# GTM strategy: growth-engine benchmarks Source: Lazyweb Research 12 data-backed questions on GTM strategy: growth-engine benchmarks. HTML: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/category/gtm-strategy-growth-engine-benchmarks Markdown: https://www.lazyweb.com/research/category/gtm-strategy-growth-engine-benchmarks.md ## Questions - [What is the most common growth engine that apps actually use?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/most-common-growth-engine-leaderboard) PR is the single most-cited growth engine, tagged on 330 of 599 companies (55%), narrowly ahead of paid performance marketing at 298 (50%) and word of mouth at 296 (49%)[1]. Product-led self-serve, t… - [Do market leaders use different growth engines than challengers?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/market-leaders-vs-challengers-growth-engine) Yes, in a consistent direction. Across 451 companies flagged as market leaders (285) or challengers (166), leaders skew toward sales and network effects — 12% sales-led and 40% network effects — whil… - [Content, paid, or product-led — which demand-gen lever should each type of app pull?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/content-vs-paid-vs-plg-by-archetype) Paid performance is the broad default, but the winner flips by archetype. Two-sided marketplaces are 82% paid — the most paid-dependent archetype — while prosumer apps are the most product-led at 38%… - [How do prosumer apps grow — what is the default acquisition motion?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-do-prosumer-apps-grow) Of the 110 prosumer apps with a growth-engine tag, 38% run product-led self-serve — the highest PLG share of any product archetype — just behind paid performance at 42%[1]. Sales-led stays low at 7%… - [How do consumer apps grow — what does the biggest product archetype actually run on?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-do-consumer-apps-grow) Consumer is the largest archetype: of the 427 consumer apps with a growth-engine tag, 54% run paid performance, 29% product-led self-serve and 28% content/SEO[1]. Sales-led is a 5% rounding error[1].… - [How do social apps grow — what does the Social product archetype run on?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-do-social-apps-grow-the-social-archetype) Of the 237 apps tagged with the Social product archetype and a growth engine, 54% run paid performance and 28% content/SEO, while product-led self-serve sits at 23% and sales-led at 9%[1]. Social app… - [How many apps actually grow through word of mouth?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-many-apps-grow-through-word-of-mouth) Of the 599 companies Lazyweb tags with a growth engine, 49% (296) cite word of mouth — making it the third most common growth engine, behind PR (55%) and paid performance (50%) and ahead of network e… - [Do apps really grow on network effects, or is that mostly hype?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/do-apps-really-grow-on-network-effects) It is real but not universal: of the 599 companies with a growth-engine tag, 36% (217) cite network effects — the fourth most common engine, behind PR, paid and word of mouth[1]. So roughly one in th… - [How common is channel / partnership-led growth for apps?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-common-is-channel-partnership-led-growth) Of the 599 companies with a growth-engine tag, 19% (116) cite channel or partnership-led growth[1]. That puts it in the middle of the pack — more common than sales-led (10%) or marketplace liquidity… - [How common is UGC / creator-led growth as an engine?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-common-is-ugc-creator-led-growth) Of the 599 companies with a growth-engine tag, 19% (111) cite UGC / creator-led growth[1]. It sits just behind social media (20%) and channel/partnership (19%), and well ahead of pure virality/invite… - [How common is hardware or distribution bundling as a growth engine?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/how-common-is-hardware-distribution-bundling-as-a-growth-engine) Of the 599 companies with a growth-engine tag, 21% (125) cite hardware or distribution bundling — pre-installs, device partnerships, and platform bundles[1]. That makes it the seventh most common eng… - [Which growth engines are actually rare — what do the fewest apps rely on?](https://www.lazyweb.com/research/which-growth-engines-are-actually-rare) The rarest growth engines are aggressive incentives (4%), product-led sales (6%), virality/invites (7%) and land-and-expand (8%), each cited by fewer than 1 in 12 of the 599 companies with a growth-e…