Here are the slides from the talk I gave at the 'Realtime Marketing Lab' conference in Toronto on October 14th, 2015. The talk is about How to Growth Hack Your Marketing Plan.

1. @JimWHuffman
How to
Growth HACK
Your Marketing Plan
Jim Huffman
VP of Marketing
TheTake

2. @JimWHuffman

3. @JimWHuffman
Acquired
for$500M

4. @JimWHuffman

5. @JimWHuffman
$24B Valuation

6. @JimWHuffman

7. @JimWHuffman
$10B Valuation

8. @JimWHuffman
What is a Growth Hacker?
Sean Ellis (Dropbox) came up with the phrase “Growth Hacker” in 2010 when he
was trying to hire his replacement. Because a the Marketing candidates weren’t
working out.
“A Growth Hacker is
a person whose true
north star is Growth.
” – Sean Ellis

9. @JimWHuffman
Wait, So What Does that Mean?
“After product-market fit and an
efficient conversion process, find
scalable, repeatable and sustainable
ways to grow the business.”
– Sean Ellis

10. @JimWHuffman
Product
Data /
Analytics
Marketing
Growth Hacking
What Goes into Growth Hacking?

11. @JimWHuffman
GH = Distribution Built into Product
LINKEDIN
Add Your Address Book and
Build Your Network.
GILT
Invite a Friend and
Get $25 When They Buy.

12. @JimWHuffman
Growth Hacking Summary
1. North Star = Growth
2. Find scalable, repeatable and sustainable ways to
grow
3. Use Product, Data & Marketing
4. Distribution Built into Product

13. @JimWHuffman
STOP
How do you know you’re ready to GROW?

14. @JimWHuffman
You Need to Answer
Three Questions

15. @JimWHuffman
1. Do You Have Product Market Fit?
How do you measure Product Market Fit?
1. 40% of Users would be “Very Disappointed” if your product disappeared.
2. NPS Score
How would you feel if you could no longer use
[product]?
(A) Very disappointed
(B) Somewhat disappointed
(C) Not disappointed (it isn’t really that useful)
(D) N/A – I no longer use [product] (Survey.io)
DISCLAIMER: False positives could emerge from surveys. Make sure your engagement &
retention data supports your results.

16. @JimWHuffman
How Do You Maintain PMF?
CASE STUDY
Talk to users and understand their problem. And do it every single day. We call our experience the
“Happiness Initiative” and we measure it daily.

17. @JimWHuffman
2. Are You Optimized for Growth?
CONVERSION:
Can you convert a user?
RETENTION:
Can you keep a user?

18. @JimWHuffman
How We Messed Up Conversion
and Then Fixed It
CASE STUDY
< 1% Sign-Ups

19. @JimWHuffman
We Leveraged Our ‘Magic Moment’
CASE STUDY
• Users coming through SEO (70% of traffic) are trying to Solve a Problem,
• Identify when you solve a user’s problem = “Magic Moment”
• RESOURCE: Alex Schultz, Head of Growth – See your friends
• Demonstrate why they should sign up
Over 4% Sign-Ups

20. @JimWHuffman
We Bring them Back with Email
CASE STUDY
• Editorial team dedicated to keeping you users engaged through high quality content.

21. @JimWHuffman
3. Is Growth a Priority?
Then you better track it every single day. Facebook’s #1 Metric:
How Many More Users (as a percentage) Were Added Per Day?

22. @JimWHuffman
Summary
1. Product Market Fit
2. Conversion & Retention
3. Everyone’s Focused on Growth

23. @JimWHuffman
GO
Congrats, you’re ready for growth.

24. @JimWHuffman
Lets Get in the Growth Mindset
1. Your Goal is to Expedite the Speed of Your
Feedback Loop.
2. A/B Testing & Analytics are the Language of
Growth.
3. Over 80% of your Growth ideas will FAIL.
(And that’s okay.)

25. @JimWHuffman
GROWTH HACK: Plan of Attack
STEP 1: Identify Growth Ideas to Test
STEP 2: Test for Scalable & Repeatable Ideas
STEP 3: Measure & Model Your Growth
STEP 4: Repeat

26. @JimWHuffman
How to Come Up with Growth Ideas?
It starts with thinking about your Customers.
1. What does the customer or the market want?
2. Who are my customers / users?
3. Where do I find my customers / users?
4. What language do my customers / users
speak?
STEP 1

27. @JimWHuffman
Here are 19 Traction Channels
1. Viral Marketing
2. PR
3. Unconventional PR
4. SEM
5. Social & Display Ads
6. Offline Ads
7. SEO
8. Content Marketing
9. Email Marketing
10. Engineering as Marketing
11. Targeting Blogs
12. Existing Platforms
13. Business Development
14. Affiliate Programs
15. Trade Shows
16. Community Building
17. Sales
18. Offline Events
19. Speaking Engagements
STEP 1

28. @JimWHuffman
Get Inspiration from Market Research
1. Study a Brand or Competitor
2. Research their Traffic Drivers
3. Analyze their channels that have traction
4. See where they’re putting their creative energy
STEP 1

29. @JimWHuffman
What to Consider When Testing?
• Biggest Impact
• Free vs. Paid
• Fastest Feedback Loop
• What A/B tests are you the most excited about?
• What segments are you targeting?
And most Importantly . .
Are these Ideas are Repeatable & Scalable?
STEP 2

30. @JimWHuffman
How to Measure Your Growth?
• Simplicity. Simplicity. Simplicity.
• Pick One Thing: Traffic, Sign-Ups, Engagement/Retention, Whatever.
• Automate Your Reporting.
STEP 3

31. @JimWHuffman
How to Model Your Growth?
• Model Growth Based on Your Growth Channels
• Use Your Inputs to drive growth. Do NOT use growth rates
STEP 3

32. @JimWHuffman
Repeat.

33. @JimWHuffman
Case Studies
Growth Hacking Inspiration

34. @JimWHuffman
Google Images + Timing = Traffic
CASE STUDY
Capturing Users Through Organic SEO
Screenshots taken in an incognito window
• Be the first website to submit images & pages for movie & TV show products
• Search = over 70% of Traffic

35. @JimWHuffman
Coach.Me: How They Found 70k Users
CASE STUDY
• GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER: How are people talking about your product?
• QUORA: Where are they talking about your product?

36. @JimWHuffman
Hitlist: Engineering as Marketing
CASE STUDY
Chrome extension went viral on product hunt & featured in the Chrome Web Store

37. @JimWHuffman
Mint: Growth through Content
• Challenge: Personal finance (not viral) and requesting personal data
• Product Wasn’t Viral but their Personal Finance Blog Was viral.
• 1.5 Million Users in 2 Years, Sold for $170 Million
CASE STUDY

38. @JimWHuffman
SumoMe: Just Get in the Door
CASE STUDY
• Promote Free Products (ahead of Paid)
• Frictionless Sign-Up: No Credit Card Required

39. @JimWHuffman
Evernote: Find a New Growth Channel
CASE STUDY
• App Store = New Distribution Channel
• “We really killed ourselves in the first couple of years to always be in all of the
app store launches on day one.”
• 19,000 New Sign-Ups / Day

40. @JimWHuffman
My Favorite Resources
1. How to Start a Startup: Alex Schultz, Growth at Facebook (Video)
2. Lean Startup Marketing (Book)
3. The Viral Startup (Book)
4. Traction (Book)
5. The Viral Loop (Book)
6. Growth Engines (Book)
7. Hooked (Book)
8. The Ultimate Sales Machine (Book)
9. What Great Brands Do (Book)
10.First Round Capital Review (Blog)
11.GrowthHackers.com (Forum)
12.Startup Grind (Podcast)
13.The Growth Show (Podcast)
14.Paul Graham’s Essays (Blog)
15.Neil Patel (Blog)
BONUS: jimwhuffman.com (Blog)

41. @JimWHuffman
Let’s Talk
Jim Huffman
VP of Marketing
Jim@thetake.com
Twitter: @jimwhuffman