How traditional marketers can learn growth marketing

Traditional marketers, Learn how to harness the power of growth marketing for businesses that are rooted in those non-tangible digital products.

How traditional marketers can learn growth marketing

Most traditional marketers are trained to market ‘traditional’ products and services – typically those products that are tangible. And these marketers, more often than not, relied on ‘traditional’ channels like TV, radio, and print. Any online marketing that they do is mostly ‘promotions’.

 

Therefore, traditional marketers -in general- are skilled at branding, distribution, writing good ad copies, and digital marketing to a certain extent. 

 

Growth marketing, on the other hand, requires not only a shift in the mindset but also a whole lot of horizontal skills.

 

Growth marketing roles are mostly focused on digital products – the ones that are intangible, connect audiences globally, whose entire product and buying cycle begins, and ends online.

 

Also, we are witnessing this digital product landscape evolve faster than ever. Today, we are seeing that the silos between marketing and product functions are fading away. As a result, the role of (growth) marketers is overlapping significantly with product, design, analytics, and, of course, technology and development functions. 

 

So what are the steps a traditional marketer can take if she were to make a career transition into growth marketing?

 

Acquire essential skills

Here are 6 essential skills that are must-have for a growth marketer:

 

 

  • Analytics: A growth marketer needs to know what data to collect, how to collect it, analyze the data to glean out actionable insights, and make marketing decisions. This, in turn, necessitates a marketer to be proficient at using and implementing analytics tools like MixPanel, Google Analytics, etc. apart from these tools, a good marketer needs to be conversant with MS Excel and SQL as well.

 

 

 

  • Design: While a marketer can have dedicated designers at their disposal (which may not be the case in start-ups) but it’s always better for one to know his or her way around a few design tools. A good marketer knows the basics of graphic design and does minor design tasks by herself. Tools to look for: Canva, Photoshop, Figma, Sketch, basic CSS.
  • Copywriting: Writing is the single most essential skill for any marketer. For marketing and selling products and services digitally, one needs to be an excellent writer – no two thoughts here. Right from ad copy to a landing page to an email to a blog to just about anything else – effective writing delivers results and hence a growth marketer must and should know how to write a great copy.

 

 

 

  • Performance Marketing: Needless to mention, many a time, growth is achieved inorganically. And performance marketing campaigns are the heart and soul of inorganic growth. The most common paid marketing channels are search engine marketing, social media advertising, sponsored ads, native ads, affiliate marketing. A growth marketer needs to be hands-on in all of these channels.

 

 

 

  • Marketing Automation: Marketing isn’t just about top-of-the-funnel anymore. It also includes user engagement, conversion, and retention. Doing all of this is a daunting task if not for automation. Growth marketers should be adept at setting up marketing automation – lead magnets, event-based campaigns, lifecycle campaigns, retention campaigns, etc.

 

 

  1. Basic Coding: While a growth marketer need not be an expert coder but knowing the basics speeds things up and allows for empathy with tech teams. And because the growth roles overlap with tech so much, it’s also essential to know the technology and acquire basic coding skills.

Enroll in a growth marketing course

Growth marketing courses are a great way to learn the essential skills mentioned above.

 

They can inspire you to master top growth strategies and rapid experimentation, discover the tools used to fuel growth, deep dive into mental models leveraged by rapidly growing companies, and more. 

 

More importantly, the curriculum, if well designed, helps you gain the right perspective – The growth mindset.

 

These are various options to choose from, most of which are delivered right to your laptop. Use a growth marketing course as a stepping stone to becoming a certified growth marketing professional. 

 

Here’s a list of best growth marketing courses (updated for 2020).

 

Start a side project

Most companies appreciate real results. And most hiring managers are therefore interested in potential candidates’ past work – actual work with real results that demonstrates the candidate’s skills.

 

What can be a better way than having a kickass project of your own?

 

A side project is a learning bridge between theory and practical application. It’s a great way not only to learn a new skill but also to showcase it and gain in-depth working knowledge.

 

Apprenticeships and internships can be other options apart from a side project.

Find a mentor

Mentorship is very crucial if you want to:

  • Learn quickly
  • Learn from others’ mistakes
  • Get expert guidance from those who have already been there done that
  • Save costs, avoid expensive mistakes

 

In essence, a good mentor can save you time, money, and shave years off your learning curve.

Conclusion

Growth marketers are increasingly becoming common as more and more organizations are realizing the value of a customized marketing plan backed up by data and designed for the unique world of the internet.

 

Having skills in growth marketing is useful whether you’re in SaaS, e-commerce, or consumer internet space. Whether it’s setting up high performing funnels or launching new products of driving repeat purchases, these skills will help you deliver consistent and sustainable success.

 

It might seem a bit daunting, in the beginning, to jump into this growth marketing game but with clarity of your learning objectives, a correct approach, expert guidance and quality training one can learn the ropes over a period of few weeks to months.

 

Your shiny new growth marketing career is very much within your reach. 

 

Act now.

 

Start learning, start a side project, get a mentor, and rock on!

 

All the best.