Even if you do everything right, it eventually stops working. At least in marketing.

Engagement, growth, everything slows.

You can’t just keep up, you have to… (ugh) innovate.

But not in the buzzword-y way. We mean innovate like Scott Berkun means it: “achieve results”. Which, these days, means pushing the boundaries a little. 

Most people think they have to wait for inspiration to hit them, like “aha”!

They’re wrong.

Here’s how you can make it happen ⬇️ 

Steal From The Best with Semrush .Trends

Results dropping? Out of ideas? 

See what the best are doing in any niche, on demand.

Then borrow, adapt and outcompete.

INNOVATION

4 Ways To Engineer Innovation In Marketing

In a 2016 McKinsey poll, 84% of global executives reported that innovation was extremely important to their growth strategies, but a staggering 94% were dissatisfied with their organizations’ innovation performance.

Someone should have shown them these 4 techniques.

1. Brainstorm ‘What If’ Scenarios 

In his book "Poke The Box," Seth Godin encourages marketers to ask "What if?", with crazy ideas so that you can break the box you naturally put yourself in.

Ask yourself questions like… 

— what if you could only use social media for marketing — how would you approach it?

— what if you started your business from scratch today — what would you do differently?

— what if you only sold 1 product — what would it be, and how would you market it?

2. Look For Unconventional Connections

Typical advice would be to "borrow and adapt from competitors" but breakthroughs often happen when businesses look outside their industry.

Take Nike, for example. They realised they had potential repeat customers as children grew up and constantly needed to replace their outgrown shoes. At the time, Netflix’s subscription service was blowing up — the ultimate business model for high volume, repeat customers (i.e. people watching tv shows every damn day).

Guess what Nike did?

That’s right, a subscription model for kids — pay monthly and get a new pair, monthly.

3. Co-Create With Your Customers

Now this might seem obvious, but you'd be surprised how many businesses overlook the power of customer-driven products to drive innovation.

According to The Telegraph, 42% of businesses are NOT involving their customers in ideation processes at all. 

Our favorite counter-example is Lego’s “Idea” platform.

Customers get to post design ideas for new playsets, and designs that receive over 10,000 votes are considered for production. If the design is produced, the winner also receives 1% of net sales, which also provides an incentive to participate.

Customer feedback is the holy grail of market research, and customers telling you exactly what they want to buy is the holy grail of holy grails.

Figure out how to get them involved. 

Could be a survey. Could be a beta-test program. Think it through and incentivize. 

4. Experiment With Emerging Technologies

We hate to say this, but AI (ChatGPT) can be a good source of ideas.

It’s both good and bad: it’ll get you out of a rut, but it won’t come up with the next groundbreaking campaign. Just don’t start going to it every time you hit a roadblock or human creativity will disappear altogether.

That being said, AI is amazing for reframing your thinking. It helps break the mental box, in a lazier way than tip #1.

So:

DON’T: Ask AI how to come up with the next viral Black Friday ad. 

Instead, monitor your competition’s best ideas across social media & the web. 

DO: Use AI to help you manage data systems.

Like help you build and manage a world-class funnel.

It’s good at stuff like that. 

As a final thought, innovation is sometimes thought of as a “You have it or you don’t” kind of thing. 

It’s not. 

There are concrete techniques to stimulate it, and if you make them part of your habits, you’ll out-create a creative person who doesn’t.

MARKETING CULTURE

Snake Oil

Ever heard the term snake oil salesman? 

It’s a term to describe someone who cons people out of their money. But do you know where it comes from? 

There were no drug regulations in the US until 1906, so you can imagine the amount of dubious elixirs that were around. 

Surprisingly though, snake oil wasn’t one of them. At least not at first. 

Snake oil usage originated in China, and it was likely brought over by its citizens who went to work on US railroads. It is genuinely beneficial, chock full of omega-3 fatty acids and has been shown to make mice better at finding their way out of mazes. 

Unfortunately, American entrepreneurs (like William Rockefeller Sr. 😱 ) liked to substitute the advertised stuff for mineral oil. 

Many a charlatan got away with it, often planting a shill in the crowd to help convince the rest. It only came to a stop in 1917, when Stanley's Snake Oil was publicly shown to contain none in a big court case. 

Psst, hey: If you know someone who could benefit from actionable tips, culture and fun, forward this email to them!

Seen on Reddit

Good one, Jesus.

We hope this issue gave you some good ideas.

Happy growing and till next Wednesday,

The Growth Memo Team

This issue was written by Kelsey Woods & Owen Mulhern.