10 Reasons a Growth Hacker is Different from a Marketer

Not many terms strike up an extensively-detailed conversation among marketing professionals like “Growth Hacker” does. There is even a debate within this community whether the role of said hackers even really differ from that of which is carried about by traditional marketers.

Rest assured, there is a definitive difference between the two that has to be understood to make true use of the resources made available at any level your business may be operating at.

This being said, there are huge differences between start-ups and large corporations in terms of the goals that need to be achieved in order to be successful in their endeavors.

Both varieties are utilizing Growth Hacking in their own way, propelling them well into the future of internet presence and profit making. Learn the ten reasons why growth hackers differ from marketers are by continuing to read this article.

“Growth Hackers are not better than marketers, they are simply different” – Neil Patel

This quote is so you understand that I’m not saying that you should hire a growth hacker instead of a marketer, nor should you become one instead of a marketer, I’m just showing you why they are different from each other.

1. Growth Hacking requires a different set of tools and vision than that of a marketer.

Many marketers find successful pathways to take based off of what has already been proven to work for them in current trends, staying within the lines.

Many marketing jobs have such a strict set of rules, even though manipulation of optimization guidelines has been used for some time now.

As these ways of manipulation become present in the minds of those being manipulated, it is almost guaranteed that a Growth Hacker will set into practice a new manner of accomplishing their goals.

This type of innovative thinking definitely represents a clear difference between the two roles being embodied within the industry.

2. Growth Hackers utilize a better envisionment

A better envisionment of various new pathways that can be developed in attempts to spread the brand. Distribution channels are of the utmost importance for startups as they begin to make their internet presence known and develop a customer base that will set their future into stone.

One great example to describe this would be the development of interstate highways across the country. Their aim was to connect larger areas of population with others to cross the barriers between them. The end results of this were corporations taking advantage of this opportunity as well.

Just think about all of the big name gasoline companies that you see along these stretches of highway. If these pathways did not exist, the market that is now reached would be much smaller than it is today. The same is true in the pathways that are being formed by Growth hackers around the world.

3. Growth Hackers take controversial actions

The direction that a Growth Hacker takes is one that is not generally considered acceptable to many, mostly due to bending rules that have been set before them.

Even though working within loopholes is generally done by a large amount of marketing professionals, Growth hackers think outside of the box in efforts to develop innovative ways of sliding under the radar. Usually these efforts are effective, but short-lived.

4. Techniques used by Growth Hackers depict current trends

Trends that will be implemented by more components within a company in the future besides its marketing department. In the future, many of the tactics being used today will generate new positions within corporations of just about any scale.

Once all of the successful techniques that are developed are recognized, they will become the new SEO trends that are put into practice on a daily basis by all marketers around the world.

5. Growth Hackers usually find their tools best used by start-ups

Whereas marketers are currently used by just about any size corporation, most start-ups are focused on making themselves exist in the minds of the public consumers’ eyes, whereas corporations hone in on maintaining an existing presence within the community.

6. Being very analytical

There is much more of an emphasis placed on the specific journey of the customer base during their experience within the role of a Growth Hacker, as opposed to a traditional marketer. This role requires a detailed study of the paths being taken by the customers in efforts to find any holes within their own system that may hinder growth.

7. Working within the unknown

Growth Hackers find that they produce the best results working within the unknown, whereas marketers utilize existing systems for increased traffic and customers.

Always looking for ways to cheat the system you could say, this form of “hacking” relies much more deeply on reverse engineering of an existing platform, than by that of the traditional hacker.

Although some of the tools may mimic each other, such as software to view current statistics, much less coding goes into producing the end results being desired.

8. Short term growth

Short term growth is the aim of Growth Hackers, whereas marketers plan to accomplish their goals over a larger span of time.

New websites need to be made known of as quickly as possible in order to start seeing any form of profit within the first annual cycle.

It could be argued that marketers are enlisted to produce quick results as well, but more times than not, the role relies much less on time constraints for any matter of perceived success.

9. Growth Hackers are budget friendly

Startups enlist the aid of Growth Hackers in order to adhere to their restrictive budgets. Most new businesses are working with a very limited amount of cash, and for this reason, they will need to come out swinging when they enter the market.

The limitations of finances also set into practice innovative methods of accomplishing goals for just this purpose. Necessity is the mother of invention as they say, which makes sense in this respect.

10. Careful targeting

The requirements for a Growth Hacker to aid startups successfully include targeting hundreds of websites at once with a carefully-designed infrastructure, instead of focusing on a few keywords.

Think of it as throwing a cast net into a river to catch a school of fish, which will later be used in order to catch bigger fish.

Startups need to span a much larger area when assembling a client base, whereas common SEO practice is to hone in on particular niches for highest relevancy of a potential customer’s query search.

The way that search engines are designed to work does not exactly assist new startups for quite a while after they embark on their money making endeavors. This simply does not always fit into the budget projections for most when they first decide to enter the market.

For those that still argue the relevancy of the “Growth Hacker” as opposed to what is believed to be required from a traditional marketer, all that can be said is that one should really consider taking a look outside of the box themselves.

These differences may not be as defined as they will definitely be in the future, but they exist none the less. The time will come where the need for additional expertise to create innovative methods of cutting through the trees in order to see the pastures on the other side will be apparent to all. Whether you choose to accept this or not really does not matter in the end, for change is coming.

Whether you disagree with this new trendy term for startup marketing professionals in the industry today, the responsibilities still exist.

It is best to be brought up-to-date as to what these mavericks are doing that even created the debate in the first place.

Ignoring the fact that people are starting to bring about change to the way the internet marketing mindset has been formed only leaves room for growth of your own strategy as well, no matter what your official title is.

Why else do you think a Growth Hacker is different than a marketer?