FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF BUSINESS ENGLISH

--------***--------

GRADUATION REPORT
Major: Business English

THE USE OF GROWTH HACKING IN

MARKETING DEPARTMENT OF MQ ICT
SOLUTIONS., JSC
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN BUSINESS ENGLISH

Student full name: : Vu Thi Hoang Lan

Student ID : 1717710110
Class : English 2
Intake : 56
Supervisor : Mrs. Le Thi Bich Thuy, MA

Hanoi, June 2021

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................

LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................................

LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................

CHAPTER 1. AN OVERVIEW OF MQ INFORMATION AND

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS JOINT STOCK
COMPANY AND THE MONIET PROJECT...........................................................

1.1. Overview of MQ ICT SOLUTIONS., JSC................................................

1.1.1. History............................................................................................3

1.1.2. Mission, vision, and core values.....................................................5

1.1.3. Organizational structure..................................................................6

1.1.4. Products lines and business performance........................................8

1.2. Internship activities..................................................................................

CHAPTER 2. GROWTH HACKING IN MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF

MONINET PROJECT AT MQ ICT SOLUTIONS., JSC......................................

2.1. Theoretical background...........................................................................

2.1.1. Growth hacking concept...............................................................13

2.1.2. Steps to implement Growth hacking in businesses.......................15

2.1.3. Techniques of Growth hacking.....................................................20

2.1.4. The advantages of growth hacking to businesses..........................21

2.2. The current situation of applying Growth hacking technique on the

Moninet project in the Marketing Department or MQ ICT Solutions......................

2.2.1. Overview of the Moninet application...........................................23

2.2.2. Implementation procedures...........................................................25

CHAPTER 3. RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................
 3.1. Evaluation of applying Growth hacking on the Moninet project of MQ
ICT Solutions...........................................................................................................

3.1.1. Effects of Growth hacking on Moninet.........................................32

3.1.2. Strengths and weaknesses in the process of implementing Growth

hacking in businesses.......................................................................................35

3.2. Trends, Orientation, and plans.................................................................

3.3. Recommendations....................................................................................

3.3.1. About deployed Growth hacking techniques................................37

3.3.2. About the process of applying Growth hacking stages.................39

CONCLUSION....................................................................................................

REFERENCES....................................................................................................
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The successful completion of this report has seen many helping hands without
which this would not have been possible. However, the space limitation does not
allow me to mention everybody individually.

First and foremost, I am thankful to my honorable academic supervisor, Mrs. Le

Thi Bich Thuy, the lecturer at the Faculty of Business English. I sincerely
appreciate her enthusiasm and guidance in preparing this report. I would like to
thank her for the excellent guidance through the valuable guideline and personal
advice and support also.

Secondly, I offer my most sincere admiration to all of those who provided their
advice and encouragement in this endeavor. I would like to express my special
thanks and sincere gratitude to all the employees of the Marketing Department of
MQ ICT SOLUTIONS., JSC especially my supervisor, Mr. Luong Hong Quan.
Sharing of his experiences supported me a lot in completing the report during my
internship at MQ ICT SOLUTIONS., JSC
 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1. MQ ICT Solutions., JSC’s organizational chart.
Source:mqsolutions.vn..............................................................................................7
Figure 2.1. Startup Growth Pyramid. Source: Startup-Marketing.com.............14
Figure 2.2. The Value Proposition Canvas – Source: growwithward.com........17
Figure 2.3. AARRR Pirate Metrics Framework – Source:growwithward.com. 18
Figure 2.4. G.R.O.W.S.-process by Growth Tribe – Source: growwithward.com
................................................................................................................................. 19
Figure 2.5.Statistic of Facebook page – Source: MQ ICT Solutions.................26
Figure 2.6.Moninet’s AARRR Framework – Source: MQ ICT Solutions........30
Figure 2.7. Moninet’s G.R.O.W.S.-process......................................................31

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1. Business Model Generation – Source: Startup-Marketing.com........16
Table 2.2. Relevant growth hacking techniques through Inbound vs. Outbound
Marketing – Source: donckers.co............................................................................21
Table 2.3 Moninet’s Canvas Business Model – Source: MQ ICT Solutions.....29
Table 2.4. Moninet’s conversion metrics – Source: MQ ICT Solutions............32
 1

INTRODUCTION

1. Reason for choosing the topic

The era of information and communication technology has changed the world
with a whisker; communication, as well as public relations and online marketing,
has emerged as the key to trade and development. The rapid development of
information and communication technology has turned the world into a global
community. Moreover, globalization and its all-pervasive impacts on states and
their economies have made life more competitive, complex, and technology-driven.
In that context, it has become significantly important for any company to analyze its
performance of different marketing strategies to survive in the volatile market
environment.

This is much more challenging for entrepreneurs. If they do not make

themselves stand out and can not find a niche market to penetrate and rapidly
expand, another company will rush in to seize the opportunity. Fortunately, the
arrival of new tools allows entrepreneurs to reach out to their customers and to
develop more quickly. This report is about Growth hacking - a method that many
start-ups today, especially those specializing in technology, have followed to be
able to promote themselves in a short time.

Growth hacking is becoming more and more recognized in the academic

community, especially in content marketing articles and research. Growth hacking
techniques are much distinct from other traditional marketing methods. The benefits
of Growth hacking are highlighted as helping businesses, especially technology
startups, develop quickly with low costs in communication and marketing. Today,
many large technology enterprises have used them as an effective tool to achieve
success, notably Dropbox, Hotmail, Airbnb, etc.

On the other hand, I have an opportunity to do an internship in the Marketing

department of MQ Information and Communication Technology Solutions Joint
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Stock Company. Here, I was in charge of a start-up project called Moninet. The
Moninet project is a plan to build an application that supports website security and
optimization. The growth hacking technique has been chosen to apply to this
project.

Therefore, based on all the above reasons, I have chosen my topic for my
graduation internship report as " The Use of Growth Hacking in Marketing
Department of MQ ICT Solutions., JSC ".

2. Objectives of the report

This report aims to (i) describe how Growth hacking is employed by the
Marketing Department of MQ ICT Solution., JSC to promote the company’s new
product - the Moninet application and get more users to download it, (ii) analyze the
strengths and weaknesses of the process Growth hacking currently used in Moninet
project to attract new customers and (iii), to propose some recommendation on how
to make the process more effective.

3. Methodology

To accomplish this report, I used the method of synthesizing, observing, and

analyzing. Coming to detail, I synthesized the academic knowledge of marketing
and growth hacking including how to create a marketing project to attract more
download and using the app and apply it to my job as a content creator. During my
internship period, I also synthesized information that I collected by observing the
whole picture of the working process at my company. After that, I analyzed that
information and using the AARRR Pirate Metrics framework to measure the
effectiveness of the Growth hacking technique and figure out what advantages of
the project are and what problems still exist as well, and then find recommendations
for the company.

4. Structure of the report

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Except for the table of contents, acknowledgments, list of tables and figures,
introduction, conclusion, and references, this report covers three chapters:

Chapter 1. An overview of MQ ICT Solutions., JSC & the Moniet Project

Chapter 2: Growth hacking in marketing activities of Moninet Project at MQ

ICT Solutions., JSC

Chapter 3: Recommendations

Chapter 1 gives an overview of MQ ICT Solutions., JSC with a company

overview, including its formation and development, organizational structure,
services, and especially the marketing activities of the company. My internship
activities would also be added to this chapter. Chapter 2 provides an actual situation
of applying the Growth hacking technique to Moninet Project at the company and
analyzes its strengths and weaknesses. Chapter 3 points out recommendations that
are concluded by analyzing the current situation of the company.

Due to limitations in knowledge, capacity, and time, this report will inevitably
have shortcomings. I hope to receive comments and suggestions to improve this
paper in the future.

CHAPTER 1. AN OVERVIEW OF MQ INFORMATION AND

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS JOINT
STOCK COMPANY AND THE MONIET PROJECT

1.1. Overview of MQ ICT SOLUTIONS., JSC.

1.1.1. History

MQ ICT Solutions is the ICT Solutions provider and software development

company; established in 2010 by 2 professional programmers with headquarter in
Hanoi, Viet Nam.
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Before 2012, due to the increasing demand for website creating, while there
were not many businesses capable of providing quality websites like MQ ICT
Solutions., JSC, the company did not need marketing activities to make profits
(supply < demand). The company is always in a situation of having too many
orders, but not enough human resources to meet them. However, because the
company was just established and put into operation in 2007, it wasn't until 2010
that the company had 30 employees. At that time, 15 employees were website
programmers, 7 website testers, 3 graphic and interface designers, 2 administrative
staff, and 2 accountant. Orders were increasing day by day. However, starting in
2011, the requirements of the market began to become more complex, for example,
requiring the website to be SEO standard, well-secured, accompanied by website
editing and warranty, maintenance, administration website. Along with the
appearance of many other website design companies, the company's activities are
facing more and more difficulties, the number of customers is gradually decreasing.
At the end of 2012, due to the number of orders were too small, employees had no
work to do, the company decided to reduce the staff to only 15 people, focusing on
building a more professional programming team, more quality, with less staff to
overcome difficulties. Some other related departments such as image design, video
design, interface design... the company decided to outsource to focus on exploiting
competitive advantages, minimizing costs and increasing quality, to make the
company's operations more efficient.

In the period 2012 - 2015, with his vision, the director of the company at that
time recognized that the company has the strength to be formed early, has
experienced through a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, have the advantage of qualified
programming staff; so that it should focus on creating website products with a high
level of security, excellent quality, along with providing online solutions for sales
and product introduction for clients. Therefore, the Director decided to attend
bidding sessions to build websites for big companies, in order to gain a certain
reputation and prestige in the industry. Since the company successfully bid to make
websites for VinGroup, SunGroup, UNDP,... the company has shown its prestige in
the industry, so the number of orders has also increased somewhat.
 5

In the period 2015 – 2018, the company focused more on technology solutions.
Instead of just designing a website, the company started building its product into an
ecosystem. Not only websites but applications, bots are also used (but located in
another company - also founded by the Director). For example, the Company
specializes in the field of Health and Insurance, not only selling insurance online
but also providing the experience of answering patients' questions directly with
doctors, the related processes have also gradually forming a supply circle, and at the
same time applying both the Omni channel system and personalizing customers, has
brought many business partners great benefits in the process of implementing their
business, since then bring value to them.

Up to now, although the company's workforce is only 10 people, with the

number of orders is enough, there is no need to use strong communication or
advertising. At the same time, the Company is also saving capital to invest in other
projects. However, the company also began to see the importance of Marketing in
its operations, so the company began to recruit the Marketing department to be
more professional and have the right direction for the future.

(Source: Company Profile - https://mqsolutions.vn/)

1.1.2. Mission, vision, and core values
 Mission
MQ ICT Solutions focus on bringing the best quality products and services to
customers. Its mission is stated as below:
To Provide a suite of services and products that enable clients to strengthen
internal control, improve project governance and be more successful and profitable.
To hire, empower, and retain the most talented employees committed to serving
our clients by steering the employees into a common goal and ensuring that they
build MQ ICT Solutions as a strong and respected brand.
To become known as the best enabler for operational efficiency improvement,
to our clients’ businesses through excellent customer service and collaboration.
 6

To build a strong and respected brand associated with being a trusted corporate
strategy advisory that will synonymous with improving and solving the clients’
business challenges through technological change and innovation.
To be the preferred strategic partner with our clients, by delivering innovative
solutions that will make our clients’ business more profitable, and competitive.
Support economic development, entrepreneurship and the country’s
transformation agenda, by empowering the youth through educational bursaries,
experiential training, and job creation.
 Vision
“To be a successful global information technology company trusted by its
customers for service excellence, caring for its employees and collaborating with
our customers to deliver innovative and value-driven ICT products and services.”
 Core values:
MQ ICT Solutions core values are build base on the BETTER principles:
Be Passionate and Determined
Embrace and Drive Change
Take Ownership and Accountability
Think and Act as a Professional
Establish Trust with Communication
Revitalize through Learning and Growth

1.1.3. Organizational structure

 Founding member – capital contributor – major shareholders

The company has 2 shareholders. Mr. Luong Hong Quan – personal
identification number: 131683293 and Mr. Nguyen Duc Nam – Personal
identification number: 001087007889. Both of them jointly contributed capital,
each contributed VND 250,000,000 to establish the company, the capital
contribution ratio is 50:50. Both of them are members of the members' council, in
which Mr. Luong Hong Quan plays the role of chairman of the members' council.

(Source: Company Profile - https://mqsolutions.vn/)

 Board of Manager
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The company's board of directors currently has only 2 people, who are also two
founders and members of the company's board of members. In which, the Board of
members unanimously selected Mr. Luong Hong Quan to hold the position of
Director of the company, and Mr. Nguyen Duc Nam to be the Deputy Director of
the company.
Although they are in two different positions, they both share the same work and
work orientation in general, but there is not much difference in power between these
two in the Board of Directors.
During the working process, Mr. Nguyen Duc Nam - Deputy Director of the
company is the main person in charge of internal issues, including management,
administration, control and adjustment of the work of the employees in the
company; planning operations, managing time, setting KPIs, etc. And Mr. Luong
Hong Quan - Director of the company is the main person in charge of external
affairs, meeting and participating in bidding sessions with the company partners.

 Human Resources system

The company has an actual number of 13 people, with the division of
departments. The above organizational chart of the company is published on the
company's capacity profile, but it is not implemented as such. At the same time,
some of the above parts are outsourced. The company also has only 2 working
rooms, in which 1 room is for the board of directors and one room for the
company's employees to work.
 8

Figure 1.1. MQ ICT Solutions., JSC’s organizational chart. Source:mqsolutions.vn

The actual functional departments in the company: General Manager, Technical

Support, Software Development Department, Administration Department, Sales
Department, Project department and Marketing department (new). Departments
such as Design & Multimedia, Accounting Department and part of Software
Department are outsourced, managed by another company.

1.1.4. Products lines and business performance

MQ ICT Solutions are providing software outsourcing services from the
application, website, server, and other systems to AI, Block-chain, IoT, and Big
Data. The company has worked on over 500 projects, with over 62 customers in 8
countries, achieved more than 2 patents of algorithms, and created over 10 self-
developed products.
The company’s economic branch includes:
• Computer programming
• Producing computers and peripheral devices of computers; communication
equipment; civil electronic products
• Repairing machines and equipment
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• Installing industrial machines and equipment

• Agency, intermediary, auction
• Wholesale of computers, peripheral devices and software
• Soft-ware publishing
• Computer consultancy services and network administration
• IT services and other services related to computers
• Data processing, hosting and related activities
• Advertising
• Market research and surveying
• Retail of computers, peripheral devices, software and telecommunication
equipment in specialized stores
• Repair of computers and peripheral devices
• Repair of communications devices

(Source: Company Profile - https://mqsolutions.vn/)

In terms of services, MQ IT Solutions provides IT solutions, Outsourcing

services and research & development. The company’s solutions are digital
transformation to help businesses increase profits, reduce costs, and promote their
advantages with both hardware and software solutions.
From experiences gained from numerous projects, MQ has researched and
developed its own in-house products such as Golf trajectory measurement devices,
face-recognizing cameras using AI, etc. Some typical products of the company can
be mentioned as:
Firstly, we have IP DISPLAY 4.0. It is a solution for centrally remote
management of content displayed on LEDs, LCDs, electronic signboard stands, etc.
The solution provides a new generation of electronic point-of-sale systems for
distribution chains and efficient management tools for OOH media companies and
line production plants. In addition, through this solution, we will create internal
communication systems in government agencies, hospitals, schools, hotels, airports,
train stations, etc. Typical projects of this technology can be listed as Vincom
plaza chain LED panel management system, NextBrand airport LED, Karofi chain
 10

1500 LCD management, Again20 fashion chain store, Phuong Dong hospital, Vinh
Bao international hospital, Hai Phong international hospital, Hanoi University of
Law , Bank Academy, Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi University of
Technology,...
Secondly, it is about CAMERA AI. This solution integrates A.I into an existing
camera or a new camera system to bring A.I functionality into a regular camera.
Solutions supports effectively the process monitoring and business management to
improve user's experience and convenience. The best of this solution is when
compared to other solutions, it brings great efficiency by using the distributed AI
processing system. Our solution support real-time processing, sizing large numbers
of cameras without impacting performance, optimizing bandwidth and storage
memory, and reducing operating costs. Typical projects: 2100 AI cameras for
smart city, traffic AI cameras, airport security AI cameras, AI traffic detection /
heatmap / visitor identification cameras for shoping mall, chain stores, traffic
detection, view, objects for OOH companies, automatic timekeeping / opening for
offices, identifying unusual behavior for state agencies, security ...
DOHU is a solution that will revolutionize and digitize the OOH industry in
Vietnam. This helps to solve the disadvantages of the OOH industry compared to
digital advertising such as Facebook ads and Google Display Network ads. DOHU
solution is a combination of hardware devices attached to display devices and
management software. With DOHU, OOH advertising can become digital
advertising. DOHU expands to the smallest retail customers. Typical customers:
VINASING Co., Ltd., Asia Media Co., Ltd., Apartment sales/advertising signage
system, Again20 fashion, hospitals, ...
Last but not least is FIUP. This is a management solution for spas, hair salons,
beauty salons and dental clinics. FIUP was a pioneer in building a new model of
high-class service delivery 4.0. FIUP brings great experience to customers thanks to
AI, IoT, the first big data technology in Vietnam. By using this solution, you can
increase store revenue and reduce costs. FIUP is a smart investment, bringing in
many times revenue. Typical customers: Salon Thanh Lozen - No. 3, Lot 17 of
 11

Romantic Park adjacent villas, Salon Dao The Tuan Anh - 235 Thach Ban, Salon
Thinh - 19 Hang Cot, San Spa ...

(Source: Company Profile - https://mqsolutions.vn/)

1.2. Internship activities

As an intern at the Marketing Department of MQ ICT Solutions, I was trained
in basic knowledge of marketing and how to create a content plan. My daily task is
writing posts on pages and websites of the company.
Besides, I am assigned to create ideas and implement promotion plans with our
team, content for video viral, organize some related events supporting PR, or
research some potential places for advertising campaigns.
Recently, Marketing Department is in charge of promoting the company’s new
products called Moninet. As a member of the Marketing Department, I also took
part in this campaign and apply Growth hacking techniques to attract new
customers.

• Development strategy
The company identifies its strength as not communication; few rival companies
are direct competitors due to the difference in website products (other websites now
focus on available templates, suitable for small stores and household businesses –
while MQ focuses on online solutions for small and medium businesses), so the
company still chooses a word-of-mouth strategy, using its existing reputation of
their own for communication.
The company's marketing staff is also the main Marketing administrator, only
participating directly in some parts (writing posts, answering customer questions on
Facebook fan page, managing customer relationships online). Their main jobs are to
making Marketing plans, set KPIs and adjust Marketing activities. Other jobs are
outsourced: SEO, design images, videos, write articles, create backlinks, or publish
articles on outsourced news sites. The company determines that the communication
is not to find customers, but only to increase the company's brand awareness,
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thereby developing other projects based on the company's reputation, attracting

high-quality human resources to the company.
In order to improve brand awareness, the company focuses on communicating
the results of the implemented projects, showing effective results and solutions. The
company wants to show marketing components, IT management positions in small
and medium-sized companies to see what MQ ICT Solutions can do. At the same
time, you can also see the benefits and outstanding working methods of the
company so that you can discuss, or learn, and apply the company's way of doing
things. At the same time, they can also see the benefits and outstanding working
methods of MQ so that they can discuss, or learn, and apply the company's way of
doing things.
At the same time, the company also focuses on business culture because
understanding it is a fundamental part of success, helping the company develop
strongly and sustainably. MQ ICT Solutions., JSC focus on holistic human
development. Employees here are cared for, nurtured, and trained so that they can
promote their abilities and qualifications; promote self-discipline, the desire to
conquer challenges. In the corporate environment, each employee is trained in
communication, persuasion, negotiation, leadership ability; have access to a young,
dynamic and ambitious environment. For customers, the company's business culture
is to treat customers fairly. No matter what industry customers were in, no matter
how big or small they are, the company will always try its best to solve their
problems respectfully, without distinction. Even when M.Q can't immediately meet
the needs of customers, the company also finds ways to research and learn to come
up with solutions for customers. Thanks to that, the reputation of the company is
constantly improving.
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CHAPTER 2. GROWTH HACKING IN MARKETING

ACTIVITIES OF MONINET PROJECT AT MQ ICT
SOLUTIONS., JSC

1.1. Theoretical background

1.1.1. Growth hacking concept

First of all, some concepts may have a similar meaning to the concept of
Growth hacking. In this report, only two related concepts will be used: Growth
hacking and Growth hacker, these two concepts will be explained more clearly hear
after. However, please acknowledge the connection between these two concepts: A
growth hacker is a person who performs Growth hacking.
Specifically, the term “growth hacker” was coined in 2010 by the entrepreneur,
Sean Ellis. Viewed as the creator of growth hacking, Ellis has helped hundreds of
startups thrive over the years using his growth hacking techniques. He is also the
founder of Qualaroo and the current CEO of GrowthHackers. Eleven years ago, he
wrote in a blog post that a growth hacker is “a person whose true north is growth.
Everything they do is scrutinized by its potential impact on scalable growth. (Ellis,
Sean (June 26, 2010), Startup-Marketing.com). This newly coined term was then
popularized by a blog post later written by Andrew Chen titled “Growth Hacker is
the New VP Marketing.” (Chen, Andrew (2012). Retrieved 29 March 2019.). In this
post, Chen exemplifies the growth strategies of Airbnb as a widely successful
implementation of growth hacking. He states in his writing that growth hackers “are
a hybrid of a marketer and coder, one who looks at the traditional question of ‘How
do I get customers for my product?’ and answers with A/B tests, landing, viral
factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph.”. Next, Aaron Ginn defines Growth
hacker on TechCrunch as someone who has a mindset about data, creativity, and
curiosity (Ginn, Aaron (September 2, 2012). "Defining a Growth Hacker: Three
Common Characteristics". TechCrunch.). Chad Riddersen and Raymond Fong's
 14

book "Growth hacking" also defines a Growth hacker as "a highly resourceful and
creative marketer singularly focused on high leverage growth"

Figure 2.1. Startup Growth Pyramid. Source: Startup-Marketing.com

The next concept clarified is "Growth hacking". It is the use of resource-light

and cost-effective digital marketing tactics to help grow and retain an active user
base, sell products, and gain exposure.
Typically, growth hacking combines marketing, optimization, and
developmental know-how to pull off automated marketing on a small budget. For
example, automated notification emails, simple sign-up forms or sign-up driven
homepages, or streamlining onboarding for new customers. However, it’s a scalable
concept applicable to any online business keen to maintain the growth and retention
of an active user base.
A growth hacking team is made up of marketers, developers, engineers, and
product managers that specifically focus on building and engaging the user base of a
business. Their job is often focusing on finding smart, low-cost ways to replace
traditional marketing methods, such as social media, viral marketing, or targeted
advertising, rather than using traditional forms such as radio, newspapers,
television. As a consequence, Growth hacking is most commonly associated with
start-ups and small businesses, i.e. those organizations that don’t have a huge
amount of cash to spare but need results quickly. This is also the first phase of Sean
Ellis's pyramid model – Product/Market Fit. Next, they use many types of repetitive
marketing, to be able to find the best content, emails, search engine optimization,
communication strategies, etc. to increase the efficiency of converting into users
quickly. Some people think that this job is also the job of a Marketing person
because they all use the same techniques: search engine optimization, website
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analysis, content marketing, A/ B testing, but they also have a certain difference
because not all marketing people can collect and distribute data from users. At the
same time, continuous product development is also one of the jobs in Growth
hacking. It is also extremely important to come up with ideas, analyze reasons,
collect user opinions to gradually change their products to be able to attract more
people to use the product.

1.1.2. Steps to implement Growth hacking in businesses

The implementation of Growth hacking in the business is divided into 3 stages
as follows (according to Sean Ellis)
Stage 1: Product Market Fit
All products or services must meet the particular needs of customers. To be
popularized, a product/service must satisfy a large enough set of users. As a result,
before attempting to increase the number of users, companies must ensure that their
offerings meet the demands of consumers and maintain consumers' repeated use of
the product.
To ascertain whether our product or service has reached PMF (Product Market
Fit), we can adopt Sean Ellis's "Very Disappointing" process: Submit a survey with
the questions "How would you feel if you can no longer using our products?" And
offer options: "very disappointed", "a little disappointed", "Not disappointed” and “I
no longer use the product” for existing customers. The product/service has hit the
PMF point if 40% of respondents say they are "very disappointed." However, for
some goods, this is more difficult to follow, so some growth hackers tend to use
Brian Balfour’s Trifecta approach. This includes non-trivial top-line growth,
retention, and meaningful usage. Companies that can prove they can grow the
number of people using their product, that those who use the product once continue
to use it, and that those users are consistently enjoying the product, can say they’ve
reached product-market fit.
The final task of this stage is to decide the time to use Growth hacking. This is
the point at which companies believe their goods have met PMF, and it is also the
time to move to the next stage.

Stage 2: Growth Preparation

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This is the stage where businesses need to find the answers for the business’s
core values. These values can be demonstrated through the Canvas model
(developed by Alexander Osterwalder), which includes the following elements: Key
Partners, Key Activities, Key Resources, Value Propositions, Customer
Relationships, Channels, Customer Segments, Revenue Streams, and Cost
Structure.

Table 2.1. Business Model Generation – Source: Startup-Marketing.com.

Another model for better representing the value of a product is The Value
Proposition Canvas. Developed by Dr. Alexander Osterwalder as a framework to
ensure that there is a fit between the product and market, it is a detailed look at the
relationship between two parts of Osterwalder’s broader Business Model Canvas;
customer segments and value propositions.
The Value Proposition Canvas can be used when there is a need to refine an
existing product or service offering or where a new offering is being developed
from scratch.
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Value Proposition includes Gains creators, Pain relievers, Product & services.
Customer problems/pains involve what they gain from a product, what difficulty
they have to deal with, and their jobs.

Figure 2.2.3 The Value Proposition Canvas – Source: growwithward.com

Following that, companies must specifically identify their consumer portraits. A

customer portrait is defined as a definition of the behavior, needs and other
characteristics that characterize most customers. It also provides companies with
forms and strategies to more efficiently access this target audience. Furthermore, it
offers companies insightful value such as customers’ attitudes about
products/services, concerns and motivation, why they do not use the
product/service, or about the competitor, market environment. Only when it comes
to comprehending what buyers think and what elements are needed to make them
willing to pay; can marketing decisions, positioning, and messaging content deliver
on revenue. From there, selling products/services, or developing markets, is also
becoming easier.
In this stage, how can you spot a raging success waiting to happen? What’s the
difference between a brilliant idea and a bad one?
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At this point, we turn to pirate metrics. This framework is called Pirate Funnel
(AAARRR), which represents the customer lifecycle introduced by Dave McClure
(originally AARRR - a 5-step process, after which a 6-step registration was
developed). AAARRR consists of 6 stages: Awareness, Acquisition, Activation,
Retention, Revenue, Referral.
The funnel stages outlined included:
Acquisition (or awareness) – How are people discovering our product or
company?
Activation – Are these people taking the actions we want them to?
Retention – Are our activated users continuing to engage with the product?
Referral – Do users like the product enough to tell others about it?
Revenue- Are our personas willing to pay for this product?)

Figure 2.3.4 AARRR Pirate Metrics Framework – Source:growwithward.com

The final job for this stage is to identify performance indicators. These
important indicators will become the business's targets in the short term. At the
same time, this will also be a measure of success, as well as work progress to reach
 19

the goal of the business (which is the company's vision). These indicators in each
stage will be similar to KPI (Key Performance Indicator), which will help
businesses observe work efficiency on a daily basis. Above all, it helps businesses
focus more on their goals, keep them on track.

Stage 3: Scale Growth

After all of the above factors have been achieved, the business is ready to scale
growth as follows G.R.O.W.S.-process by Growth Tribe.

Figure 2.4. 5 G.R.O.W.S.-process by Growth Tribe – Source: growwithward.com

G stands for ideas: This is the time when businesses have to come up with ideas
to improve their key indicators (identified in stage 2)
R stands for rank ideas: After giving out a series of ideas, they will be arranged
to be able to learn what are the things that businesses should do first. Each idea will
be evaluated through a general idea rating framework. Some popular idea rating
frameworks: BRASS, PIES, and ICE;
O stands for outline experiments: Business should choose the next steps and
design your experiment as quick and small as possible. If the findings seem to be as
 20

the theory says after trial, firms will attempt to research and refine the irrational
points on the first attempt. If the experiment did not go as planned, do not devote
too much effort to that idea;
W stands for work: Business executes its experiment in a 2-4 week window.
Ans S stands for study data: This is a difficult period, requiring an assessment
of the data, as well as the overall assessment of the team leader. Assumptions can be
wrong, and more often, most of the ideas don't work. However, this is not a big
problem, because just one experiment with good results will bring massive benefits
for businesses.

1.1.3. Techniques of Growth hacking

Customer Reviews - A business must make sure it can deliver quality
products or services to its customers. From there, customers will propose that
product or service to other potential customers.
Advertising - Services or products may be promoted through SEM services,
social media advertising, mobile advertising, TV, radio advertising, and any other
type of advertising. Another useful strategy is to create business partnerships with
other companies, to assist in promoting their products in exchange for a certain
commission.
Viral content - Use any type of content from videos, news, and images to
engage as many online reached as possible. They may become customers in the
future.
Email marketing - Nowadays, everybody has an email address. Companies
understand that email marketing strategies are critical for attracting new clients and
maintaining partnerships with current ones.
CTA (call-to-action): - motivate people to purchase or try a product or
service by clicking on it, then receive customer input and convert potential
customers into consumers of goods and services. Simultaneously, this approach also
includes optimizing UX/UI to improve transfer rates between stages in the
consumer funnel.
SEO (search engine optimization) - if done correctly, results will be
noticeable immediately. There is a significant difference between SEO theory seen
 21

on the Internet and actual services. This is why it is advisable to employ skilled
SEO specialists.
Analysis - Carefully analyzing available data can eventually lead to a greater
understanding of growth hacking methods that can be used in the future.
The growth hacking framework designed by Donckers (2013) shows different
domestic and foreign marketing techniques related to Growth hacking.

Types of Growth Objective Examples

Marketing hacking
Technique
Inbound SEO Generate Traffic Accurate and unique titles,
Marketing meta-tags, load times,
responsive design etc.
Blog Thought leadership Customer Studies, Market
and Brand Exposure Studies, Company Insights
Webinar Generate Traffic Learning-focused and
Marketing-focused
Webinars
Email Brand Exposure Newletters, Referral and
Reactivation mail
Social media Generate Traffic and Sharing relevant content
Brand Exposure via social networks
Outbound Search Engine Generate Traffic Google Adwords, Bing
Marketing Marketing Ads
Display Ads Generate Traffic Quantcast Ads, Adroll,
Premium Publishers
Affiliate Generate Traffic Content-based, Coupon-
Programs based, & Price
Comparison Affiliate
Websites

Table 2.2. Relevant growth hacking techniques through Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing –
Source: donckers.co
 22

1.1.4. The advantages of growth hacking to businesses

 Growth hacking allows businesses to bypass conventional marketing

methods.
Growth hacking provides us with a new perspective on marketing, with the
effective search function from the largest capital, by offering methods to measure
the efficiency in deployment. Traditional marketing strategies that cost too much
without providing tangible gains would be discarded to save the capital for more
efficient operations.

 Growth hacking helps entrepreneurs to expand quickly and become top

companies in a short time
It can be seen that many startups can become market leaders in their respective
fields within a short time, such as Hotmail, Printest, Airbnb, Uber, etc. Their secret
weapon is Growth hacking. These ideas assist these businesses in rapidly obtaining
the number of users they need for the fastest possible customer data, responses,
capital turnover, and revenue growth.
Growth hacking techniques are also diverse and challenging to replicate. There
will be a particular method of growing development for each project. This is also an
advantage for using Growth hacking. Competitors will hardly have the opportunity
as the first business because they have grown too fast and become a big business.
Using the same methods will no longer be effective.

 Helping businesses make the most use of their budgets

Startups need strong marketing to boost growth. Some conversations or
messages would not be able to attract consumers to return to the brand. At the same
time, growth hacking is the solution for a business that is just getting started and
cannot afford a lot of money on ads. Instead of marketing without knowing for sure
if they're doing the right thing, marketers can use data, credible methods (obtained
from testing), and innovative strategies to penetrate the market and grow their
customer base. This approach limits risks for businesses, and at the same time they
are also allowed to choose the options with the lowest costs

 Prioritize revenue
 23

A study from Saleschat found that companies with growth hacking grew 53% in
revenue, had 52% more new customers, spending 59% of their funding on focused
customers & increasing 53% of potential customers. (saga.vn). These statistics show
that growth hacking focuses on the numbers that matter. Tracking new customers,
leads, CACs and revenue are part of this approach to helping marketers make the
biggest impact.

1.2. The current situation of applying Growth hacking technique on the

Moninet project in the Marketing Department or MQ ICT Solutions

1.2.1. Overview of the Moninet application

Moninet is a technology service start-up project of MQ ICT Solutions. In the
era of technology 4.0 and the explosion of information services over the Internet,
Moninet was developed to protect and optimize the web, minimizing risks on the
website - an important marketing channel of businesses.
Moninet helps website owners monitor the status of servers and websites in
real-time. When the service fails to connect, Moninet's system will immediately
notify them to handle the problem in time. In addition, Moninet also helps users
maintain the security and safety of their websites.
Main functions of the application:
1. Update website status in real-time
2. Register for SSL Security Renewal
3. Website Security Scan
4. Get notified about your website's health history.
The application is considered to have great ambition, especially when there are
more and more cases of user data leakage. At the same time, there are more and
more e-commerce websites of small shop owners, who do not have much website
experience but still want to own a website with effective sales activities. Therefore,
MQ ICT Solutions immediately implemented the project, after learning about the
market and customers. Due to the technical advantage, the company arranged
human resources to start designing the Moninet application first. The application is
finished with the framework from July 2020.
 24

The main tasks of the project for the next 6 months (as of June 2021) include:
- Building a work management system,
- Reach the first 5000 users,
- Establishing 20 partnerships with companies providing services for the
website,
- Perfecting the Growth hacking system
The current work system is managed by Base.vn, an online job management
platform, so that everyone can see the working situation of others, and at the same
time, understand and update related problems that arise in the course of work. Work
is divided according to vision, short-term goals, CSFs (critical success factors),
using MBO (Management by Objectives) and finally OKRs (Objective Key
Results). From then on, members will set for themselves how to do each goal, set
the KPIs (Key Performance Indicator) for those results and goals, then report back
to the team leader and execute them.
In terms of user goals, currently, the application has had its first users, but most
of them are gained from people who have a relationship with the project. They were
using them as a trial, not because of the communication effect. The project’s
fanpage on social networks still does not have enough posts to educate the audience
and convert them into users. However, the initial experience was expected, users
found the application useful but still be incomplete, and there were still many parts
that did not satisfy users. User growth is an important task; as new users can
generate data and usable feedbacks for analyzing and upgrading products. Since
Moninet is a new project, its financial resources are still limited. The project has not
yet invested in in-depth research, but only works in the process of completing –
fixing as the spirit of Growth hacking technique.
In terms of partnerships, the project is currently meeting with some service
providers such as CMC corp, Viettel, FPT, etc. as well as partners who have the
same clientle as Marketing academies or web design classes in Hanoi. Next, the
project is looking for partners in other areas (Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh). The project
is also planning to become a partner with other major website design companies to
make Moninet a common management application for all websites.
 25

Last but not least is Growth hacking. Moniet is a brand new project; so that
implementing the traditional marketing method is somewhat inappropriate,
especially considering the limited budget and fast growth requirements. Instead of
investing a lot of money in the above activities, the first thing to do is to find ways
to make the most efficient use of available resources. Therefore, Growth hacking is
considered the most suitable method to achieve those goals. Currently, the biggest
goal set for the marketing team is to grow the number of users quickly and as much
as possible within the allowable cost, so learning and applying the processes and
methods of doing so Growth hacking is extremely important. The team has been
preparing for the second of the three steps to achieve rapid growth.

1.2.2. Implementation procedures 

A. Deployed Growth hacking techniques

- Content Marketing/ Blog: In the process of building Moninet's fanpages,

websites, and social networks, the team is writing guest blogs of other websites,
and attaching links to Moninet's website. The use of this method will lead a
number of users available from other websites to have an interest in the content
of Moninet's website.

- Social Media (Facebook): The company's online marketing activities on

Facebook currently have two main tasks: Manage the fanpage (run ads, update
information and articles of the company on the fanpage, answer customer
questions via messages); Communicate with other fanpages to increase
interaction and traffic for the website.
 26

Figure 2.5.6Statistic of Facebook page – Source: MQ ICT Solutions

- Community: The use of Facebook Group as a way to engage the audiences

and engage the community has become widespread. A Facebook Group is
created for those with similar interests to discuss and exchange sources of
advice, ideas, and inspiration. Compared to a normal Facebook business page, a
Facebook group often has a higher engagement rate. In addition, due to the
changes to the Facebook algorithm, posts on Facebook groups tend to have a
more frequent appearance on News Feed. They are an excellent place for
authentic communication for businesses to retain their customers.

The marketing team decided to buy an existing group, had a certain number of
likes and followers (more than 2000 people) about website design, started
writing posts related to the topic of website security and optimization. The
 27

articles receive a relatively high amount of interaction (average 70 comments

per post). The articles in the current period are only meant to increase
awareness about website security and optimization, without mentioning the
brand. At the same time, members of the group also join other technical
Facebook groups (j2team, Tinhte, ...) to be able to write posts to learn about the
content that users are interested in.

- SEO: Building SEO takes time, but the results will have a last-long impact.
To begin with, some keyword research should be done. We have thought about
how the audience will type in the search box to find the products and evaluate
them with Google Trends or SEM Rush tools then used these keywords in the
website (on-site) and create relevant content (social media posts, blog posts)
around them (off-site). The keywords that Moninet use are: “Bao mat website”,
“quan ly web”, “ung dung quan ly web”, “ro ri du lieu web”, etc.

- Email marketing: With the support from email marketing platforms such as
ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp, the automated trigger-based email series can be
easily launched. The number of customers is not much, but focusing on large
customers, the company focuses on maintaining relationships with customers.
They are the leads, bringing valuable orders to the company. Emails are sent
three times a week on many topics such as customer care, website maintenance,
tips for good website management, product introduction, and discounts.

Although no longer considered a highly effective method, Email Marketing is

still a strategic channel of the company. With this marketing channel, the
number of opened messages reached 22.72%, the number of people clicking on
the link reached 46.01%. Thus, it can be seen that the content of the email has
hit the customer, creating a good relationship with them.

B. Step-by-step implementation process

The first is to determine if the team's product (Moninet application) is suitable

for the needs of the user (stage 1 of the 3 stages of implementing the Growth
 28

hacking system). The team conducted to identify common needs in Vietnam: The
team searched for a list of businesses with websites, then called directly to interview
them by phone. The team also conducted a survey of 68 businesses (including small
and very small businesses) across the country about their opinions about Moninet’s
startup idea. The results are quite positive, users do not know much about website
security, and are quite surprised to know that they face the risk of losing control of
the website. Most of the websites of these businesses are only tested by going to the
website themselves to check their accessibility daily, and can only control the
conversion by posted content and results, without noticing the whole process. When
asked if they are provided a service like Moninet for free, what do they think, the
answer is very good, but there are also some other related issues. Only the app that
really gives them significant value will they use it. From there, the team concluded
that the application could be capable of meeting the needs of customers.

Second, the team carried out the procedures in stage 2 of the 3 stages of
implementing the Growth hacking system.

- Canvas Business Model:

Key Partners Key Activities Value Customer Customer

 29

- Businesses Propositions Relationships Segments

providing - Check the - Ensure the - Business - Small e-
website operation of the operation and consultancy commerce
services website, provide improve the business,
users with quality of the running ads and
information about website, make have no website
the website. the website management
- Suggest services safe, operate team
that the website continuously
should use.. and reduce
Key Resources operating costs. Channels
- Human resources - Google
(with - Social
programming Networks
skills) (Facebook,
- Finance (from Youtube,
MQ) Linkedin)
- Relationship - Media
(From MQ) - Affiliate
marketing
Cost Structure Revenue Streams
- Commission from the service seller - Run ads
- Money to use premium functions - Labor costs
Table 2.3 Moninet’s Canvas Business Model – Source: MQ ICT Solutions

- Target audience: Moninet's target customers are identified by the group as

small businesses who did not have a separate webmaster team, sell goods
online through the website and use advertising services. The reason is that
this is a group with an extremely important website that has a direct impact
on business results. Having a problem with the website causes loss of
advertising costs, no profit from sales, and more importantly, makes the
website lose credibility with customers and ranking on Google. At the same
time, this group also includes customers who are willing to pay to be able to
improve operational efficiency, as well as limit risks during the operation of
the website.
- AARRR Framework:
 30

Awareness (reach targeting audiences via google, social

media, blog, emails)

Acquisition: Improve user experience (professionalize

websites, applications)

Activation: Promote engagement (via push notifications,

emails)

Revenue: Users purchases services because they need to

(provide envidence)

Referall: Customers share about product (via Facebook

group, or recommend it for friends)

Figure 2.6.7Moninet’s AARRR Framework – Source: MQ ICT Solutions

- Key indicators:
 The work completion rate for each month
 Number of new registered users, reach through media channels
 Number of partners contacted, number successfully negotiated
 31

 Number of Growth hacking ideas

Third, the team proceeds to define the growth hacking process to achieve
growth. The order of implementation is as follows: Gather ideas – Discuss –
Implement – Measure performance – Analyze collected data.

Gather ideas

Analyze
Discuss ideas
collected data

Measure Implement
performance chosen ideas

Figure 2.7.8 Moninet’s G.R.O.W.S.-process

It can be seen that Moninet's Growth hacking process is following a step-by-

step sequence according to Sean Ellis, who is called the father of Growth hacking.
The above implementation steps were reasonable and logical.
 32

CHAPTER 3. RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1. Evaluation of applying Growth hacking on the Moninet project of MQ

ICT Solutions

2.1.1. Effects of Growth hacking on Moninet

Moninet is oriented not to use some of the usual marketing methods. Currently,
traditional marketing methods such as distributing leaflets, television advertising,
placing signs, banners, etc. are not used due to their low efficiency, difficulty to
measure, and too high costs.

Currently, Moninet's marketing adoption process has only reached stage 2, not
yet a growth boom. To be able to boom growth, stage 1 and 2 still need to be
worked on to find the best solutions to run the business. It is not yet known what the
future results of the business will be, but at present, the following measurable
effects can be observed.

- AARRR Framework

Category User Status Conv % Est. Value

Acquisition Visit Site 100% 200đ

(landing page, external widget)

Acquisition Doesn’t Abandon 70% 1200đ

(stay 1 min+)

Activation Subscribes to newsletter 20% 23.000đ

Activation Signs up for free trial 5% 40.000đ

Retention Opens mail, clicks through 8% 56.000đ

Retention Visit app 3 times in 30 days 3% 82.000đ

Revenue User generates minimum revenue 2% 100.000đ

Revenue User generate break-even revenue 1% 550.000đ

 33

Referral Refer 1+ users who visit site 2% 60.000đ

Referral Refer 1+ users who activate 0.5% 210.000đ

Table 2.4. Moninet’s conversion metrics – Source: MQ ICT Solutions

It can be seen that the Moniet application has initially brought the first values.
The conversion rate is quite positive and reasonable with the funnel of the AARRR
model. However, the Referral section still has a rather low conversion rate, lead to
the limitation in getting new users.

Moninet has almost no big expenses. The costs remain low, the biggest is the
application building fees and the salary for employees. Growth hacking methods
always prioritize the least expensive ways to do things, such as collaborating with
partners, affiliate marketing, etc. The cost to operate the whole team is just about
less than 30 million VND/month.

The first campaign was launched on March 21st. As seen in the figures below,
within 24 hours we almost doubled the views. Every single move that we made, has
been later checked with Google Analytics to keep track of the results.

The major Email campaigns have been held on the following dates: 21.03,
17.04, 21.04, 27.04, 04.05, 20.05, 28.05, and 21.06. Moninet has learned a lot about
the users and their behavior, such as their Email checking habits and the Vietnam
web culture.
 34

- KPI:

Indicators 03/2021 04/2021 05/2021

The work completion rate for 89% 110% 98%

each month

Number of new registered users 22 46 47

Number of partners contacted 2 4 5

This table shows that The project has achieved positive results in 3 months of
Growth hacking implementation. The completion rate remains from 89 to over
100%. The number of new registered users increasing rapidly over the months, and
so does the number of partners contacted.
 35

However, the number of news users of Moninet applications is considered still

small compared to other heavily invested apps in the technical section.

All of these data support the process of building a growth hacking plan that
following the AARRR funnel. Some first results from my work have also been
illustrated. However, growth hacking is a long process of testing, analyzing,
implementing, and repeating. Some recommendations are valid at the moment but
might be outdated in the future. It is important to keep updated with the newest
trends and learn to apply in the current situation of the company

From all of these results above, it can be seen that Moninet is ready to enter stage 3
in Startup Growth Pyramid: scale growth.

2.1.2. Strengths and weaknesses in the process of implementing Growth

hacking in businesses
- Strengths:

Moninet is a technical startup project, so it is mainly communicated through

online communication channels. Therefore, Moninet is very suitable for applying
measurement techniques of digital marketing, data collection, data analysis and
especially suitable for applying Growth hacking.

Growth hacking stages are applied step-by-step. Elements of Growth hacking

such as Canvas Business Model, AARRR, Startup Growth Pyramid are fully
utilized. At stages 1 – Product-market fit, MQ ICT Solutions’ Marketing department
has proved that the new product Moninet – website management and security
application is in line with the market demand and can be developed in the future. In
Canvas Business Model, the company has determined fully 9 required elements:
Key partners, key activities, value propositions, key resources, customer
relationships, channels, customer segments, cost structure, and revenue streams.
This helps specify the product’s core values and what to focus on in the process of
promoting it into the market. The targeting Audience is also clearly defined. Then,
the company also sets the key indicators for each stage of the process. It can be seen
 36

that the stages of the growth hacking method have been implemented
systematically, rationally, and thoughtfully.

- Weaknesses:

Besides the strengths, it is undeniable that there are still some drawbacks that
need to be tackled in process of applying Growth hacking in MQ ICT Solutions’
Marketing department.

Social Media

The results of this activity are not really positive. The number of followers of
the company's fanpage is currently just over 7000 people, with the number of
regular visitors is 22 people. Without paid advertising, the number of people who
interact with the article is also very small, usually less than 10 interactions. The
number of people asking questions is also small, and the questions are not directly
related to the company.

Several advertising campaigns are in place. However, with a small budget, the
number of people to reach is not much, not only that, but it is also not focused,
making it difficult to find people who are interested in the topics on the fanpage.
Those who belong to the media cannot be identified, causing many difficulties for
the Marketing team in the process of managing advertising campaigns.

Another point worth noting is that, in the process of Marketing activities on the
social network Facebook, because the goal is to promote the brand, the results of
Marketing activities cannot be directly evaluated by data. This also makes it
difficult for Marketing activities to set reasonable KPIs.

SEO

Most content of the website does not follow the standard of SEO due to the
shortage of professional personnel in SEO. This activity is currently only
spontaneous, based on self-study’s knowledge. Therefore, its effectiveness has not
been truly noticed.
 37

2.2. Trends, Orientation, and plans

Orientation: As the vision of the business, the application will become an
indispensable application of all website owners, not only in Vietnam but also
around the world. This orientation is reasonable because there is no application like
Moninet on the world scale. If Moninet products really meet the needs of customers,
then expanding the scope to the whole world is inevitable. Even the implementation
of the plans is easier when deployed in Vietnam because, in some countries, people
are aware of the importance of security, as well as website optimization.

It is planned that the project will be piloted within 6 months, they will be taken
to participate in competitions, stand in front of investment calling sessions to be
able to review and re-evaluate whether this business is profitable and what it could
improve. Four big goals to be achieved in the next 6 months include: Perfecting the
project management system, reaching the first 5000 users, having 20 partners
participating in services with applications, and finally the completion of the
project's Growth hacking system. The target of 5000 users will be used to assess
whether the project should continue to be developed. If this goal is achieved,
Moninet will be called for investment to continue developing the next time.

2.3. Recommendations

2.3.1. About deployed Growth hacking techniques

Social Media
Social media is not only about creating, posting, and sharing useful content. A
growth hacker should try and implement different strategies for different social
media platforms. Some factors that contribute to the success of a social media
campaign are content relevancy, posting schedule and frequency, call-to-action. In
general, at this stage, the focus will be on building the image of the company, its
goals and mission, the people behind the team, and previous successful campaigns.
The company should improve the content of the posts, the frequency of posting, and
the appropriate time to post.
About the content, there are flexible changes between the following types of
posts:
 38

Status. It is used for introducing the company, interact with audiences by asking
questions and mini-challenges, or sharing instructions and updates from the
platform.
Share. In this acquisition stage, the company does not have enough of its own
content materials. So, it is good to reshare the industry news or helpful resources
from other pages as well and mentioning the sources.
Photos and Videos. Photos and videos are more engaging and can easily capture
interest from the audience. Some fun photos about the team are a nice way to let
people know about who is behind the missions. Some information can be
transformed into infographics.

About the posting time, according to Facebook report, most of the audience
online at 7-9 AM and after 9 PM, so the company should consider rescheduling the
posting time to get the posts to reach more audience.
SEO
Having valuable keywords is the first essential step to build an SEO plan.
Nowadays, many online tools support generating keywords, such as Moz
(moz.com), SEMRush (semrush.com). However, the costs range from $50 to $100
per month, which is not suitable for the situation of a startup. A recommendation is
 39

to use its free trial version with limited results, combining with research about the
customers, putting themselves in the case of the customers when they search for a
new product or service on Google. Google Trends (trends.google.com) is a great
free tool that helps check and analyze the popularity of the keywords.
The company should optimize both on-site keywords and Off-site keywords.
About on-site keywords, all the keywords should be utilized clearly from the
navigation bar, title, header tags, button, and the short descriptions. Since the
current website is being renewed, I would suggest the company pay attention to
include the keywords in the URL of the sub-page and the meta tag.
About Off-site keywords and inbound links, Google is compared to a library
where people search for books (websites). A famous author with a high reputation
will be ranked higher than others, and the same can be applied to websites. Google
checks the popularity of the content on a website and decides to rank it on the
Google Search results page. That is why besides on-site optimization, a strong focus
should be put on off-site and inbound links. In other words, it is about having the
website referred from other sources: hosting or sponsoring for events, creating
partnerships, having guest blogging, etc. Moninet has set up a blog on the Medium
platform which is a good source for off-site optimization. The current articles on the
site are mostly about to introduce the platform and look for new partners. The
suggestions would be to tailor the content around the keywords. In addition, having
frequent guest blogging can help increase the validity of the site.

2.3.2. About the process of applying Growth hacking stages

The application of Growth hacking is very different from the application of
other conventional marketing implementations. At the same time, to be able to
understand and apply Growth hacking also requires a thorough research and
understanding process, effort, and perseverance to be able to complete the job.
Information literacy, teamwork, creative thinking, and data analysis skills are also
required skills of each member of the Growth hacking team. These skills need to be
cultivated and improved by enterprises through individual exercises for each team
member, creating an open and creative environment, creating problems to practice
 40

problem-solving abilities, and other specialized skills to be able to analyze the

obtained data.
 41

CONCLUSION
Growth hacking is one of the biggest buzzwords of the past years, and in 2021,
it’s no different, which is why it's more and more widely adopted by startups. The
application of growth hacking in the marketing department of MQ ICT Solutions.,
JSC company has initially brought positive results, promising to bring strong
growth in the future. However, it also has weaknesses that need to be improved.
Therefore, I hope that this report would be helpful to the improvement of the
company.
It was a worthwhile experience working at MQ ICT Solutions., JSC. The
friendly, welcoming staff, and the space they have created for a trainee/intern
allowed me with ample opportunities to learn and know myself as a worker. This
experience brought out my strength and also the areas I needed to improvise. It
added more confidence to my professional approach, built a more reliable positive
attitude, and taught me how to work in a team as a player. The primary objective of
an internship is to gather a real-life working experience and put their theoretical
knowledge in practice. I am grateful to the entire team of the Marketing department
of the company for their unprecedented support to make my working experience
truly rewarding. Especially, working in this department made me realize my
competencies and level of understanding regarding marketing and communication.
On completion of this internship period, I came to know about the importance of
marketing and the role of marketing strategy such as Growth hacking in an
organization.
As an intern, though I had a limited space to work, I still managed to grab
plentiful of experiences. I made the best of every opportunity I was given and made
the full use of my abilities and knowledge to fulfill all my responsibilities. I could
implement my academic skills into practice, and my efforts were highly
acknowledged. There is, however, some gap between our theoretical knowledge and
real-life practice, yet the managerial level staff members are quite open towards
upgrading the current approach, which was extremely motivating.
 42

Hence, I can sum up by saying that my internship experience was a milestone in

my academic and professional experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenges that
came along every single day. I could also bring some minor improvisations during
my internship, which were able to leave their marks. These lessons that I have
learned will be a valuable one for my future endeavors as well. I perceive this
opportunity as a significant milestone in my career development. I will strive to use
gained skills and knowledge in the best possible way, and I will continue to work on
their improvement, to attain desired career objectives.
 43

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