Every business, no matter how successful, can hit a growth plateau.
This can be incredibly frustrating, especially for established companies that have enjoyed steady growth in the past.
However, hitting a plateau doesn’t mean the end of growth – it’s an opportunity to reassess, innovate, and reinvigorate your marketing strategy.
At Engage, we believe in the power of a structured approach to break through these barriers, which is why our Growth Marketing Canvas is designed to address key areas of your business.
By focusing on refining your value proposition, optimising your sales funnel, leveraging automation, and more, you can reignite your growth engine.
Introducing our Growth Marketing Canvas
Our Growth Marketing Canvas is a strategic tool designed to help businesses identify and address key areas of their marketing strategy to drive growth. It covers three main areas:
- Growth Pillars: Target & Strengthen
- Marketing Funnel: Engage & Convert
- Tech Stack: Report & Optimise
By using this canvas, we can systematically analyse your current marketing efforts, pinpoint areas for improvement, and implement targeted strategies to achieve measurable growth. The Growth Marketing Canvas ensures that every aspect of your marketing strategy is aligned with your business goals and continuously optimised for better performance.
With the Growth Marketing Canvas, we help you build a strong foundation, optimise your sales processes, and leverage technology to drive efficiency and insights.
Now, let’s dive into ten growth marketing hacks that, when applied within the framework of our Growth Marketing Canvas, can help you break through your growth plateau and achieve significant business growth.
1. Refine Your Value Proposition
Your value proposition is the cornerstone of your marketing efforts. I
f your growth has stalled, it might be time to revisit and refine what makes your business unique. Understanding your target audience’s pain points and desires deeply is crucial. This allows you to craft a value proposition that speaks directly to them, setting you apart from the competition.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Growth Pillars: Target & Strengthen
How to Refine Your Value Proposition:
Start by conducting customer interviews and surveys to gain deep insights into what your customers value most about your products or services. Look for patterns in their feedback to understand their primary pain points and desires. Use this information to tweak your value proposition, ensuring it clearly communicates the unique benefits and solutions your business offers.
Example: Suppose you run a software company that provides project management tools. Through customer feedback, you discover that users value time-saving features and seamless team collaboration the most. Your refined value proposition might highlight how your tool saves time and enhances team collaboration, making it indispensable for businesses looking to improve efficiency.
Benefit: Aligning your offerings more closely with customer needs enhances your appeal and relevance, making it easier to attract and retain customers.
2. Optimise Your Sales Funnel
A well-optimised sales funnel can significantly improve conversion rates, which is essential for breaking through a growth plateau.
The key is to identify bottlenecks in your current funnel and implement strategies to streamline the customer journey. This ensures potential customers move smoothly from awareness to decision, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Marketing Funnel: Engage & Convert
Steps to Optimise Your Sales Funnel:
Begin by using analytics tools to track user behaviour and identify drop-off points within your sales funnel. Are there specific pages where visitors frequently exit? Are there steps in your checkout process that seem to deter potential buyers?
Once you’ve identified these bottlenecks, you can take targeted actions to address them.
For example, if users are dropping off at the pricing page, consider whether your pricing information is clear and compelling. Perhaps you need to highlight the value and benefits more effectively, or maybe you need to simplify the pricing options. If the checkout process is causing abandonment, ensure it’s as streamlined and user-friendly as possible.
Example: An ecommerce company might find that a high percentage of visitors abandon their shopping carts. By analysing the funnel, they discover that a complicated checkout process is the culprit. Simplifying the checkout process and offering multiple payment options can reduce cart abandonment and increase conversions.
Benefit: Reducing friction in the sales process leads to higher conversion rates, turning more visitors into paying customers and driving revenue growth.
3. Leverage Marketing Automation
Automation can free up valuable time and ensure that no lead is left unattended. From email sequences to social media scheduling, marketing automation tools can keep your audience engaged without constant manual effort. The right automation strategy can streamline your marketing processes, allowing you to focus on high-level strategy and creative work.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Tech Stack: Report & Optimise
How to Leverage Marketing Automation:
Start by identifying repetitive marketing tasks that can be automated. This might include email marketing, social media posting, and lead nurturing sequences. Tools like ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, and SocialPilot offer robust automation features that can help manage these tasks efficiently.
Example: Consider an ecommerce business that regularly sends out promotional emails. By using email automation, they can set up a series of emails to be sent based on customer behaviour, such as browsing history or past purchases. This not only ensures timely and relevant communication but also frees up time for the marketing team to focus on more strategic initiatives.
Benefit: Maintains consistent communication with leads and customers, enhancing engagement and conversion while freeing up time for your team to focus on more strategic tasks.
4. Double Down on Content Marketing
Content is king, but quality content is the emperor.
Producing high-value content that addresses your audience’s pain points and positions your brand as an industry leader is crucial for breaking through growth plateaus. This not only helps in attracting new visitors but also in retaining existing customers by continuously providing them with value.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Growth Pillars: Target & Strengthen
How to Double Down on Content Marketing:
Develop a content calendar that outlines the topics you will cover over the next few months. Ensure these topics are relevant to your target audience and address their pain points. Incorporate a mix of blog posts, videos, infographics, and case studies to keep the content engaging.
Example: A B2B company might produce a series of blog posts and whitepapers that address common industry challenges and provide actionable solutions. By doing so, they establish themselves as a thought leader and resource for potential clients.
Benefit: Builds trust and authority, driving organic traffic and engagement. Quality content can significantly improve your search engine rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find you.
5. Enhance Your SEO Strategy
SEO is a long-term game, but the rewards are substantial. Ensuring your website and content are optimised for search engines can attract a steady stream of organic traffic. Given that organic search can be one of the most significant sources of traffic and leads, it’s critical to have a robust SEO strategy.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Marketing Funnel: Engage & Convert
Steps to Enhance Your SEO Strategy:
Conduct a comprehensive SEO audit to identify areas for improvement. Focus on both on-page SEO (such as keyword optimisation, meta descriptions, and internal linking) and off-page SEO (like backlink building and social signals). Tools like Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and SEMrush can provide valuable insights and data to guide your SEO efforts.
Example: A technology company might discover through an SEO audit that their blog posts are not optimised for relevant keywords. By updating these posts with targeted keywords and improving their readability, they can boost their search rankings and attract more organic traffic.
Benefit: Increases organic search visibility, driving consistent and high-quality traffic to your site. This can lead to more leads and sales without the need for constant advertising spend.
6. Implement Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) focuses on targeting specific high-value accounts with personalised marketing efforts. This strategy can be particularly effective for B2B companies looking to land big clients. ABM aligns marketing and sales efforts to deliver a coordinated approach tailored to the needs of individual accounts.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Marketing Funnel: Engage & Convert
How to Implement ABM:
Identify your key accounts that represent the highest value for your business. Develop personalised content and campaigns targeted specifically at these accounts. Coordinate with your sales team to ensure a seamless approach from initial contact through to closing the deal.
Example: A software company might identify a few large enterprises that would benefit significantly from their solutions. They could create personalised content, such as whitepapers and case studies, tailored to the specific challenges faced by these enterprises, and use targeted ads and direct mail to reach decision-makers within these companies.
Benefit: Enhances relevance and effectiveness of marketing efforts, leading to higher conversion rates and more significant deals.
7. Utilise Social Proof
Social proof, such as testimonials and case studies, can significantly influence potential customers. Showcase the success stories of your existing clients to build trust and credibility. Potential customers are more likely to trust your business if they see others have had positive experiences.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Growth Pillars: Target & Strengthen
How to Utilise Social Proof:
Collect and display customer testimonials and case studies prominently on your website and marketing materials. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on relevant platforms and share their success stories.
Example: A consulting firm could create a dedicated section on their website featuring detailed case studies that highlight how their services have helped clients achieve specific results. This not only builds credibility but also provides potential clients with concrete examples of the firm’s capabilities.
Benefit: Increases trust and encourages prospects to take action. Social proof can be a powerful motivator for potential customers who are on the fence about making a purchase or engaging with your services.
8. Invest in Video Marketing
Video content is incredibly engaging and can help convey your message more effectively. Use videos to showcase your products, share customer testimonials, or provide valuable information. Video marketing can capture attention quickly and is often more memorable than text-based content.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Marketing Funnel: Engage & Convert
How to Invest in Video Marketing:
Create high-quality videos that address customer pain points and showcase your solutions. Use videos on your website, social media channels, and in email marketing campaigns. Consider different types of video content, such as explainer videos, product demonstrations, and customer testimonials.
Example: A fitness equipment company could create a series of workout videos demonstrating how to use their products effectively. These videos can be shared on social media and embedded on product pages, providing valuable content that engages potential customers.
Benefit: Boosts engagement and helps communicate complex information more easily. Video content can improve your website’s SEO and increase the time visitors spend on your site, which can lead to higher conversion rates.
9. Conduct A/B Testing
A/B testing allows you to experiment with different elements of your marketing campaigns to see what works best. This data-driven approach can lead to significant improvements in performance. By continuously testing and refining your strategies, you can optimise your marketing efforts for better results.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Tech Stack: Report & Optimise
How to Conduct A/B Testing:
Identify key elements of your marketing campaigns that could be improved, such as email subject lines, landing page designs, and call-to-action buttons. Create variations of these elements and test them with different segments of your audience. Analyse the results to determine which version performs better.
Example: An online retailer might test two different email subject lines to see which one generates more opens and clicks. By continuously testing and refining their email campaigns, they can improve engagement and drive more sales.
Benefit: Optimises marketing efforts based on actual performance data, improving overall effectiveness. A/B testing helps you make informed decisions and ensures that your marketing strategies are always evolving and improving.
10. Sales Promotion – Offers and Incentives
Don’t underestimate the power of traditional sales promotions. Limited-time offers, discounts, and contests can drive immediate engagement and sales. While digital marketing strategies are crucial, traditional sales promotions can still play a significant role in your overall marketing plan.
Growth Marketing Canvas Element: Marketing Funnel: Engage & Convert
How to Implement Sales Promotions:
Plan and execute sales promotions such as discounts, special offers, or contests. Use your website, email marketing, and social media channels to promote these offers. Ensure that the promotions are time-limited to create a sense of urgency and encourage immediate action.
Example: A fashion retailer might run a seasonal sale offering 20% off all items for a limited time. By promoting this offer through email marketing and social media, they can drive traffic to their website and increase sales during the promotion period.
Benefit: Generates excitement and urgency, driving quick sales and boosting engagement. Sales promotions can attract new customers and re-engage existing ones, providing a valuable boost to your revenue.
Conclusion
Breaking through a growth plateau requires a strategic approach and the right tools. By leveraging these growth marketing hacks and aligning them with Engage Digital’s Growth Marketing Canvas, you can revitalise your marketing efforts and drive significant growth.
By applying these strategies, your business will:
- Increase Online Visibility: Enhanced SEO and content marketing strategies will make your business more discoverable online.
- Generate High-Quality Leads: Targeted campaigns and a refined sales funnel will attract leads more likely to convert.
- Improve Conversion Rates: Optimising your sales funnel and conducting A/B testing will turn more visitors into customers.
- Boost Engagement: Marketing automation and high-quality content will keep your audience engaged and loyal.
- Drive Sales: Sales promotions and personalised marketing efforts will directly contribute to increased sales.
If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, Engage Digital is here to help. Let’s unlock your growth potential together.
