growth hacking apis (nordic apis conference 2014)

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Growth Hacking APIs The role of APIs in a growth strategy Vanessa Meyer - Marketing Director, Load Impact

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Growth Hacking APIs: What role do APIs play in your growth strategy. There’s been lots of buzz in the tech startup space about “growth hacking” – what is it? how is it related to development? how is it related to marketing? At it’s core, growth hacking is about finding a strategy for growth within the parameters of scalability and replicability, driven by product and inspired by data. Growth hacking’s core is based in marketing but driven by product. Once the definition is clear, the question then becomes: without a UI to lean on, how does one “growth hack” an API? At last year’s Nordic API conference, Guillaume Balas from 3Scale presented several typologies of an API, namely API is the product, API projects the product, API promotes the product, and API powers the product. This presentation will elaborate on and reframe those typologies in the context of marketing and growth hacking of an API. We will examine the circumstances where an API is actually a growth hack in of itself, and where it is in need of growth hacking in order to make the business model behind it succeed. The presentation will use core concepts of strategic marketing – such as positioning, pricing, targeting, promotion, product and distribution – to create a framework for either growth hacking an API or developing an API as a key tactic in a growth strategy.

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Page 1: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

Growth Hacking APIs The role of APIs in a growth strategy

Vanessa Meyer - Marketing Director, Load Impact

Page 2: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

2The Questions

@LoadImpact @VanessMeyer @NordicAPIs #API

What role do APIs play in your growth strategy? !

What to do when your API needs growth hacking? !

What to do when your API is a growth hack?

Page 3: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

3

A growth hacker is someone focused on creating scalable growth by manipulating and measuring each aspect of the customer funnel.

Product Marketing (aka Growth Hacking)

Page 4: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

Intersection of Marketing and Growth Hacking

Page 5: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

5Purchase Decision Making ProcessThe actual buying process

for IT buyersHow IT vendors view the

IT buying process

Page 6: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

6

👥

👤

👤

Initiator

Users👥

Influencers

Decider

The Decision Making Unitthere are often 6+ people involved the

decision to purchase a technology

Page 7: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

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1. API is the product and the strategy

2.API projects the product

3.API powers and promotes the product} API is a growth hack

Typologies of an API

Source: Guillaume Balas, CMO at 3scale

Page 8: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

8Typologies of an API

1. API is the product and the strategy

Example: Twilio or Stripe

• Core value: the infrastructure

• Growth metric: core service usage growth (calls to API)

• Use case: API is for partners, enables new business models or adds value to existing applications

• Marketing: Complex. Create top-down demand among CTOs, CEOs, Product Managers. Then win the “evaluation phase” by appealing to developer(user). Emphasize both business and technical Unique Selling Points (USPs).

Page 9: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

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2. API projects the product

Example: Load Impact or Salesforce

• Core value: the software or application

• Growth metric: first is increasing customer spend, second is increasing the number of customers for core product

• Use case: API extends availability of software functionality - programatic access to core service. API also enables mobile app and ecosystem that adds value to core service (i.e. 3rd party integrations)

• Marketing: focus is on developer and showing them the means of customizing core product to better fir their needs, or how to connect programmatically with the other tools they use. Emphasis is on ease-of-use, DX, reliability and quality of API.

Typologies of an API

Page 10: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

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3. API powers and promotes the product

Example: YELP, Facebook or YouTube

• Core value: the network (marketplace with high-value and/or user generated content, large user base)

• Growth metric: first is getting more people using core service, second is increasing customer spend

• Use case: API enables creation of “widgets” that help market the core service and drive leads from external channels. API enables creation of user generated content which adds value to core service.

• Marketing: API is enabling marketplace with network effects - API is only as valuable as the number of users in the marketplace and/or the amount of content available for consumption. Marketplace becomes increasingly dominant when 3rd party apps build on top of API (i.e. the app store).

Typologies of an API

Page 11: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

1. API is the product and the strategy

11

Core service usage (calls to API)

Focus on the use cases for your API and the different people involved in the decision making process.

Product is infrastructure

When Your API Needs Growth HackingTypologies

Primary growth metric

API marketing strategy

Page 12: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

12When Your API is a Growth Hack

3. API powers and promotes the product

Typologies

Increasing size of marketplace (get more people using core service)

API marketing strategy

Target Product Managers of apps or websites that would benefit from programatic access to user base or programatic distribution of content. Key is data in/data out.

Product is network (marketplace)

Primary growth metric

2. API projects the product

Increasing customer spend (Customer Lifetime Value and Avg. Revenue per User)

Target developers - users of core service.

Product is software or application

Page 13: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

13Primary Growth Goal of API

1. API is the product and the strategy

2. API projects the product

3. API powers and promotes the product Acquisition

Activation

Retention*

Revenue

Referral*

Acquire users and/or content

Activate usage of core service

Motivate customers to spend more

by typology & customer funnel stage

*Retention and referral are always goals. Only those who can retain their customers and

generate positive WoM will succeed.

Page 14: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

14What to do When Your API Needs Growth HackingTypology 1: API is the product and the strategy• Product: infrastructure • Growth metric: core service usage (calls to API)

Step 2:

👥Profile the company and people in the Decision Making Unit for that use case (what do they want

& what is holding them back) !• Developers • Product Managers • Project Managers • C-suite

Step 3:

#Users

Deciders

Create content that addresses those people and their concerns !

• Customer stories (tech & biz) • Code examples • Technical documentation • How to’s • Testimonials/referrals

Step 1:

◎Focus on use cases for your API that you can serve particularly well !

• Improve security • Facilitate communication • Improve customer service • Process payments • Provision resources • Enable integrations &

networking

Step 4:

%Segment and deliver the right content to the right person at the right time !

• APIs • Landing pages • Webhooks • Marketing automation • Release OS components • Developer portal • PR + social media • Events/hackathons

Page 15: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

15What to do When Your API is a Growth HackTypology 2: API projects the product• Product: software or application • Growth metric: customer spend (LTV, ARPU)

👤DeveloperConsider releasing high-quality OS components

built on your API. It showcases your engineering strength and builds brand equity among

developers (Github for developer advertising)

%Create clean and easy-to-use

documentation. Documentation that implicitly addresses developer’s unique use case (i.e. integrated code examples)

💰Price your service to accommodate for API

usage. Be cautious about overages and excess usage fees, this will limit usage of your API.

'

Create, distribute and maintain code libraries, SDKs and plugins in the languages and on the platforms that are popular among your users.

Build confidence in stability, security, scalability of your API. Be transparent about incidents and how you handled

them. Communicate regular maintenance and updates. Commit to SLAs, Terms of Service, failover measures.

Page 16: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

16What to do When Your API is a Growth HackTypology 3: API powers and promotes the product• Product: network (marketplace) • Growth metric: size of marketplace (users, content)

👥Product Manager

& Developer

%

'

Create and distribute “widgets/plugins” that are easily implemented by non-

developers and that work well for most use cases.

💰Price your service to accommodate for API usage. For this typology, the price is usually - free (

Create clean and easy-to-use documentation. Documentation that

implicitly addresses developer’s unique use case (i.e. integrated code examples)

Build confidence in stability, security, scalability of your API. Be transparent about incidents and how you handled

them. Communicate regular maintenance and updates. Commit to SLAs, Terms of Service, failover measures.

Consider releasing high-quality OS components built on your API. It showcases your engineering

strength and builds brand equity among developers (Github for developer advertising)

Page 17: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

17The Questions

What role do APIs play in your growth strategy?

!

What to do when your API needs growth hacking?

!

What to do when your API is a growth hack?

@LoadImpact @VanessMeyer @NordicAPIs #API

Page 18: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

18The Answers

What role do APIs play in your growth strategy?

!

What to do when your API needs growth hacking?

!

What to do when your API is a growth hack?

Depends on the typology of your API. It’s either for acquisition, activation or revenue.

@LoadImpact @VanessMeyer @NordicAPIs #API

Page 19: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

19The Answers

What role do APIs play in your growth strategy?

!

What to do when your API needs growth hacking?

!

What to do when your API is a growth hack?

Focus on use cases, profile key people in the decision making process, create content, and segment tactics

Depends on the typology of your API. It’s either for acquisition, activation or revenue.

@LoadImpact @VanessMeyer @NordicAPIs #API

Page 20: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

20The Answers

What role do APIs play in your growth strategy?

!

What to do when your API needs growth hacking?

!

What to do when your API is a growth hack?

Depends on the typology of your API. It’s either for acquisition, activation or revenue.

Price your service carefully; work with SDKs, widgets, plugins and code examples; clean and easy-to-use

documentation; build confidence in your API; release OS components to showcase engineering strength.

Focus on use cases, profile key people in the decision making process, create content, and segment tactics

@LoadImpact @VanessMeyer @NordicAPIs #API

Page 21: Growth Hacking APIs (Nordic APIs conference 2014)

8/22/13 4:32 PM

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@VanessMeyer @LoadImpact

Go forth and growth hack! Thank you….