A new online growth strategy?

My parents invest their money through an agent. This guy has been with them for nearly two decades. They trust this guy with the most intimate details of their lives and he has proven a stable, trustworthy steward guiding them to financial stability.

Can we replicate such relationships online to growth hack startups?

Imagine a startup which sells widgets. Today, their marketing might look like this. They'll buy FB and Google ads. They'll do SEO, crosspost on different blogs, they may attend pitches and nerdgasms to gain exposure. They'll growth hack to appear busier and bigger than they actually are. Their strategy is to target their potential user and hit them with the right message to gain a conversion. This is a slow process.

As a result of this strategy, VCs and startups have concluded that a startup's market begins with early adopters, stalls once the early market is saturated, then has to jump a chasm to hit mass market.

Is there a better way? My parent's financial advisor reveals one such way. Can a startup grow by empowering individuals in communities to speak on their behalf, recruit users to the startup, and as the startup grows, receive a commission for every user they brought to the table?

The vast hinterland of humanity does not live in the west. It still relies on word of mouth and trusted recommenders to make decisions. Marketing which relies solely on educating the customer and targets them individually ignores this dynamic. Grassroots marketing can upend that.

what would grassroots marketing look like?

1. Find individuals who want to earn a living online
2. Train them on the ins-and-outs of your website
3. Let these trainees go out and tell others about your startup and guide potential users through the gates
4. As and when you monetize these users, reward those guides who first brought them in.

Benefits

1. Less need for technical support. Your guide becomes the first line of support and does it for free!

2. Your users have an guide they trust to whom they can vent about your site. The guide, in turn, can tell you exactly what's going wrong with your UX which is pissing off your users.

3. Built in network effect - lock in groups of friends in one shot rather than hoping that the network effect happens on its own.