NZ survey inspires 9 'growth hacks' for tech firms

It's a tough world growing a tech company, but 'growth hacks' are quickly becoming titbits of advice that all firms can use to get a boost – and many of them have come from tech firms in our own backyard.

The 2018 Market Measures survey, conducted every year by Concentrate and Swaytech, rounded up 300 people from New Zealand. From those results, the surveyors then formed nine 'growth hacks' that promote actionable insight, instead of just statistics and numbers.

"What we do at the beginning of every Market Measures survey is ask: how can we gain some actionable insight out of this, The idea is to give Kiwi technology companies useful information for planning their sales and marketing strategies," explains Concentrate managing director Owen Scott.

The growth hacks are broken into three separate categories: marketing, sales and customer. They were determined by looking at a subset of high-growth New Zealand companies that participated in the Market Measures survey, and similar report data from the United States.

The nine growth hacks include improved alignment between sales and marketing, the need to step up onto the international stage, making better use of technology and making sure sales teams have the right tools to ensure they're effective and efficient.

"Growing a tech company is tough," comments Swaytech CEO Bob Pinchin.

"Marketing and sales are critical to the successful growth of any business, but especially for those in the tech industry.

"The idea behind Market Measures is to share the lessons of growth amongst New Zealand technology companies as marketing is often seen as our Achilles heel. This year we've identified what the best Kiwi and US companies are doing to 'hack' growth so that others can learn."

Here are the nine hacks they came up with:

Growth hack 1: Marketing in tech companies needs to step up. Sales are carrying too much of the responsibility; there needs to be better alignment between the teams.

Growth hack 2: It's a big world out there. Kiwi tech companies need to focus on grabbing a slice of the international market and early in their lifecycle.

Growth hack 3: A comprehensive website is essential for any business and especially those in the tech industry. Yours needs to be the central hub of your marketing strategy.

Growth hack 4: Your website needs comprehensive, dynamic content that engages your target audience.

Growth hack 5: You're a tech business, so use technology. Marketing automation is key to improving efficiency and data visibility and supporting your other marketing initiatives.

Growth hack 6: Do you understand your customer acquisition funnel? Knowing how people find and buy your product and services is essential.

Growth hack 7: Making use of technology again! - it's all about improving the efficiency of your sales team.

Growth hack 8: You need more sales people, and the tools to help them become effective and efficient.

Growth hack 9: It's all about making the customer experience as positive and successful as possible. It's far more cost effective to keep the customers you've got than go hunting for new ones.