5 Marketing Ideas You Should Steal
My fav might be "FISHWIFE"—i mean, come on, how good!
Hi, it’s Ash—and welcome to Ashtronomical! Every week, I’m sending you 5 original marketing ideas your competitors will wish they'd thought of first. 💀 Maybe there’ll be one in here for you???
Steal this brand idea.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF YOUR NIGHTDRESS 👗
This would killllllllll as a book title, the name of a product collection, a murder mystery podcast series, or even a newsletter about sex. Know where it came from?
Me and my bestie Kendal watched put on some old movies and wrote down a ton of amazing one-liners from their conversations.
Vintage language is FULL of gems. This can be a really fun way to find inspo for your brand! (And eat way too much popcorn while you do it, muahahahahaha. 🍿)
Steal this sales idea.
🧢 1. The Epic Hat Incentive
“Spend $350+ to get the Epic Hat – while supplies last!”
Scarcity + gamification + novelty all rolled into one.
It’s not a boring discount. It’s an epic hat, which somehow makes you feel like a forest ranger badass with impeccable shrub taste.
“While supplies last” kicks the FOMO into high gear. Nobody wants to be the loser who spent $349.99 and missed out on their Indiana Jones moment.
📏 2. Progress Bar Psychology
“You are $80.12 away from a free Epic Hat!”
That progress bar is working like a fiddle. Visually nudging you like: “You’re soooo close! Come on, just one more bush, you plant tease.”
That specific number ($80.12) tricks your brain into thinking “that’s not that much more” — so you’re likely to grab another item instead of editing down.
Psstttt—Shopify offers these capabilities. ✨
Steal this marketing idea.
You know how marketing is sorta kinda really freakin’ hard? 😵💫
You feel like you’re spending all of your time trying to be everywhere, post everywhere, be seen, be heard, cut through the noise, get noticed.
You are also probably one Canva template away from a full-blown existential crisis. 🔪
So, here’s a fun idea! Instead of running yourself ragged beating down the world’s doors, why not create an asset that brings them straight to yours? Amazon happens to be one of the world’s biggest search engines, so you know what wouldn’t be a TERRRRRRRRIBLE idea? Self-publishing a book on Amazon on your expertise—on a problem your customer has or on a topic they’re searching for—and letting it do the marketing for you. 💃
Bonus? You get the added credibility that comes from having a book, too!
Then, use a tool like Book Beam to increase your book sales, AKA find more potential customers who, when reading your book, are gonna look up your work. 💪 I haven’t used it yet, but it looks REAL REAL GOOD.
Steal this copy idea.
Okay, I am FREAKING OUT about Fishwife. 🐟 🎣 🍤
This brand is so so so so so so fun, modern, catchy, and a great example of how to disrupt a traditionally boring industry. (Tinned fish made cool? Yes, please!)
But what struck me was this interesting tactic I haven’t seen before:
Inserting a poll in the discount pop-up.
We’ve all seen premature discount pop-ups a million times—and they’re starting to lose their effectiveness. I haven’t even decided if I want to buy anything from this brand yet, right? BACK OFF, FISH BABE.
But!
By putting in a poll here about my preferences, automatically I’m thinking, “Oh, maybe they’re going to show me products just for me!” So, I fill it out. I give ‘em my email. And wham—they got me.
When under every other circumstance I would’ve just X’d out. 😬
Steal this business idea.
So, selling access to video classes is nothing new, per se. 🎥
Buuuuuuuttttttttttt—I hadn’t seen the Uscreen platform until now.
I’m gonna call this the Substack for video creators, and what’s cool about it is that it gives you a Netflix-style catalog where you can charge monthly or yearly for access.
I was on this designer’s website poking around at surface design tutorials, and suddenly I liked the interface so much, I had to look it up! 👀 The more you know, right? 💥