Growth Hacking
Growth hacking. It’s one of those buzzwords that feels like it belongs to Silicon Valley, start-ups, and digital nomads who live in Bali. But what if I told you that growth hacking principles can be just as valuable for a consulting firm? Establishing a growth hacking community of practice (CoP) within your consultancy could not only improve your internal processes but also help your clients in ways they never saw coming. Let’s dive into how to go about it, the benefits it brings, and why it matters.
What is Growth Hacking?
Before we dive into building a community of practice, let’s define what we’re talking about here. Growth hacking is about using creative, low-cost strategies to help businesses acquire and retain customers. It’s about data-driven decision-making, rapid experimentation, and cross-functional collaboration. Growth hackers use unconventional methods to accelerate business growth, with a heavy focus on automating processes, utilising analytics, and being a little cheeky with creative marketing tactics.
At its core, growth hacking is a mindset. It’s about constantly testing, iterating, and thinking outside the box. Sounds like something that could be useful in a consulting firm, right?
What is a Community of Practice?
A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a common interest or passion for something and want to learn how to do it better by regularly interacting with each other. In this case, your common interest would be growth hacking—applying its techniques not only within the firm but also in your client work.
For consultants, especially in larger firms, it’s easy to get siloed into specific industries or functions. A CoP breaks down these silos and encourages knowledge sharing across different disciplines. It’s not about formal training programs, but more about building a collaborative environment where people can exchange ideas, test strategies, and learn from each other.
Why Should a Consulting Firm Care About Growth Hacking?
Let’s face it, consulting firms are notorious for being slow to adopt new, innovative methods. Most of the time, firms rely on proven frameworks, PowerPoint slides, and spreadsheets. While those have their place, growth hacking offers a new perspective.
Here are a few reasons why adopting growth hacking can give your consulting firm an edge:
1. New Solutions for Clients
Clients want innovation. Growth hacking can provide them with out-of-the-box solutions they aren’t likely to get from traditional consulting. Imagine coming to a client not with a lengthy strategic plan but with a series of quick experiments to boost their marketing, product development, or customer retention efforts.
2. Internal Efficiency
Growth hacking isn’t just for clients. The same principles of rapid experimentation and process automation can help make your firm more efficient internally. This could mean automating project management workflows, streamlining the sales pipeline, or developing new ways to identify leads.
3. Competitive Differentiation
In a crowded market, standing out is key. If you’re a consultancy with growth hacking capabilities, you’re offering something different from your competitors. It allows you to cater to start-ups, scale-ups, and companies looking for fast, agile strategies—businesses that might otherwise not turn to traditional consulting firms.
How to Establish a Growth Hacking CoP in a Consulting Firm
So, how do you go about creating this community? Here’s a roadmap to get you started.
1. Get Leadership Buy-In
As with any initiative in consulting, leadership buy-in is crucial. Growth hacking can sound a bit rogue and unorthodox to more conservative stakeholders. You’ll need to sell the idea with a clear business case. Show how growth hacking can drive revenue by offering innovative services to clients, streamline internal processes, and help the firm adapt to new market demands.
2. Start with a Small Group of Enthusiasts
Don’t aim to convert the whole firm at once. Identify a small group of like-minded individuals who are interested in growth hacking. These could be consultants from various functions like marketing, data analytics, or tech. Your group needs to be cross-disciplinary, as growth hacking thrives on collaboration between different skill sets.
3. Host Regular Workshops or Meetups
Once you have your core group, begin with monthly or even bi-weekly meetups. These should be informal and focused on sharing knowledge and case studies. Invite guest speakers, host brainstorming sessions, and showcase tools and frameworks that can help growth hacking efforts. A tool like Miro or Notion can serve as a collaborative space to document experiments and ideas.
4. Experiment with Internal Projects
To show the value of growth hacking, run a few internal experiments. Try automating some marketing workflows, optimise client onboarding, or improve internal knowledge-sharing systems. By using the firm as a testing ground, you build a proof of concept that you can later roll out to clients.
5. Share Wins with the Wider Firm
Growth hacking is all about quick wins, so celebrate those successes. Did your internal hack save 10 hours a week in admin tasks? Did an experiment for a client lead to a 20% boost in website traffic? Share these metrics widely to gain momentum and get more people involved in the CoP.
6. Build a Playbook
Over time, your CoP will accumulate a wealth of knowledge. Document your experiments, successes, and failures in a playbook. This playbook will become your bible for growth hacking strategies, both internally and for clients. A good practice is to keep it living and breathing—constantly updating it as you learn and iterate.
Tools and Tactics for Growth Hacking in Consulting
Consulting firms might not have the luxury of time to tinker with tools all day, but some low-hanging fruits in growth hacking can make a difference. Here are a few tools to get your community of practice excited:
1. Zapier
This is a no-brainer for automating workflows. Connect different tools and platforms to eliminate manual tasks.
2. Google Analytics / Hotjar
Helping clients understand user behaviour through website analytics can uncover quick wins for optimising their digital presence. These tools make it easy to track user interactions and run data-backed experiments.
3. Unbounce / Leadpages
For consultants working with clients on digital marketing, platforms like Unbounce help test landing pages rapidly, allowing for A/B testing without the need for a dev team.
4. Airtable
Part project management tool, part database, Airtable can be used for tracking experiments, managing workflows, and coordinating cross-functional teams.
Measuring the Success of Your CoP
To keep your growth hacking community sustainable, you’ll need to track its success. Some potential KPIs include:
- Number of active participants in the CoP
- Client feedback on growth hacking experiments or services
- Time saved from internal automation
- New business opportunities generated from offering growth hacking services
- Revenue impact from growth hacking projects
Conclusion
Establishing a growth hacking community of practice in your consulting firm isn’t just about adopting a trendy buzzword. It’s about leveraging modern techniques to improve both your firm’s internal efficiency and the value you offer clients. By getting buy-in, starting small, experimenting, and sharing your successes, you can build a thriving CoP that becomes a key part of your consulting toolkit. Who knows? It might just become your firm’s secret weapon in today’s competitive market.
Happy hacking!