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10 Noah Kagan Growth Hacks You Can Copy
This Is How He Grew to $6M in 24 Months
Eric Siu
August 23, 2023
Happy Wednesday, it’s time for your weekly deep dive:
An Ex-Facebook employee is now a king of growth hacking.
Bootstrapped AppSumo to $6M in revenue in 24 months.
Helped Mint App get 1M users in 6 months.
Here are 10 of Noah Kagan's growth hacks you can copy (and why they work)…
1. Bake Virality in Your Product
Think of such a way that - every user becomes an ad for your product (check the image)
If you're an e-commerce brand, make it easy for customers to tell others through referral bonuses or an affiliate system.
Why this works:
Because this forms a loop of virality.
Let's take the example of Survey Monkey.
10 users create surveys -> 100 users finish these surveys and see Survey Monkey branding -> 10 of those become new/returning users.
This becomes an automatic loop of customers.
2. Build a Newsletter (Even Before You Have a Product)
At Mint, they didn't have the final product for a year!
But they started a finance newsletter and had 100,000 members before the launch.
When Mint App was launched, customers were already excited to try the app.
Why this works:
Developing an audience gives you leverage and the ability to launch whenever (and whatever) you want.
Newsletters help you keep the audience warm and indebted to you. The email list guarantees you initial traction!
Did you know…
We’ll create a FREE detailed marketing plan to reach your growth goals (completely unique to your business)
Tell us a little bit about your company, and our marketing experts will put together a detailed plan to hit your growth goals—100% free!
3. Create Super-Specific Number-Driven Goals
When Noah was hired at Mint, his CEO said - I want 100K users in the next 6 months.
It was a perfect goal because it was specific (100K users) and had a defined time frame (6 months).
Why this works:
By setting a time frame, you are creating urgency to achieve that goal. It puts you in a different mindset.
So set up a reasonable time frame for achieving the goal. Create a goal like this - We want to reach X metric in Y time.
4. Judge Your Marketing Channels on These Two Metrics
i.) Implementation: On a scale of 0-5, how hard is the implementation?
ii.) Impact: On a scale of 0-5, what’s the potential impact?
The goal is to find channels that are easy to implement and have a decent impact.
Why this works:
It helps you realize which channels are worth pursuing & which are a waste of time. - Getting featured on Forbes is HARD, but it will have a huge impact.
Posting on a new LinkedIn account is EASY but may not have any impact.
It's all about finding a balance.
5. Breakdown Your Marketing Goals Into Chunks
Say you want to get 500 users from FB ads in 1 month.
Break it down like this (start with a small target and go higher):
Why this works:
Starting with a small goal of 50 users (for Week 1), you get enough time & creative freedom to experiment with FB ads.
Once that's figured out, double down on what works.
This is way better than targeting unreasonable results right from the start.
6. Giveaway Products/Features to Drive Free Traffic
Most of Sumo's tools and features are free forever.
840K websites and prominent sites like TheChive and Tony Robbins use it. Hubspot built a $30B company based on this strategy.
Why this works:
Everyone loves FREE. It creates a sense of owing.
If the free product is good, they are highly likely to check out your paid tool. What are some free tools that can act as lead gen for your business?
Think calculators, ebooks, templates, worksheets, tools, etc.
For example, at our agency, Single Grain:
If you tell us a little bit about your company, our marketing experts will put together a detailed plan to hit your growth goals— and it’s 100% free!
7. Buy an Audience for Cheap
Noah bought WordPress Plugins worth $100K to market Sumo!
He kept three factors in mind while buying plugins: - Should have fewer updates (something to bargain with) - Have a high number of installs - Has no competition for acquisition
You can also look into YT channels, FB groups, IG handles, Chrome extensions, etc.
Why this works:
Because you are buying an audience that's more valuable than what it looks like. You are buying gold at the price of copper.
8. Keep Telling Your Audience About Your Products & Features Over and Over
You can do this by creating content on FB, YT, IG, Titkok, etc.
It's crazy how many don't do this because they don't want to sound spammy.
Why this works:
Your audience is busy. They don't remember your latest product/features. Remind them of your features in creative ways.
By doing this, you make your product/features top of mind.
9. Manually Onboard VIP Customers
They manually onboarded customers like theCHIVE & Tony Robbins on Sumo.com and did 100% of the setup work for them!
Why this works:
Getting big-budget clients (who have a huge influence) will help you gain business from market exposure.
Things like these don't scale, but that is exactly why it works.
10. Go For Super-Niched Micro-Influencers (1-10K Followers) Instead of Large Influencers (100K+)
This applies to all socials: Tiktok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.
Micro-influencers are more affordable and have more impact.
Why this works:
You get amazing deals and amazing ROI. High engagement rate & low follower count = Affordable sponsorship deals.
Noah Kagan’s life story is so interesting we could write a whole post on it. But this is it for now.
Hope you learned something new.
To your growth!
The Leveling Up Team
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