders.
Align and connect with other departments
Working with a cross-functional team involves collaboration with other departments. First, define responsibilities, ownership, and accountability among the departments. Then, discuss and align with the leadership of those departments and product owners.
Create an operating document
Make sure to create a document in which you write down the process. Share this document on Notion, Jira or in another way that is widely preferred in the organisation.
Advocate for the necessary resources
Executing growth initiatives and achieving your objectives requires resources and a budget. Begin this conversation early to set expectations and tailor your strategy and goals to the available resources.
Share insights and learnings along the way
Some experiments will fail, while others will succeed in unexpected ways. Certain campaigns will offer valuable learnings for the entire organisation. Regularly share results, insights, and learnings to keep everyone informed and engaged.
Keep your updates concise and juicy, and keep the team excited and motivated.
In conclusion
I hope that this guide will come of use and that my learnings will prevent you from making mistakes that I made along the way. Will this prevent you from making mistakes or having painful discussions with stakeholder? Absolutely not. This is all part of the process. Every team and every organisation requires a different approach. The only way to find this is to start. Good luck with implementation of your own Growth Marketing process!
In conclusion
I hope that this guide will come of use and that my learnings will prevent you from making mistakes that I made along the way. Will this prevent you from making mistakes or having painful discussions with stakeholder? Absolutely not. This is all part of the process. Every team and every organisation requires a different approach. The only way to find this is to start. Good luck with implementation of your own Growth Marketing process!
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