Before Growth Hacking, marketing people did PR, Partnership, Trade Shows, Ad Campaigns, etc. Yukk.
To me, Growth Hacking is a measurable engineering exercise. Data-driven and scalable - way better than marketing days of old.
To me, Growth Hacking is a measurable engineering exercise. Data-driven and scalable - way better than marketing days of old.
I won't claim that there may be some specific aspects of "growth hacking" that are new, but I've seen everything you've mentioned long before the emergence of "growth hacking."
Sure, measurement before the Internet involved social science instrumentation rather than log analysis; but that does not mean it was not careful, rigorous, and even cutting edge for its time.
There are lots and lots of people who don't want precise analytics.
Why don't some people want precise analytics? Because if you aren't sure if something worked, then you can't be at fault for it not working.
Measuring closely what works and what doesn't is of course better, but there are plenty of people who are scared about losing their jobs who would prefer not to track.
My objection is to the idea that growth hackers are the first people who have ever tried to use data to drive marketing decisions. They aren't.
Growth hacking is ALL of those things (and more) combined with engineering to measure and optimize.
Also, good luck trying to sell an entreprise product if you forgo partnerships (building relationships)... and ad campaigns (Adwords, Twitter Ads, etc).