????本文為與《創業者》雜志（Entrepreneur）的合作內容，最初發表于Entrepreneur.com。

????在最新著作《Growth Hacker Marketing》中，賴安?霍利迪探討了傳統的預算高昂的營銷部門如何被更高效的小團隊（有時甚至是個人）取代，后者正利用一些可追蹤和可衡量的工具來使企業得到增長。

????而且整個過程通常不用花一分錢。這些人被稱為growth hacker，已經幫助Facebook、Dropbox和AppSumo等公司實現了“從0到100”的快速增長。

????安德魯?陳于2010年將growth hacker描述為“營銷人員和程序員的綜合體，針對‘我如何給自己的產品帶來客戶？’這一傳統問題，他們采用A/B組測試、登陸頁、病毒性傳播因子、電子郵件營銷以及開放圖譜（Open Graph）等手段來尋找答案。

????從本質上來說，growth hacker創造性地使用各種營銷和分析工具，幫助初創企業以極低成本甚至零成本獲得牽引力、用戶以及曝光。這是游擊隊式營銷與當今的技術工具結合的產物。

????霍利迪詳述了Evernote初期的情況，當時，這家年輕的公司決定繞開傳統的營銷和廣告方式，將所有精力和資源都集中到打造一款人們一來就會愛上的產品上。

????Evernote首席執行官菲爾?利賓在賴安的書中表示：“只有一心想著做出最棒產品的人，才可能做出最棒的產品。”

????如果產品過硬，那么其營銷和廣告將毫不費力，而且很可能成本相對較低（甚至是零成本）。當然，如果產品本身不行，就算在超級碗（Super Bowl）或世界杯（World Cup）上一擲千金做推廣也無濟于事，最多也就是令產品茍延殘喘一陣。

????我剛搬到硅谷時，經常有人建議我努力打造個人品牌，即以某種方式營銷或宣傳自己。這似乎有些奇怪，因為當時我剛開始到導航應用公司Waze工作，什么都還沒做。

????但那些博客、聚會、連續創業者都反復強調，個人品牌十分重要。他們本應該告訴我（我現在要告訴諸位）的是，作為一名新員工，腳踏實地、努力工作十分重要。

????現在回頭來看，“注重個人品牌”是我至今得到的最糟糕的建議。這個建議使我開始考慮其他的事情，而不是做出最棒的產品以及全力投入工作。

????我當時以為，通過以某種方式策劃并提升自身形象，我就能更快的增加曝光度、提高個人聲譽。

????This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at Entrepreneur.com.

????In his recent book, Growth Hacker Marketing, Ryan Holiday explored how traditional big-budget marketing is being replaced by more effective small teams (and sometimes individuals) who are using trackable and scalable tools to grow companies.

????And usually it’s done without spending a dime. They’re called growth hackers, and they’ve helped companies like Facebook, Dropbox and AppSumo go from “0 to 100” real quick.

????Andrew Chen, who adopted the term in 2010, described growth hackers as “a hybrid of 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 pages, viral factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph.”

????Essentially growth hackers use tools in creative thinking, marketing and analysis to help startups gain traction, users and exposure at very low or no cost. Think of guerrilla marketing with today’s technological tools.

????Holiday recounts the early days of Evernote, when the young company decided to bypass traditional marketing and advertising and instead focused all its attention and resources on building a product that people would come to love.

????As Evernote CEO Phil Libin said via Ryan’s book,“People [who are] thinking about things other than making the best product never make the best product.”

????If the product is good, then its marketing and advertising will be easy to accomplish and probably at a relative lower cost (or no cost). Of course, if it’s a horrible product, millions spent at the Super Bowl or World Cup won’t help sway users. That marketing push will just prolong the inevitable.

????When I first moved to Silicon Valley, I consistently received advice to work on my personal brand — that is, to market and advertise myself in a certain way. At first it seemed odd since I had just started working at Waze and hadn’t actually done anything.

????But the blogs, the meetups, the serial entrepreneurs all reiterated how important a personal brand was. What they should have told me — and what I’m now sharing — is the importance keeping my head down as a new employee and putting in work.

????As I now look back, focusing on a personal brand was the worst piece of advice I ever got. In effect, I began thinking about things other than making the best product or doing my best work.

????I thought that by curating and growing my image in a certain way I would gain more exposure and grow my reputation at a faster rate.