You may know that I’m a little obsessed with food.

In fact, I’m likely chowing down on a cone of my fave ice cream right now…(Avalon Organic Black Cherry, in case you’re like me and judge people based on their fave ice cream flava)

^ this shizz right here ????

One day when I was noshing on this beautiful thing, I started thinking about Marble Slab – the ice cream shop that took ice cream to the next level by massaging it and tossing in your accoutrements of choice.

Who the hell ever thought massaging extra fixin’s into ice cream would turn out to be the makings of a super successful brand?

I mean, ice cream has been done like a million times over. It’s so old it’s basically paleo. So why reinvent the wheel?

Another example perfectly suited for the food version of the scuzzy Netflix show 100% Hotter, enter: the pizza cone.

It’s a slice of pizza served as a cone and it is as wrong as it sounds.

But regardless of my opinions on what’s right and wrong when it comes to ‘za— it’s popular.

These pizza cone food trucks are popping up like my ice cream indulgence inspired pimples. They’re everywhere.

So why is this copywriter chick going on about pizza cones and massaged ice cream?

Because reinvention is absolutely necessary when it comes to creating fresh and effective marketing.

The core ingredients stay the same, but the recipe, the delivery, the medium— it all has to keep evolving.

To prove to you that I have other examples aside from just food (I love food, can you tell?), I want to use James Wedmore’s recent launch as an example.

James turned the good ol’ webinar launch on its head. To promote his program Business By Design, he piggybacked on the pervasive cultural obsession we all have with watching Netflix and launched a binge-friendly free video sequence with eight 15-minute long videos.

In order to watch the videos, you had to log in to his membership site ⇐ which in and of itself is a micro-commitment and takes people one step closer to ultimately take action and enroll in his program.

I know it sounds weird but it’s like the Ben Franklin effect:

When you ask someone to do a small favor for you and they agree, they’ll in turn be more likely to do a big favor for you next time.

There’s a lot of talk lately about the launch model we online entrepreneurs know and love being broken.

So the question becomes, how do we reinvent not the product, but the delivery?

How can you turn whatever it is you offer into a freakin’ pizza cone and take toddlers at the beach by storm?

… Or ya know, just continue to thrive in an ever-changing wild and wacky online economy.

Think about it…

Reinvention is necessary if you want your marketing to stand out.

There are a whole ‘lotta people like you that are doing the same thing in different ways— and it’s in our differences where we’ll find our strength.

Here are 3 ways (plus a few bonus tips) to take your marketing to a whole ‘notha level:

⇒ EXCEED EXPECTATIONS

I sign up for a lot of free shiz. My digital marketing inspiration/stalker email inbox has over 34,634 messages. 

^Pretty much the look I get every time I tell someone this

Needless to say, I know what the majority of folks are offering in terms of freebies and lead magnets and for the most part, there’s a whole ‘lotta blah out there.

Here are 3 examples of online entrepreneurs doing a bang-up job of going above and beyond for their audience:

• Kyla Roma

Gave away her entire course for free before officially launching it. It was hosted in her Teachable account so you had to go through the process of registering and logging in, which like I said in my last blog post, is a micro-commitment in itself and will likely get paid action later.

• Rick Mulready

I’m a little biased (because I work with Rick) but I think he really does go above and beyond. For Rick’s FB ad manager launch, he created a pop-up FB group. But it wasn’t like most pop-up FB groups where the host is practically non-existent.

He was in there every day answering questions and building people up. He also did 3 live training sessions in the group giving ad managers a ton of incredible info and answering all their questions.  

• Ashlyn Carter

You know how if your hair is straight, you wish it were curly (and vice versa)? Ashlyn is my productivity guru. I wish I had her systems and organized brain. But I don’t.

Thankfully, Ashlyn is a unicorn who produces the most amazing how-to videos, cheat sheets, swipes, Trello board templates, and so much more to help people like me figure their project management out.

⇒ CUSTOMIZE YOUR SALES PROCESS

Sales pages are a powerful thing. But what’s more powerful? Conversations.

The thing is, conversations aren’t necessarily scalable.

So what other options do you have?

Live chat, hiring sales people to hop on calls and answer questions, FB lives, bots, lead qualification quizzes, and the list goes on. If you can add a conversational element to your sales process, your odds of winning the game go up dramatically.

⇒ INTERACT

This is the big one. Creating interactive content combined with all of the above is the ticket to reinventing your brand because interaction breeds connection.

Here are a few examples of the latest and greatest interactive content I’ve come across:

• • Drift’s interactive marketing summit lets you opt-in by chatbot. SO easy.

• • Messenger Bots done right.

• • Quizzes (duh, my most favorite on the list)

• • • Interactive articles— like this flashy AF one from Huff Po or Typeform’s conversational marketing piece that lets you “talk” to the writer.

• GIF FB ads that grab your attention but don’t require you to sit through a whole video. The Wonderlass ones always get me.

One final thing that needs to be said…

Before innovation and reinvention can happen, we have to nail down the key ingredients and the basic recipe for success.

It’s tempting to let all the bright ‘n shiny examples above lead you astray before you’ve figured out your special sauce – but don’t.

WHAT THE EFF ARE THE BASICS THEN, HUH?

I’ll let you know in my next blog post.

Any examples of innovative marketing you’d like to share? Leave a comment and lemme know the best marketing tactic you’ve ever come across.