Overview:

What is growth hacker marketing and why should you as a marketer care? Well, companies like Drop Box, Air BnB, Paypal, and Buzzfeed grew rapidly, and seem to have come out of nowhere, are ubiquitous in their respective industries – and they all practiced growth hacker marketing. In a relatively short period of time these companies and many others came to dominate, and are now multi-million dollar companies. If you’re a marketing student, an aspiring marketer, or seasoned traditional marketing person, you’ll appreciate the information and isights from this book. The book is written in the classic Robert Greene / Ryan Holiday fashion, where real-world examples, case studies, and lessons learned are shared, that you can apply in your own situation. I particularly like the simple to follow flow and informal language used in the book. Overall, quick read, and good primer on hacker marketing.

Here is what the book was about:

Ryan takes you through his journey from a traditional marketer at American Apparel where he read an article written by Andrew Chen, titled “Growth Hacker is the New VP of Marketing” and became inspired to make a career change. It explains growth hacker marketing concepts, outlines the process to growth hacking, shares success stories / case studies, and encourages you to continue your learning on the topic by providing a list of blogs, websites, and books to check out, and even offers a glossary of growth hacker marketing terms.

Rating: (1 to 5)

I rated this book 3.8 of 5 based on the level of engagement I felt while reading, and that I found the 4-step process to be something that could be used in real life. It would have earned a higher score if the character development had progressed more smoothly; Ryan started out with his own career at American Apparel but by the middle of the book seems to have left that thread and started onto other topics. It would have been better if he kept himself as the main character, and took us through his complete journey before explaining the 4-step process.

Other Thoughts on The Book

You may want to consider checking out Lean Startup, by Eric Ries, if you’re interested learning more about this topic.