How to Amplify Growth Marketing: 30 Campaigns to Win | Cordial

Intro to growth marketing in the age of personalization

19 Minute Read

As the digital transformation of brands continues, so do marketers’ approaches to the entire customer lifecycle. Today, first-party data and personalization have revolutionized growth marketing, and the discipline has evolved in step with customer data platforms that have unleashed far more opportunities for testing, iterating, and personalizing marketing messaging and programs in order to spur growth.

As a refresher to spin growth marketing toward the future of hyper-personalization, we compiled an intro to get you up to speed on the concepts du jour, recent stats, and 30 effective campaign ideas to win — and keep — more customers. Jump to any section:

What is growth marketing?

Although all marketing is arguably focused on growth, growth marketing is the systematic discipline of activating and improving all stages of the marketing funnel — through testing, iterating, and implementing processes to increase customer engagement and retention. Growth marketing goes beyond brand awareness and customer acquisition to address the entire customer lifecycle.

As with anything, context and nuance matters. So consider that growth marketing is about knowing your data, learning from it, and implementing data-driven changes to improve.

Growth marketing vs. growth hacking

While growth marketing focuses on developing strategies and processes for long-term growth and building brand loyalty, growth hacking centers on trying experimental and often unconventional strategies to spur growth in the shortest time frame at the lowest cost possible. Although the term was first coined by Sean Ellis, the author of ‘ Hacking Growth’, growth hacking isn’t necessarily relegated to only a marketing function, as it can apply to many aspects of a business.

Growth marketing vs. traditional marketing

Although there are plenty of nuances and overlap between the two approaches, traditional marketing in general focuses more on the brand while growth marketing focuses more on the customer.

Why is personalization key to growth marketing?

Although we’re not quite bionic yet, technology has taken over our lives to the point where now the average consumer’s expectations are higher than ever. Today, it’s no longer about targeting the masses but speaking to the individual — and it’s a feat that cannot be achieved without integrating personalization into every aspect of your marketing. You can start by considering personalization at each of the three main stages of the customer lifecycle:

Activation: Although traditional marketing might help catch the attention of consumers to get them in your front door, whether virtual or brick-and-mortar, once you’ve caught that attention, you need to activate.
Nurture: Once you have welcomed customers into your brand experience, the real work begins to build a lasting relationship.
Retention: Whether a customer is loyal or lapsed, you can employ any number of triggered messages to either keep them engaged or to re-engage them if they’ve gone silent.

Why will zero-party and first-party data fuel growth marketing?

With several privacy trends impacting marketers these days, one thing has become certain: The data you own and control is the most valuable for your business.

So when it comes to growth marketing, that means your zero-party and first-party data — the data customers give you outright and the data you collect on them — should be your top priorities.

What are the top growth marketing stats related to first-party data?

Here are several compelling data-backed points to consider.

1. Increase revenue by activating first-party data.

Brands can increase revenue 290% by implementing four key activation methods with their current customers based on their first-party data: defining audience, addressing lifecycle, personalizing experiences, and employing cross-channel communication.

2. Grow faster with personalization.

When activating first-party data effectively, brands that grow faster drive 40% more of their revenue from personalization than slower-growing companies.

3. Win customer loyalty with personalized offers.

When it comes to nurturing customer loyalty, 54% of Millennials, 44% of Gen Z, 41% of Gen X, and 27% of Boomers say the best way for brands to win their loyalty is to give them personalized offers and incentives.

4. Resolve problems quickly to keep customers.

Identifying and addressing gaps in your customer experience based on first-party data can pay off, as customers are 2.4 times more likely to stay when companies resolve problems quickly.

5. Make customer engagement a top priority.

While 88% of executives agree that customer engagement significantly impacts revenue, 92% consider “effective customer engagement ‘extremely critical’ or ‘very critical’ to their organization’s success.”

What are examples of growth marketing campaigns utilizing first-party data for personalization?

Although there are countless applications using first-party data for automated messaging campaigns, here’s a list of popular campaign types:

Back in stock
BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In Store)
BORIS (Buy Online, Return In Store)
Brand affinity scoring
Browse abandonment
Buy again
Buying time affinity
Cart abandonment
Customer propensity scoring
Customer spend cohorting
Invitation
Low in stock
Loyalty and rewards programs
Milestones
Newsletters
Order confirmation
Personal offers
Personalized event markers
Post-purchase
Pre-shipping prompt
Price drop alert
Recommendations
Referral programs
Replenishment
Review request
Upsell campaigns
Welcome
Win-back campaigns
Window-shopper conversion
Wishlist conversion

Are there consumer shopping habits to consider when creating growth campaigns?

In 2022, Cordial conducted research on consumer shopping habits broken out by generation: Gen Z (18-24), Millennials (25-42), Gen X (43-57), and Boomers (58-75).

**Five mantras to follow when striving for better messaging in any campaign**

Whenever possible, try to send a better message — not just another message. So put yourself in the mindset and space of your customer. Here are five important mantras to consider whenever you’re crafting messaging for your brand campaigns:

Ready to accelerate your growth marketing?

With the power of Cordial combined with the creativity of your team, there’s a lot of possibility. Every step of the way, our team will help bring your cross-channel messaging strategies to life.