Steal This Viral Trick (Costs Nothing)

How small tweaks turn ordinary products into must-buy experiences.

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If you’ve been reading this for a while, you know I’m a HUGE believer in one thing: your job isn’t just to push your product—it’s to make people excited about buying it.

For most businesses, especially if what you sell isn’t a basic necessity, your customers don’t need your product. And yet, every day, they spend money on things they don’t technically need. Why? Because some brands are absolute masters at making their products feel special, irresistible, and even fun to buy.

Last week, I had two separate conversations with clients - long-time business owners—one in hospitality, one in fashion. Both were looking to invest more in more marketing agencies, ads, SEO… all hoping to bring in more customers. Don’t get me wrong—those things are important. But before you pour money into another ad campaign, I want you to ask yourself:

👉 Are you making it easy for people to talk about your brand for free?
👉 Are you giving them something worth sharing?
👉 Are you creating tiny moments of delight that make people want to tell their friends?

Because that’s where the magic happens.

Guerilla Marketing Is Your Secret Weapon

When most people hear “guerilla marketing,” they think of big, splashy stunts or viral dancing in the street campaigns. But the truth is, most guerilla marketing happens on a small, everyday scale.

It’s not about spending more money—it’s about using creativity to meet the customers where they least expect it and to get them to do the marketing for you. And more often than not, it’s the smallest details that make the biggest impact.

Take this café I saw on my Instagram feed the other day. Their iced coffee? Well, just look at it. 👇

That tiny change—literally just water frozen in a different mold—made the drink instantly Instagrammable. Customers took photos, posted them online, and gave the café free marketing just because their coffee was cute and not like every other basic coffee. The cost of making it? Probably not more than extra 0.10$ per cup. The extra margins you can charge for it? Probably an extra dollar or more - for a cup of coffee that could probably be a 25-50% increase in price while keeping the customers happy to pay for it.

That’s the kind of marketing I want you to think about. The kind that doesn’t rely on a massive budget, but on fresh perspective.

Liquid Death is a great example of this. If you haven’t heard of them, here’s a brief explainer:

@shwinnabego

How liquid death has used incredible branding and marketing to stand out in a crowded category #marketing #branding

Steal These Ideas: Small Twists That Get Big Attention

I went down a rabbit hole researching some of the best examples of this—some are real, some are a combination of my own and AI fantasy combined. But why not?

💡 Sparkling Pizza with Edible Glitter or Glow-in-the-Dark Cheese (it actually exists!) – why don’t we have more sparkling food we could take photos of before eating?

💡 Scratch-Off Business Cards – A tattoo artist hands out business cards that work like lottery tickets—scratch off a section to reveal a discount or free touch-up. Cheap, interactive, and memorable.

💡 Receipt-Based Marketing – A bookstore prints staff book recommendations on receipts. Customers collect them like a reading list and share them online. A boring receipt becomes an experience. As an avid reader, I LOVE this idea.

💡 Personalized Sneaker Stamping – Some sneaker shops let you emboss your initials or special messages on your new kicks in-store. That is how Golden Goose Deluxe Brand became THE trainers brand I am personally obsessed with.

@skilledesigner

Last week co-creations🫶🏼 What’s your fave? #goldengoose#cocreation#selfridges#london#custom#sneakers#stargirl

💡 Silent Disco Shopping – A clothing store hosted a silent disco night where shoppers got wireless headphones with a curated playlist. It turned a normal shopping trip into an event.

💡 Surprise Packaging – A chocolate brand prints fun, secret messages inside the packaging, so customers only discover them after purchase—making every bar feel like a tiny treasure hunt.

💡 Plant Baby Portraits – A plant shop started taking “baby photos” of plants before selling them, complete with names and care instructions. Customers started sharing “growth updates” of their plants on social media.

💡 Stamped Bread Messages – A bakery stamps its loaves with funny or inspirational messages before baking. Customers started collecting the different messages and sharing them online. So simple, but can be so fun.

@countrybasketsbirmingham

✨ Check out our New Valentines themed Toast Stamp, Placemats and Love Mugs! 💕✨ Why stick with the traditional ‘I Love You’ when you can st... See more

💡 Special Ice Cubes – A cocktail bar makes ice cubes with natural ingredients that change color as they melt. A simple drink becomes interactive and shareable. Even a spa can do this. Instead of boring lemon water, why not serve water with perfectly shaped, lemon infused ice cubes? The same cost, way more impact.

Today’s Lesson? Make It Shareable.

The easiest way to grow isn’t throwing money at ads. (Also, running ads is not easy). It’s making your product so damn interesting that people can’t help but talk about it.

You need to package your offer in a way that makes it feel exciting, exclusive, or different from what’s out there.

If you’re struggling with this, this is exactly what I teach in my course: How to make your offers not just sell—but become something people are genuinely excited to buy.

So this week, I challenge you to think: What’s one tiny tweak you can make to make your brand more fun, engaging, or shareable? Hit reply and let me know—I’d love to hear your ideas!