Your favorite ideas of 2024 (TL;DR version) 🎁

Read me to smash your 2025 marketing goals

Before we dive in → Watch my keynote from CyberMarketingCon about making “boring” content go viral ✨

In this fun 30-minute masterclass, I break down 5 data-backed secrets for breaking the internet (even with “serious” products):

Now, let's recap this year's most powerful marketing ideas, organized by goal:

I want to build trust & authority 👔

1. 🏆 Praise-Led Marketing: Celebrate others to build your brand. Create awards, rankings, or mini profiles of industry thought leaders. They’ll share the praise.

2. ⏳ The Labor Illusion: Show your work—even if it’s fake. Visible effort makes customers value results more. Add progress bars, loading screens, or ‘searching’ animations (even if unnecessary). It’s all about perceived value.

3. 🛡️ Crisis Management Playbook: Getting hate means people care. Flip the script by showing you understand their frustration, joining their conversations, and responding with humor. Amplify the absurdity to reclaim control of the narrative. Oatly’s fckoatly.com is my fav example here.

I want to generate buzz without paid ads 🐔

1. 📈 #1 Product Hunt DM Strategy: Play the long game by supporting other makers before your launch. This two-month relationship-building blueprint landed this newsletter the triple crown: #1 Day, Week, AND Month.

2. ⚙️ Mini-Tools Marketing: Launch free tools that solve one burning problem while subtly showcasing your tech. Twitter Roast’s personality analyzer broke the internet using this exact formula.

3. 🥚 The Chicken Game: Reverse psychology works. Tell people NOT to do something — like “Don’t click this link” or “This guide is definitely not for you”. Human curiosity will do the rest.

4. 📱 Screenshot Marketing: Use private chat screenshots (WhatsApp/Slack) as visuals to make your content irresistible. If you don’t have real chats, stage ones with insights, FAQs, or product teasers. Even screenshots with AI chatbots work.

5. 🎟️ The 1-Word Sign-Up Fix: Swap “Sign Up” for “Apply” to boost webinar registrations. JupiterOne turned this psychological hack into a viral puzzle that Forbes couldn’t resist covering.

6. 👔 Anti-Professional LinkedIn Content: Want to go viral on LinkedIn? Stop trying to look perfect. Post stories about ordinary achievements, unplugging from work, or confronting toxic norms. Casual photos > corporate headshots. It breaks the mold and makes you relatable.

7. 🎪 Event Hijacking: Steal the show during conferences without spending on sponsorships. Zendesk used drones while Brex snuck into every attendee’s pocket.

8. 📖 Reddit Storytelling: Write viral stories (AITA/TIFU style) that subtly lead to your product as the perfect solution. Step 1: Post the story. Step 2: Comment suggesting your product. Step 3: Edit the original post to include it.

I want more paying customers 💰

1. 🔥 Brute Force Demo Strategy: Use your product on behalf of target customers and gift them the results as if they were already users. It's labor-intensive but shows real value upfront.

2. 🏷️ Secret Discount Page Hack: Build a hidden discount page that ranks #1 when people search for coupon codes. ProveSource’s sneaky implementation drove hundreds of instant purchases.

3. 🕹️ Website Toggles: Give visitors the ability to build their dream version of your product. BetterMode and Memberstack used this to show a product demo before signing up - thus boosting acquisition.

4. 💌 Cold Email Hacking: Make your outreach feel extremely casual. Add magic phrases like “May I?” and sign off with “Sent from my iPhone” for authenticity.

5. 🧹 The Anti-Distraction Website: Strip your conversion pages naked - remove anything that steals attention from actually paying $$$. WorkZone’s experiment led to an explosive 34% jump in demo requests.

I want users to love me 💖

1. 🎲 Mini-Games Marketing: Steal existing game models (Wordle, Dino Game, etc) and create branded games tailored to your audience. It’s fun, educational, and keeps users hooked. Add leaderboards, daily challenges, and shareable scores for virality.

2. 🎭 Identity Marketing: Turn actions into identities. Example: “Be a helper” instead of “Help us improve”. People are more likely to act when it aligns with how they want to see themselves.

3. ⌚️ Moment Marketing: Hijack a specific moment in your customer’s daily routine and own it forever. KitKat mastered this with their ‘Have a Break’ slogan.

4. 👑 The “Chief ____ Officer” Trick: Turn influencer deals into co-creation stories by giving them wild C-level titles. Virgin Voyages didn’t just hire J.Lo - they called her their Chief Entertainment Officer.

See you in 2025 🎉

Tom

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