In recent years, growth marketing has become increasingly popular – and for good reason! After all, this is the ideal method for building awareness and growing your business. However, if you are considering working with a growth partner, what are the things you should seriously consider?
1. Choosing a growth partner who is incapable of calculating business risk
It is inevitable that growth partners will encounter trial-and-error techniques from time to time. Skilled growth specialists, however, should NEVER take on more risk than your business can handle. No one puts all their eggs in one basket, after all.
There are many potential dangers for your business when you select a partner who can’t calculate possible risks!
Testing strategically allows you to mitigate unexpected obstacles. Failures can be learned from, and your partner can figure out if the test failed because of creativity, targeting, or concept—or even because you hired the wrong growth agency.
Identifying the right growth partner for your organization requires considering the method in which they use information from a failed or successful test. With reliable data, you can identify your goals, mitigate risk where possible, and validate or invalidate concepts without sacrificing your company’s future.
2. Choosing a growth partner who does not meet your needs
A good growth partner helps you to achieve your goals most efficiently by providing what your business needs. The wrong team to help you grow your business can make a huge difference in the success or failure of your company. You need a growth partner who’s done thousands of tests and understands advertising and data analysis; your growth partner should be capable of assisting you during plateaus.
3. Your growth partner that doesn’t view your success as their success
The right growth partner will help you develop systems that your new team members or current employees can easily integrate into. Growth partners help you avoid waste of time, energy, and money when you hire the wrong people by identifying the skill sets you require. In addition, they can help you develop the kinds of insights and reports that VCs want to see during your fundraising process, for example. It is your success that makes them successful. Their stake is in the game of yours to succeed.
It is important to ensure your growth partner compliments your team’s capabilities and builds on what you already have internally, as well as provides assistance in areas that you don’t have. Ultimately, they must be as invested in your business as you are, understanding that both your successes and failures are theirs.
4. Hiring a growth partner while you’re not ready for changes
There can be discomfort associated with growth partners because they are there to create change. Hire a growth partner with the understanding that you may feel a little uncomfortable at first; changes and new beginnings are on their way.
The purpose of their work is to help identify opportunities for growth that you haven’t thought of yet, and to set up a repeatable process to help you achieve your growth goals. It may be necessary to change the channels, create new content, or change the account structure in order to accomplish this. However, in some cases, it can also imply a larger shift, such as changes to the creative development process, the user journey, and the sales process itself. It can be a little scary to change how you always do things, but without change, you’ll keep getting the same results. Choosing the right growth partner means switching out your current results-producing strategies for those that will help you achieve superior results.
5. Selecting a growth partner who does not “grow” with you
It is important to take into consideration whether your ambitions and your needs are the same when selecting a growth partner. The path you will follow must be shared by you and your partner, if you want your development to be successful.
As a rule, we tend to look and act like the people with whom we spend time and work. The key to “growing” your business and, ultimately, yourself is to pick a partner with whom you can chart a common path, identify, and grow together. You need to have common values with your growth partner; don’t underestimate this!
6. “Market research” skills of your growth partner shouldn’t be underestimated
Analysis of data and statistics is one of the most significant responsibilities of growth partners. The ability to analyze charts, graphs, and other statistical information effectively is a key skill for succeeding in this field.
In order to develop a successful marketing strategy, it is essential to conduct market research. Using it can provide you with great insight into your business and wider marketplace; it can reveal customer perceptions and identify gaps in customer expectations. In order to create a successful marketing strategy, you must have this information. When making key business decisions, having good market intelligence can reduce the risk of failure.
The combination of a growth perspective and market analysis skills enables one to evaluate the success of competitors and conduct research on them. Research the chances that a product or service will succeed, measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and sales strategies, and ultimately grow your business by conducting research.
7. Experimental leads to growth; neither you nor your partner should forget it
It is possible for a company to experiment with a number of ideas to see which has the most potential. Likewise, the limited financial exposure allows a company to try an entirely new strategy and see how their target market responds.
By using research tools and techniques for testing assumptions (or hypotheses), and subjecting them to measurements, validation, and analysis, we can reach an evidence-based conclusion.
Similarly to a sample precinct in a presidential election, small-scale experiments enable growth partners to predict the outcome on a larger scale. The best business strategies are not always understood by companies, and they are always evolving. Using experiments, growth partners can gain insight into their environment in real-world settings.
8. Be sure that your partner has high-level experience in growth marketing processes, and practices
Growth marketing is a tricky area of marketing. It is easy to be deceived about a growth partner’s capabilities due to the field’s wide scope and requirement for knowledge and understanding in plenty of different subjects. Therefore, it is doubly important to be careful when choosing such a partner because of the vagueness of the term “growth partner”.
You shouldn’t just rely on their word. Obtain evidence from their previous collaborations that demonstrates their level of knowledge. Ask for case studies. Make sure you ask the right questions and perform an in-depth interview. Don’t be afraid to be direct and open about your expectations.
9. Your growth partner must be a “people person”, otherwise things won’t work out
Different departments within a company need to collaborate with growth marketers. In addition to copywriters, designers, and advertising marketers, they also work closely with many other specialists – even with you!
Therefore, a good growth marketer will need to be a people person. His inability to work and collaborate properly will lead to friction and, in turn, serious problems within the organization.
It’s that simple!
10. While selecting a growth partner, keep your expectations realistic
The criteria you should consider when choosing a growth partner have been extensively discussed so far. However, there are responsibilities on your part, which are reflected in your expectations.
A growth partner is still a person and not a magical worker who will make your company successful overnight. In order to succeed, mistakes, failures, and experimentation will all be necessary.
Don’t get ahead of yourself, trust the specialists– they know their stuff! Set realistic goals, understand that growth takes time to build, and rely on experts to help you.
