Growth hacking: public relations for the internet era

Growth hacking is the process of expanding a product’s user base through a mix of coding and marketing/communications. The practice as we know it today was born in Silicon Valley’s tech sector startups as a result of the lean-growth culture that is prominent throughout these organizations. The entire premise of growth hacking is that through a process of testing, measurement, and iteration, a growth hacker comes to understand what users want from a product and uses that information in collaboration with other teams to reach an optimal state known as Product Market Fit. ❧ Growth hacking is in essence a rejection of traditional functions like marketing and public relations, which are seen by growth hackers as wasteful practices. Growth hackers attempt to increase awareness of their product and guide audiences through the sales funnel with as little spending as possible and in highly scalable ways. ❧ This paper argues that growth hacking, through its nature of engaging with users and audiences in order to get information, and through its executions which make heavy use of communications tactics, is actually a modern variant of public relations. It outlines the different similarities between the two functions and posits that growth hacking is simply a version of public relations that is adapted to startups and the internet-fueled communications landscape. This paper also discusses prominent growth hacking cases and highlights the specific public relations characteristics of each. Lastly, a set of recommendations is made for more traditional public relations professionals who want to modernize their practices and processes.