In 2021 Greece, startups do not remain unaffected by current events, fortunately.There are already enough case studies of companies that “crawled” leveraging Growth Hacking methodology and now they are ready to run even faster both in greek and competitive international tracks.SkyTelecom is such an example.It is the first greek startup in telecommunications field that within the last two years has managed to increase significantly its market share in relation to the two established telephone and internet service providers, achieving 600% development rate for 2020.
Konstantinos Kordopitoulas, General Manager and Business Strategist of the company, talks about the company’s success story, the role that Growth Hacking has played on it, as well as how this can be applied to more startups.
S.M: A lot has been said about Growth Hacking. What does it mean though practically and how does it differ from digital and traditional marketing?
Konstantinos Kordopitoulas: Growth Hacking is an entire mindset, a strategy that leads to the sustainable growth of a brand or a business.Contrary to traditional marketing, it tracks immediately and precisely target audiences through the digital environment, while allowing real time result-driven optimization, which means more targeted, more efficient, cost-effective market research and marketing procedures.
It incοrporates digital advantages, without excluding advertisements in channels and means of traditional marketing.Anyway, the secret of its success is its product/market fit approach, that offers exactly what each consumer seeks.Beyond leads development, it is the appropriate choice for the improvement of interaction between customers and brands/ businesses, the enhnacement of customer retention, as well as the creation of quality referrals. It is a complete, functional and affordable strategic development plan.
S.M: SkyTelecom is now «talk of the town» in telecommunications field.How did it incorporate the smart techniques of Growth Marketing?
Konstantinos Kordopitoulas: In SkyTelecom we are very happy that we have made an impression on the market and on our competition.But mostly we are grateful that the consumers have chosen and have trusted our company for their everyday communication and fast internet services of 500Mbps.
Our success depends on many factors.When I joined SkyTelecom in 2019, the company had a 4-year presence in telecommunications known as Sky – WISP, with important investments in proprietary wireless internet infrastructure.So, the technological know-how already existed.The objective was to gain customer preference, offering them the appropriate telephone and internet programs according to their real needs.
Based on our technological background, we moved on to applying the Growth Hacking methodology based on a leads oriented concept.Our objective was to attract new customers and additionally to reinforce our liquidity, in order to make our ambitious business plan for expansion throughout Greece come true.
Starting with market research, we spotted out target groups and focused on their needs.According to our findings we restructured our available commercial programs ,we focused on USPs that make us stand out, such as fast internet of 500Mbps and we went further to marketing processes with measurable results, such as those offered by digital.Central to our strategy was the constant optimization of our campaigns based on targeted data analysis, that helped significantly so that our commercials and services can become viral to our groups.
S.M: How will SkyTelecom’s strategy develop in the near future?
Konstantinos Kordopitoulas: In 2020, that comprised the first complete year that Growth Hacking methodology was applied, our sales enhanced by 600%, leading to increase of our liquidity, which was our objective.On the basis of this success we set a new target, high customer retention, empowering this way customer loyalty.That’s why we offer instant online customer service 24/7 in order to correspond to customers’ needs that may come up.Additionally, the company is developing its stores network by adding new partners in the ever-increasing areas of its operations.
We focus on niche markets offering for the first time in Greece innovative internet programs, such as buildi-fi, new internet for apartment buildings at competitive prices.Also, we intend to promote our business programs, that cover every need, even those of the biggest businesses in Greece.Of course, we won’t stop developing our programs for residential users, that are our best-sellers.
S.M: SkyTelecom is a typical example of a startup that applied Growth Marketing. What companies can be benefited from its potentials?
Konstantinos Kordopitoulas: Growth Hacking does not only appeal to startups.It is available for all businesses, already existing or new ones, that seek more efficient ways to find customers, increase their sales and expand their public.It is mostly applied by startups and startuppers because they have better knowledge and more direct relation with the potentials that technology offers.Additionally, startups are driven by the need to stand out from competition and they seek smart means like Growth Hacking in order to overcome the lack of a significant marketing budget.
S.M: What is the first step that a business should make to proceed to the implementation of a Growth Hacking strategy?
Konstantinos Kordopitoulas: A Growth Hacking plan can be applied either in-house or in cooperation with a specialised digital agency that has the knowledge and expertise to implement it.Consequently, it is important to have the appropriate partners.Startups can turn to business incubators in order to secure space, tools, resources, consultancy and whatever they need for their development.
In Greece, incubators are at an early stage.That’s why we have decided, alongside a team of successful entrepreneurs and expert market executives to proceed to the creation of a greek incubator under the name Nexus Capital, that will have as its goal to elevate and develop the real hot prospects of the market.It is a special initiative, on which we have been working in order to start as soon as possible.
