TL;DR: “I don’t want to work hard or spend money. I want a growth hack.”

I was truly amazed by his response. I work in tech, so I’m no stranger to growth hacking, but the fact that people actually assume you don’t have to do any work to acquire new users blows my mind. But here’s the reality: if you don’t care to put in the work, you can’t possibly care about your customers. And if you don’t care about your customers, you’re not going to invest in engagement or long term growth. You just want as much money as fast as you can, and that comes (if at all) at the expense of your brand.

Growth hacking is not strategy, it’s tactic

Let’s think for a moment about the “growth hacks” we’ve canonized: Airbnb’s Craigslist emails and Dropbox’s referral program. Dropbox built a virtuous value cycle. AirBnB piggybacked on an existing network, Craigslist, to build referrals. Growth hacking makes it seem like these are the same thing, but they are very different and both sprang from a clear strategy. The growth hacks of today no longer resemble those efforts—they are subversive, deceptive, and they do not keep the customer at the center. Using today’s hacks and Dropbox or Airbnb in the same sentence is destructive and unproductive.

Growth hacking, in its current form, is a dumbing down of marketing strategy. It lacks empathy. It seeks quick wins, not long term growth. I’m not suggesting it can’t be part of your mix. In fact, it should be. It brings a new energy, pace, and discipline of experimentation that had been missing from marketing for a long time. But growth hacking is a tactic, and it should only exist inside of a great marketing and operational strategy. All too often marketing is cast aside in an attempt to find the next hack. And tech has almost entirely lost sight of what’s good.

I’d like to remind you what it looks like.

It tells the truth.

The New York Times

It empowers.

McCann New York

It’s driven by content.

Fenty Beauty

It’s backed by data.

Netflix

It supported and enhanced by new technology.

Verizon x Snapchat

Stop calling it growth hacking

Growth hacking needs a new semantic. If you care about your brand and your customers stop calling your marketing strategy, “growth hacking.” Stop trying to be the next Uber, Airbnb, or Dropbox. Stop misunderstanding and misleading your users.

Instead, start operating out of your brand values. Know who you are and tell people about it in the right places and at the right time. Start engaging with your customers, daily. Spend time where they spend time. Understand them. Follow them on social media. Monitor their conversations and participate in a way that is appropriate and meaningful. Collect data, glean insights, and experiment in the language of your customers. Only then are you ready to test a growth hack — one that is relevant to your brand, intuitive in its function, and truthful in its offered value.

In other words, start working for it.

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