how to viral your business part 1

 HOW TO VIRAL YOUR BUSINESS PART 1

Introduction

 

Growth hacking began as a trend but is quickly becoming a necessity. With the ever-expanding growth of the Internet, growth hacking is absolutely vital when bringing products and services to customers. 

For years, marketers were in charge of pushing products while coders were fully responsible for entering and building code, or a platform. Now, however, these words have merged to create a single system of true growth, known as growth hacking.

Marketing will always be an essential element, but it’s important to have a single individual or handful of employees who focus solely on the narrow growth of the company.

The Internet has truly created a new way for businesses to grow, seemingly overnight in some scenarios. Consumers no longer have to feel tricked in terms of product, because product features can be directly involved in growth. 

In addition to these elements, growth hackers also understand that channels of distribution are no longer A to B, and any sale is a positive note. 

Instead, channels are now moved or even created due to the channels created by social media. This could include new websites or even popular blogs from trending individuals outside of the entertainment arena. While growth hacking is currently implied to resolve around startups, it will soon be implemented into even the largest organizations.

In this guide, I’ll go in detail on how you can grow your business, build your portfolio and brand using the power of the Internet.

 

           

Internet Marketing Basics

 

Essentially, convincing others to visit a particular site, download a specific app, or purchase a certain product all comes down to Internet marketing. 

Whether a business or individual decides to hire a certain person or small group of people, those within the Internet marketing field usually consists of those with backgrounds in either business or even the IT department. 

With the rise of technology, however, marketing and programmers have merged to form growth hackers, who expand businesses quicker than ever before.

Internet marketing no longer requires long hours in stuffy classrooms or in the back of crowded offices. Instead, the basics can be learned from simply being an avid Internet user. All the degrees in the world will not really help if individuals hate spending time on a computer. 

Great examples of individuals who have the potential to become a successful growth hacker include those who truly enjoy being on up-andcoming social media outlets, those who are business-minded, those who enjoy buying and selling online, and individuals who enjoy blogging. These examples of hands on experience quickly help newcomers rise above the rest.

When entering the world of growth hacking, one of the initial factors to consider would be to establish a portfolio. When building a portfolio, there are several aspects to consider, but the main idea is to feature your best and most relevant work. 

This comes into play when applying to a particular job or simply preparing a portfolio to extend to other professionals. Ideally, the goal is to focus on a marketing portfolio to sell yourself—through both past examples and promise of future excellence in a chosen field.

 

In addition to establishing a reputable portfolio, Internet marketers who wish to become growth hackers also need to find a specific niche to focus. There are many methods and techniques to consider when searching for a niche to enter, and most experts recommend focusing on a niche where the party involved already show interest. 

In addition to learning the ins and outs of a particular subject, it’s also important to use the benefits of the long tail of keywords, which focuses on several small units rather than one large or overly popular unit, or product.

After understanding the initial aspects of a reputable portfolio and locating a specific niche to focus study, there are four methods of success to begin the preliminary steps of growth hacking. 

Among these four methods, businesses must first establish relationships with their potential customers in order to create lasting wealth. The other methods are direct response copywriting and content marketing, both of which are key to learning the ins and outs of growth marketing. 

Finally, and perhaps the most important step, is to have a valuable product; one worth sharing and having others wants to share. With the understanding of the four methods of success, growth hacking becomes more realistic and the next steps involve more direct commitment. 

True growth hackers understand that going viral is no accident, but rather, it is an engineered response to tactical and analytical growth. Growth hackers actually have the ability to make users want to spread the word about their business or product by asking favors that do not seem like favors. This collaboration will specifically discuss methods used by daily deal giants Groupon and LivingSocial. 

Within the realm of a growth hacker, it’s important to remember that these individuals only focus on actionable, realistic goals. These goals are then highly scrutinized using top-notch analytics, where strengths are leveraged and weaknesses are assessed to find optimal results. 

Much like the scientific method, growth hackers begin with a hypothesis and continue to analyze and re-attempt experiments in order to find the best answers for ever-expanding growth in business.

In order to truly hack growth, one must completely understand the mindset of the consumer. Imagine those visiting a site as a filter or funnel. Growth hackers invite all sorts of visitors to the site, but then filter these individuals until they find which ones are capable and willing to make a purchase, sign up for a mailing list, or reach other profitable material. 

From the initial beginnings to the final point of checkout, growth hackers make sure nothing is left on the table in terms of profit or growth.

Once the filter has been properly analyzed, it can then be dissected. The funnel begins with the expanded open mouth, where all visitors are invited to be pulled in by various levels of enticement. 

These types of pull tactics include everything from free materials to prizes and invite users to come in from their own free will. Gaining visitors is not an accident and growth hackers understand how to properly entice, incentivize, and make a sale.

In addition to pull methods, there are also push tactics, which will be discussed in greater detail throughout the book. These push tactics are different in that they go after the consumer rather than sit back and wait for a visitor to stop by. 

These methods can best be summarized as an ad playing before a video on a viral website. While these methods are both effective, neither is quite as effective as the possibilities that exist within the product method.

Product tactics are types of growth where users are actually using the interface when sharing the message of a product or service. This would include all social media outlets such as Facebook, Gmail, LinkedIn, and Twitter. 

Essentially, these types of products sell themselves in the respect that your friends need to be on the same type of service or plan in order to communicate and exist within the world of that particular social plane.