What is a Growth Marketer and Its Functions?

A Growth Marketer is a professional who is in charge of finding and developing growth opportunities for a company through different techniques that are generally based on the analysis of the online situation through metrics with a great use of critical thinking.

These types of profiles are usually found in very specific companies, such as technology companies, SaaS companies and startups. The main challenge of this type of business is to increase or maintain the user retention rate since most operate under a subscription business model. Therefore, the figure of the Growth Marketer is essential. However, we can also find it in other types of corporations.

What are the functions of the Growth Marketer?

The functions of a Growth Marketer are strategic since this profile is not in charge of executing the plan but rather designing it.

Its mission is to create marketing strategies focused on attracting new customers or building loyalty among existing ones so that the company does not decrease its income and/or increase it. Therefore, its function is to create marketing plans focused on the growth of the company.

In that sense, the actions planned by the Growth Marketer are focused on:

• Optimize advertising campaigns on different platforms and media to generate leads and sales.
• Develop an effective sales funnel that not only attracts potential customers but also retains them.
• Create a customer loyalty strategy.

To achieve all this, the Growth Marketer does not base his strategies on mere assumptions, but one of the bases of his work is data. To do this, they use different web analytics tools on which to base their hypotheses and ideas.

What skills should a Growth Marketer have? And what knowledge?

A good Growth Marketer must have a series of specific knowledge to be able to perform their position well, but also a set of skills that will make them perform their job much better.

Regarding their knowledge, among them we find:

• SEO/SEM.
• Programmatic advertising.
• Advertising on social networks.
• Big Data.
• Content marketing.
• Web Analytics.
• User Experience (user experience).
• Sales funnel.
• In-depth knowledge of the company’s target audience.
• Behavioural science.
• Knowledge of key performance metrics or KPIs.
• In-depth knowledge about the virality process of a marketing action.

If we focus on the desired skills, we will highlight:

• Analytical capacity.
• Capacity for teamwork.
• Ability to contribute creative ideas.
• Communication ability.

Despite this, there is no specific career path to be a Growth Marketer. However, most people who have this position come from a background in marketing or digital marketing. 

Furthermore, it is not a position for beginners since people in this profession have previously held other types of positions such as digital marketing manager, social media manager, digital planner, and SEO manager… As you can see, all focused on strategic tasks.

Difference between a Growth Marketer and a Product Marketer

These two profiles are usually confused due to the similarities in their names. Still, the function performed by both professionals is very different.

While the Growth Marketer focuses generally on the company, trying to attract customers and retain them by creating effective strategies. The Product Marketer focuses on the product, positioning it in the market, differentiating it from the competition and knowing how to transmit its differential value.

Like the Growth Marketer, the Product Marketer also performs strategic tasks but is more focused on enhancing the product that the company sells. Therefore, one has a more general vision and another more specific. So that you understand it better, the actions proposed by the Product Marketer are integrated into the Growth Marketer strategy and should not contradict them.

In order to do their job as optimally as possible, the Product Marketer works closely with the product team, thus thoroughly understanding all its characteristics and creating effective communication strategies.

In short, if we analyze the strategies created by a Growth Marketer, these will include actions related to the sales funnel, advertising campaigns or carrying out A/B tests, among others. On the other hand, in the case of strategies designed by a Product Marketer, we will find actions focused on positioning the product, specifying the unique value of the product or finding the essential characteristics and benefits to transmit.

What challenges does a Growth Marketer face?

As you may have already seen after reading about the functions of a Growth Marketer, the work carried out by these professionals is complex and very analytical. Hence, the difficulties they must face and the challenges are various. Among the most important, the following stand out.

Finding key metrics

Currently, in the world of marketing, professionals have access to a large amount of data and information, which is a tremendously positive thing. However, this means that a sifting task has to be carried out to separate relevant information from that which is not, which requires great effort and time. Obviously, an experienced Growth Marketer already knows which metrics are the most valuable, and this part becomes much more streamlined.

However, new metrics may appear or data that was not relevant before may become relevant. Therefore, no matter how experienced a Growth Marketer is, it is essential to always stay up to date.

Be on time for trends or get ahead of them

Without a doubt, one of the functions of a Growth Marketer is to detect trends in order to join them in time and take advantage of all the effects at the marketing and sales level. However, this is not an easy task and requires a study and complex predictive analysis, so it is not always possible to guess what the trends of the moment will be.

Convince managers

The Growth Marketer profile, in addition to being in close contact with the different teams of a company, is also in contact with the management team. Another of the challenges that this professional faces is getting the professionals who make the decisions to approve some of their proposals. This is not always easy, and proposals must be presented very well and based on objective data to increase their chances of success.

Create ethical and responsible strategies

When creating a marketing strategy, the Growth Marketer must know how to combine powerful actions and messages with content faithful to the style of the brand and its objectives with responsible, transparent and non-deceptive marketing.

That is not an easy task since, many times, the most attractive and effective messages at the level of numbers are those that include half-truths. But of course, that is something to avoid at all costs, not only because of the legal repercussions but also on a moral level.

In that sense, the Growth Marketer is in charge of designing strategies that are faithful to the brand and effective at a commercial level without putting the truth at risk.