"Growth hacking" was always, since the very inception of a term, just rebranding of "marketing" in a way that makes it sound cooler. It's just a purified buzzword. In the tech space, having yourself called "growth hacker" was seen as more cool than "marketer".

In other words, this is marketing applied to itself.

meta-marketing.

I think it was intended to very very high return marketing that was inherent to the use of the product itself, as distinct from traditional marketing where the product was the thing being marketed (selling auto parts) and not the thing doing the marketing (advertising in your free email signatures).

any concrete example on what they differ?

They are generally less physically attractive. I was shocked the first time I visited a traditional advertising/marketing company's office.

Edit. Growth hackers are the less physically attractive :) I was shock how beautiful the advertising/marketing people were - there wasn't one average looking person (male or female) in the place apart from me.

Honestly cannot figure out who “they” are in your comment. Who looks better in your opinion, traditional marketers or growth hackers? Were you shocked by how good they looked or how bad they looked?

Every time I start to assume you meant one of them, I get nervous wondering if your shock was pointed the other way. Lol.

Sorry, my statement was a bit ambiguous so I have updated it.

Ok, we've put marketing tactics in the title above.