3 growth tactics that helped us surpass Noom and Weight Watchers

Henrik TorstenssonContributorShare on TwitterHenrik Torstensson is CEO and co-founder of Lifesum. Previously, he was Head of Premium Sales at Spotify and SVP, Strategy at Stardoll.

Many consumers might think Noom or Weight Watchers are industry leaders with their nonstop commercials, but neither is the fastest-growing weight management program.

Over the past year, nutrition app Lifesum has acquired users at nearly twice the rate of both Noom and Weight Watchers, according to statistics from Sensor Tower, the independent market intelligence for the mobile app economy.

Over this past summer, we surpassed Noom on the global scale with 45 million users. More impressively, we accomplished this without any TV buys. That's right - no multimillion dollar ad campaigns, allowing us to redistribute precious marketing dollars to other growth projects.

Here's a closer look at the three growth marketing tactics I credit with helping us scale Lifesum over the last 36 months. It's a strategy any startup can use, regardless of size or budget.

Understand the different generational lenses

Generations approach products differently. It's important for startups to understand the different generational approaches of their customers. Startups that spend time thinking and strategizing about where generational trends are going will scale faster.

Here's a closer look at the three growth marketing tactics I credit with helping us scale Lifesum over the last 36 months. It's a strategy any startup can use, regardless of size or budget.

Millennials and Generation Z are now the largest consumer market in the world, so you can't ignore them if you want to scale. With Lifesum these generations have helped our brand surpass the older and well-established competitors. We achieved this by intimately understanding how they view health and fitness.

Gen Z and millennials are all about empowerment. They grew up with Google and Facebook, having information at their fingertips. They are far less likely to be moved by a TV commercial since they desire to discover the world on their own.

In our industry, we've learned millennials and Gen Z don't want a one-size-fits-all weight loss program or to count calories like their parents did 20 years ago. As millennials and Gen Z started embracing keto, intermittent fasting and pescatarian diets, our nutrition team had already created tailored programs to help them stick with it.

Bypass traditional marketing methods

As a brand, it's important to look ahead and anticipate what is coming next. This also applies to marketing your product. If you get in early with emerging marketing platforms, you will save money and potentially reach more early adopters.