Being a head of growth at a growing company is a ton of work

(We have one too...ask us how we know.)

We talk to dozens of growth practitioners weekly, and with so many responsibilities to juggle, many of them feel like they're barely keeping all of the plates spinning.

What is a head of growth?

In a word: everything.

The term "growth hacking" was popularized by Sean Ellis in 2010 when he coined it to describe a new breed of marketers who focused on scalable growth for startups. Growth hacking emphasizes using creative and innovative techniques to acquire and retain customers in the digital age. It relies heavily on data analysis, experimentation, and iterative testing.

The rise of growth hacking coincided with the emergence of startups and online businesses that needed rapid, cost-effective methods to acquire users and customers. It represented a shift from traditional marketing and sales approaches to a more agile, data-driven, and holistic approach to business growth.

Over time, the concept of growth expanded beyond startups, and many established companies adopted growth-oriented roles and practices. Today, "growth" has become an integral part of the business landscape, with dedicated teams and leaders focused on driving sustainable, data-backed growth across various industries.

How is growth different from sales and marketing?

Growth, sales, and marketing are related but distinct aspects of business, each with its own focus and objectives.

Sales:

  • Sales primarily involves the process of selling a product or service to customers.
  • It is about closing deals, generating revenue, and achieving short-term revenue targets.
  • Sales teams work on direct customer interactions, negotiations, and converting leads into paying customers.
  • The focus is on immediate revenue generation.

Marketing:

  • Marketing is a broader function that encompasses activities aimed at creating brand awareness, attracting potential customers, and building demand for products or services.
  • It includes various tactics such as advertising, content creation, social media engagement, and more.
  • The goal is to create a favorable environment for sales to occur.
  • Marketing strategies often have a longer-term perspective and are about creating brand loyalty and reputation.

Growth:

  • Growth combines elements of marketing, product development, data analysis, and experimentation to drive rapid and sustainable business growth.
  • Growth focuses on optimizing every stage of the customer journey, from acquisition and activation to retention and referral.
  • It aims to achieve scalable and sustainable growth beyond traditional marketing and sales methods.
  • Growth emphasizes data-driven decision-making, A/B testing, and continuous iteration to achieve growth targets.

What are the responsibilities of a head of growth?

Again, with the term being so new, the head of growth typically covers several responsibilities from sales and marketing in addition to their own workload โ€” especially at smaller companies.

Some of those responsibilities may include:

Outbound Activities

  • User Acquisition
  • Paid Ads

Driving Inbound Leads

  • Content Marketing
  • Influencer Marketing
  • Social Media Management
  • PR

Customer Success

  • Customer Support
  • Community Building
  • Loyalty Programs
  • Referral Programs
  • Email Marketing
  • Customer Segmentation

Continuous Improvement

  • Conversion Rate Optimizationย (CRO)
  • App Store Optimization (ASO)
  • A/B Testing
  • Competitor Analysis
  • KPI Tracking
  • Data Analysis
  • Reporting
  • Budget Management

With all of those responsibilities, it's no surprise that customer lifecycle/retention often falls off the list.

(Did you notice it was missing? Be honest...)

It's really not a surprise though, as lifecycle marketing is a ton of work and takes continuous effort.

You have to constantly be creating, thinking of new things, testing, and working in completely different toolsets to try to engage and re-engage your existing customers post-acquisition.

It's especially difficult when management overvalues user acquisition (despite all of the stats showing how much more impactful and effective it is to re-engage and existing customer vs. acquire a new one.)

This is why small growth teams love Aampe

Our AI takes care of the little things like scheduling messages and determining the optimal message timing and frequency, while allowing you the freedom to try new things, experiment, and show your value to management.

You get all of the results of re-engaging your existing, dormant customer (typically 90%+ of your existing customer base) more effectively than you could have otherwise, while saving hours of manual effort.

Using Aampe is like having a dedicated CRM team for each individual customer/user, and it's also like gaining a dedicated data science and customer support team to support your testing and product improvement efforts:

So, if you're feeling overwhelmed โ€” ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ'๐˜ด ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ต โ€” maybe it's time to click that big, orange button below and check out Aampe.

โ€

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(Oh, and if you're part of a larger company, don't worry! We're also used by much larger companies and Super Apps who want to use their data more effectively and help augment their CRM team's effort! ๐Ÿ˜…)