Growth hacking strategies for startups that still work

The growth hacking strategies that still work are small, cheap tests that put your product where buyers already look. Pick 2 or 3 from the list below, run each for a few weeks, and keep the ones that bring signups. None of them need tricks or spam.

How to pick a growth hacking strategy

Start with where your buyers are. If they search Google, pick the search tactics. If they ask in communities, pick the community ones. Run one or two tests at a time and tag every link with UTM parameters so you can see what worked.

14 growth hacking strategies for startups

1. Write "[competitor] alternatives" pages

People who search "[competitor] alternatives" are ready to switch. Run Keyword Gap to see keywords a competitor ranks for that you do not, or Competitor Keywords to see everything they rank for. Look for "alternative" and "vs" searches, then write one honest page for each.

2. Publish honest comparison pages

Write "[you] vs [competitor]" pages with a plain table. Say where the competitor is the better pick. Buyers trust a page that admits trade-offs. For more ways to win switchers, see how to get customers from competitors.

3. Borrow angles from competitors' long-running ads

Competitor Google Ads shows the Google ads a competitor runs, how long each has been showing and the headlines of its longest-running text ads. An ad that runs for months is a hint that it works, not proof. Test the same angle in your own headline. Our guide to writing ad copy shows how.

4. Add a referral incentive

Give both sides something they value, like extra usage or a month off. Show the invite link right after a user gets their first result, when they are happiest with the product.

5. Build a free tool or template as a lead magnet

Make a small calculator, checklist or template that solves one piece of your buyer's problem. People search for these and share them. Link the tool to your product and ask for an email only when the result is worth it.

6. Ship integrations and list them in marketplaces

App marketplaces of tools your buyers already use are pages those buyers browse. Build one integration that matters, then list it in that marketplace and on the partner's integration page.

7. Answer the questions people ask AI

Many buyers ask ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews for advice before they shop. AI Question Finder shows the questions people ask about your topic and the sources each answer lists. Write a page that answers each question in its first lines.

8. Get named in AI answers

AI Answer Visibility asks ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini one question and shows whether they mention your brand and who they name instead. Look at where those brands get mentioned, like review sites and comparison articles, and work on getting listed there.

9. Run a launch week

Ship one small thing each day for five days and post about each one. Put your Product Hunt launch on the strongest day. Five reasons to talk about the product beat one announcement.

10. Send onboarding emails that lead to the first result

Write a short sequence where each email pushes one action toward the first result. Send based on what the user has done, and stop the sequence once they reach it.

11. Make every link preview share-ready

When people share your link on LinkedIn, Slack or X, the preview card is your ad. Open Graph & Social Card Checker checks the tags behind the preview, downloads the share image and shows the card LinkedIn, Facebook, Slack and X build.

12. Answer questions in communities

Find the forums, subreddits and Slack groups where buyers ask for help. Answer fully, mention your product only when it fits, and say you built it. Reddit has its own rules, covered in how to get users from Reddit.

13. Swap mentions with partner newsletters

Find newsletters your buyers read that are run by non-competing products. Offer a mention swap or a guest piece with something useful in it. A short, specific pitch gets more replies.

14. Ask happy users for reviews

Ask right after a user gets a good result, and link straight to the review page on G2, Capterra or your app store. Reviews help buyers compare, and AI answers often draw on review sites.

Track which growth tactics bring signups

Give each tactic its own utm_campaign value. Once a week, compare signups by source. Drop what brings nothing after a fair test and put that time into what works.

When you are past the first few hundred users, how to get your first 1,000 users covers what to scale next.

Run these checks on your competitors

Competitor Google Ads (15 credits) shows a competitor's Google ads and the copy of its longest-running text ads, so you can test angles before you write your own. Keyword Gap (85 credits) lists the keywords a competitor ranks for that you do not, which is where your alternatives and comparison pages come from. AI Answer Visibility (120 credits) shows whether ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini name you for a question and who they name instead. Start with one competitor and one question.