*Updated on August 7, 2024

Since the inception of the Internet, businesses have been forced into developing new methodologies as to how they approach customer acquisition and building brand awareness. 

Once acquired, it would then be up to the sales teams to convert customers and find ways to pull them back in for another purchase, to retain them. 

This age-old customer cycle is better known today as the sales funnel or customer journey.

Both digital marketers and growth hackers use it to grow modern businesses. But they go about it in different ways, albeit using similar methods and frameworks.  

So what are the similarities and what sets them apart? Well, in this article we’ll break down the differences between digital marketing and growth hacking. 

What is digital marketing? 

When we talk about ‘Digital Marketing’ as a discipline, we’re referring to the modern evolution from traditional to digital.

If we cast our minds back to the old ways, the traditional ways, we think about traditional marketing tactics like television, radio, print ads and billboards.

These were the channels that marketers would use to promote their products and services, capturing the attention of their audiences to drive sales and brand awareness.

Fast-forward to the post-internet era and we see these same techniques used differently.

Instead of a billboard, we see digital channels with banner ads appear on a webpage. Instead of radio, we have promotional audio or video messages on social media or YouTube.

What these digital marketing techniques have in common, and the channels they use to deploy them, is they are trying to build brand awareness and engage customers, enticing a direct or future sale (lead generation).

These two objectives (to attract and engage customers) are known as Awareness and Acquisition. They make up the initial stages of the sales funnel which you can read more about here.

The different roles and tools of a digital marketing team  

The power of digital marketing has grown exponentially over the last decade with more and more companies seeing its immense value and potential for business growth.

In an era of ultra-competitiveness within virtually every sector, building a strong digital presence is no longer optional for success, it’s mandatory.

Often, teams will be made up of several specialists, each with their own role to play in achieving business objectives and in 2022, the demand for marketing-related professionals is huge.

Here are some examples of digital marketing roles you can expect to find:

• Digital Marketing Manager - they are responsible for creating, implementing and managing the progress of digital marketing campaigns. Their job description is to make sure that a brand’s product or service is being represented and promoted in the best possible way for their consumers.

• SEO Specialist - they help businesses rank higher in Google search results organically, ideally putting them at the top of the search engine results page (SERP). SEO also includes the optimisation of keywords and content.

• SEM Specialist - they use paid advertising or PPC (pay-per-click) as it’s known, to advertise on search engines. These are the results you’ll find right at the top of a search result page with ‘Ad’ written next to them.

• Content Marketing Specialist - these people have a lot to juggle as ‘content’ itself means many things. Content marketers are responsible for deciding what types of content are produced and how they are delivered, including blog posts, audio and video content, case studies and whitepapers and more.

• Social Media Manager - they create social media strategies to execute on all of a company's social media platforms and digital platforms, such as Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook. They monitor, measure and report on campaign performance.

• Email Marketing Specialists - they are responsible for managing a company’s list of email subscribers and the content promoted through the channel. Email marketing has evolved dramatically over the years as consumer behaviour has changed. Specialists will map out entire customer journeys through email.

• Digital Analyst - they are responsible for communicating campaign data into actionable strategies for the wider marketing team and stakeholders. They also help to maintain databases and records as well as audit campaigns for optimisation.

As you can see, digital marketing is far from a one-man operation. It requires a myriad of skills and sensibilities to achieve business growth and satisfied customers.

To sum up, common digital marketing strategies are:

1. Organic SEO (search engine optimisation) and paid SEM (PPC)
2. Content marketing
3. Email marketing
4. Social media marketing

What is the concept of growth hacking?

So if the primary goal of digital marketing is about using online channels to generate awareness, leads and sales, we can define growth hacking as sharing the same objective - to grow a business.

The difference then is that growth marketers focus on iterative processes to rapidly accelerate growth, at every stage of the marketing funnel. These marketing efforts are heavily reliant on data metrics to drive growth.

A growth hacking mindset lends itself to companies that embrace the lean startup methodology.

In short, this refers to companies that have determined their product-market fit (they have validated the need for their product or service in their market/ industry).

It's defined as "a person whose true north is growth", by Sem Rush.

This means there’s less guesswork or assumptions, the company already knows who they want to market to and growth hackers use this information to start their experimentation process (which we’ll cover in the next section).

Growth hacking isn’t beholden to just the marketing department either. It can be applied to all departments including engineering, product development, packaging and distribution, sales or customer service.

Digital marketers tend to work exclusively with marketing departments with little if any, cross-pollination.

The growth hacking process

Growth marketers aim to rapidly experiment with and test new ideas to achieve massive growth as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.

No matter what aspect of the business this falls under.

Going back to our marketing funnel from earlier, growth hacking applies to each of the 6 stages of the AAARRR or Pirate Funnel.

This is the principal framework of a growth hacker used to identify growth opportunities.

To give a little more detail, these are the 6 stages of the funnel.

1. Awareness - How are your users finding you? And where is the traffic coming from? 

2. Acquisition - How many people are visiting your website? Again, what are the channels that drive traffic to the site?

3. Activation - How many people are taking the desired action? Figure out the percentage and discern why some customers aren’t taking the next step.

4. Retention - How many users are returning to use your product or service?

5. Revenue - How many start paying and how much do they pay, can we increase the revenue?

6. Referral - How many people recommend your product or service to others?

Using the pirate funnel, growth strategies might be brought in to increase sign-ups to a freemium app for example.

They would analyse each stage of the funnel, collect data metrics and formulate a plan to attack the problem.

And what’s the form of attack a growth hacker uses you ask?

The G.R.O.W.S. process. 

The steps are as follows:

1. Gather Ideas
2. Rank Ideas
3. Outline Experiments
4. Work, Work, Work
5. Study Data

Check out this video we made to learn more about how to implement this process.

Growth hacking skillset 

Unlike digital marketing where there are multiple roles for specialists, it’s very common to see growth hackers with wider skill sets.

Due to its diverse nature, growth hacking does require a working knowledge of a few key technical areas.

This is due to the need to pivot between various stages of an experiment.

Common technical skills for growth hackers are:

• Full-funnel experience and how to optimise the customer journey

• Working knowledge of CRM and automation

• Experience using acquisition channels like SEM, email, social media and content marketing

• Experience using data analytics tools

• Experience in onboarding and retention

• Knowledge of consumer behavioural psychology

• Knowledge of web design tools like HTML and CSS

Now it’s not to say that any of these skills couldn’t or shouldn’t be learnt by digital marketers too (the more you know the better!), the difference is that growth hackers are expected to know them upfront.

Digging into the digital marketing toolkit

So, we can see that growth hacking applies to each stage of the pirate funnel, and the process they use to define growth experiments.

The reason growth hacking is often used interchangeably with digital marketing is that they tend to share the same toolkit.

When a growth hacker has identified a growth opportunity and is ready to implement an idea, they’ll use many of the same channels as a digital marketer to achieve it.

These are the marketing types we mentioned earlier, email, social media, SEM, content, etc.

Do you need a digital marketer or growth hacker?

For businesses, the choice between hiring a digital marketer or a growth hacker all comes down to what it is you’re trying to achieve.

If your marketing goal is to promote brand awareness and generate leads across different online channels, then a digital approach to marketing is your best bet!

They’ll focus solely on the awareness and acquisition stages of the funnel to drive growth.

On the other hand, if the goal is to analyse all stages of your customer journey to identify weak areas crying out for growth, and increase the customer base - then a growth hacker is the number one choice.

They’ll pivot between all areas of the customer journey and use their expertise to experiment and find solutions for growth.

In an ideal world, a business would employ the services of both these marketing types, it all depends on the marketing budget of course.

For the professionals reading this thinking about a switch in career or looking to upskill, both of these roles offer a creative, exciting and high-intensity-high-reward outlet.

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FAQ

1. What is the main difference between digital marketing and growth hacking?

Digital marketing focuses on building and managing a brand’s presence across various online platforms to reach and engage the target audience. It involves strategies like SEO, content marketing, and social media campaigns aimed at consistent, long-term growth. Growth hacking, on the other hand, is about rapidly scaling a user base using creative, unconventional methods. Growth hackers often use data-driven techniques and test different strategies to achieve rapid growth with a focus on exponential growth and quick results.

2. How do growth hacking strategies differ from traditional digital marketing methods?

Growth hacking strategies are typically more experimental and data-driven. They emphasise finding growth hacks that can lead to substantial gains quickly, often at lower costs. For instance, growth hackers might use referral programmes or leverage user-generated content to boost conversion rates. Traditional marketers, however, follow a more structured approach with established tactics and a focus on long-term brand building and customer retention.

3. Can you give examples of growth hacking techniques?

Some effective growth hacking techniques include:

• Viral loops: Encouraging users to invite others, which leads to exponential growth. For example, Dropbox’s referral programme offered extra storage space to users who referred friends.
  
  
• Leveraging social proof: Using testimonials or user reviews to boost credibility and attract new users.
  
  
• Optimising onboarding processes: Making it easy for new users to get started and see value quickly, which enhances user engagement and active users.
  
  

4. How do growth hacking tactics impact business goals compared to digital marketing?

Growth hacking tactics are designed to achieve rapid and scalable results, directly impacting short-term business goals such as increasing user acquisition and conversion rates. They often focus on quick wins and adjusting tactics based on real-time data. Digital marketing, however, tends to align with broader, long-term business goals, including brand awareness and customer satisfaction, using a more steady approach to achieve consistent results.

5. Are there any challenges with using growth hacking instead of traditional digital marketing?

Yes, there are challenges. Growth hacking can sometimes lead to tight budgets as it often relies on creativity and ingenuity rather than large-scale spending. It can also be risky as it involves experimenting with new growth hacking tactics that might not always deliver the desired outcomes. Also, the focus on rapid business growth might overlook long-term aspects such as customer loyalty and sustainable growth. 

6. How do referral programs fit into growth hacking compared to traditional digital marketing?

Referral marketing programs are a core component of many growth hacking strategies. They leverage existing users to attract new ones by offering incentives, such as discounts or rewards, for successful referrals. This approach can lead to scalable growth and often results in a more cost-effective way to acquire potential customers.

In traditional digital marketing, referral programs might be used too, but they’re usually part of a broader strategy involving multiple marketing channels and a structured approach to customer acquisition.

7. What role do user experiences play in growth hacking versus digital marketing?

User experiences are crucial in both growth hacking and digital marketing, but their role differs. In growth hacking, enhancing user experiences is often about rapidly testing and optimising features to ensure high user engagement and boost conversion rates.

Growth hackers might use a growth hacking framework to analyse and improve user interactions quickly. Traditional digital marketing also values user experiences but typically focuses on long-term strategies like consistent email campaigns and content creation to build and nurture relationships with current users over time.