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“Growth Hacking” is BS

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Re: “Growth Hacking” is BS

#51

Post by bad_user »

natrius wrote: post #13

"So, why is the title “Growth Hacker” a bunch of BS? Because it’s just a way for marketing averse startups to hire marketers without having to publicly say they’re hiring marketers." This is false, as you disprove a few paragraphs later: "The goal of a marketer is to grow a customer base. That’s what these growth hackers are doing, they’re just doing it in a more technically advanced way via data confirmation and spl…

The distribution channels for marketing are constantly changing. The marketers that don't evolve with the trends will be soon out of a job. And for online marketing, learning programming is a must.

I do agree that maybe we need some kind of concise way for referring to these marketers with software development skills, but using "growth hacker" is in the same league as using the words "ninja", "rockstar" and "guru". For me it's nauseating, while telling me something about the spoiled brats I'll end up working with.

What's wrong with "marketing engineer"?

Re: “Growth Hacking” is BS

#52

Post by richardw »

bretpiatt wrote: post #35
richardw wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible you might end up with an equivalently effective person, but I think it'd be easier to transition from coder->marketer. I suspect that the knowledge required to be useful is about 70-30, or maybe 85-15, heavily on the coder side. To pick up some marketing ideas that will start moving the needle on your startup, read a small book. You'd probably already know enough to start iterating on 3 or more techniqu…

All the details of programming are complicated and you can justify it with your expert knowledge as fact. Perhaps marketing is just as complicated but seems simple since you just see the output / results and do not have the expert knowledge to realize the detail that went into it?

I certainly don't think world-class marketing is simple at all. You get brilliant people in all roles, and I'm in awe of the best in the business. But most startups don't need killer deep-knowledge marketers who could design a marketing strategy for Coke but have learned to program a bit. Most startups need someone well-versed in technology who knows enough about marketing to move the needle on growth.

Re: “Growth Hacking” is BS

#53

Post by mjwalshe »

russtrpkovski wrote: post #8
ramanujan wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. The term has a definite meaning. It refers to a software engineer with enough market awareness, copywriting savvy, and statistical ability to run a campaign full stack. There aren't that many people with this skillset, but they are valuable. By contrast, the typical person listing "marketing" on LinkedIn is just not that technical. A good growth hacker can conceptualize and code the AirBnB/Craiglist integ…

Sounds like you are referring to a generalist.

But most marketing types cant develope a tool from an bare API - still was nice to learn node.js and mongo.

Though its a pity the api provider didn't impliment a MQ solution

Re: “Growth Hacking” is BS

#54

Post by dataisfun »

itmag wrote: post #50
natrius wrote: post #13

"So, why is the title “Growth Hacker” a bunch of BS? Because it’s just a way for marketing averse startups to hire marketers without having to publicly say they’re hiring marketers." This is false, as you disprove a few paragraphs later: "The goal of a marketer is to grow a customer base. That’s what these growth hackers are doing, they’re just doing it in a more technically advanced way via data confirmation and spl…

To me, "growth hacking" evokes more than just marketing. Let's say my startup hustles like crazy and carves out a deal with a major coffee chain (like Square did with Starbucks IIRC). Suddenly we have access to a whole lot more users. We grew the user base drastically, yet it wasn't exactly a result of marketing but rather one of strategic dealmaking. To me, that is the quintessence of growth hacking.

Why not just call it business development? Why do we need the word "hacking" as part of what has been the way businesses grow?

Re: “Growth Hacking” is BS

#56

Post by njx »

natrius wrote: post #13

"So, why is the title “Growth Hacker” a bunch of BS? Because it’s just a way for marketing averse startups to hire marketers without having to publicly say they’re hiring marketers." This is false, as you disprove a few paragraphs later: "The goal of a marketer is to grow a customer base. That’s what these growth hackers are doing, they’re just doing it in a more technically advanced way via data confirmation and spl…

In fact, try applying for jobs to some east coast companies and tell them that you are a great "Hacker".

The word "hacker" may resonate well with the SV culture but outside that you might get a response saying "let us not get that extreme, we just need a good developer"

Re: “Growth Hacking” is BS

#58

Post by 1123581321 »

itmag wrote: post #50
natrius wrote: post #13

"So, why is the title “Growth Hacker” a bunch of BS? Because it’s just a way for marketing averse startups to hire marketers without having to publicly say they’re hiring marketers." This is false, as you disprove a few paragraphs later: "The goal of a marketer is to grow a customer base. That’s what these growth hackers are doing, they’re just doing it in a more technically advanced way via data confirmation and spl…

To me, "growth hacking" evokes more than just marketing. Let's say my startup hustles like crazy and carves out a deal with a major coffee chain (like Square did with Starbucks IIRC). Suddenly we have access to a whole lot more users. We grew the user base drastically, yet it wasn't exactly a result of marketing but rather one of strategic dealmaking. To me, that is the quintessence of growth hacking.

It's better to use ordinary language to describe something ordinary like Starbucks using Square. Sales is a steady job that anyone can do (like programming.) Hustling like crazy and such is made to sound special when it's not particularly crazy at all.

Re: “Growth Hacking” is BS

#59

Post by snowwrestler »

spitfire wrote: post #25
ashray wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he's just tired of buzzwords and took it out on the wrong title. Now, if he had a post titled "I'll bitchslap the next person who asks me to build something web 2.0". I would totally read that and upvote it to high heaven.

So lets call it a quantitative marketer then? It describes the role more precisely and it sounds cool.

I feel like people who want to rename this type of role are either people who haven't worked with marketers very much, or look down on marketers--or both.

Marketing at big companies has involved intense data analysis for many years now. We don't need a new name for that.

Re: “Growth Hacking” is BS

#60

Post by jfarmer »

bad_user wrote: post #51
natrius wrote: post #13

"So, why is the title “Growth Hacker” a bunch of BS? Because it’s just a way for marketing averse startups to hire marketers without having to publicly say they’re hiring marketers." This is false, as you disprove a few paragraphs later: "The goal of a marketer is to grow a customer base. That’s what these growth hackers are doing, they’re just doing it in a more technically advanced way via data confirmation and spl…

The distribution channels for marketing are constantly changing. The marketers that don't evolve with the trends will be soon out of a job. And for online marketing, learning programming is a must. I do agree that maybe we need some kind of concise way for referring to these marketers with software development skills, but using "growth hacker" is in the same league as using the words "ninja", "rockstar" and "guru". F…

I think "marketing engineer" is a fine and accurate term -- I've even called myself that at times -- but for whatever reason "growth hacker" is what's caught on.

You may as well argue over aluminum vs. aluminium.

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