Out-Of-The-Box Marketing Ideas | Brafton

Marketing is a game of attention, and for modern business owners that game is closely tied to measurable results like increased sales, heightened lead generation and a clear uptick in brand visibility. It’s all about using the tools at your disposal to get your audience’s eyes on your brand, increase brand awareness and ultimately promote business growth.

Of course, marketing is complex and multi-layered, but sometimes a simple, out-of-the-box idea can unlock exciting new possibilities that boost your bottom line. For example: Your list of marketing tools is longer than you may assume, especially when you treat every tactic as an item in a living, breathing marketing ideas box that’s ready to be explored.

Just because you’ve never used a marketing channel before, that doesn’t mean you can’t get great results with it in the future. You can accompany all the standard types of content — blog posts, white papers, short videos, social media marketing posts and email marketing — with new and novel offerings that engage customers in surprising ways.

By pairing these tactics with strong search engine optimization (SEO) practices and distributing them across your key social media channels, you’ll not only rank higher in each search engine but also generate buzz that carries over to your broader marketing campaigns.

By experimenting with both content and form, you can make your audience take notice, whether you’re targeting consumers or fellow businesses. In a field based on winning attention to build brand awareness and increase sales, that’s an enormous leg-up.

7 Types of Marketing You Don’t See Every Day

So, what exactly does it mean to go beyond standard types of marketing? This is often a question of finding new places to present your brand’s message and to work in new forms and media.

For instance, thinking outside the box could mean going with physical, real-world marketing materials in an intensely digital age or going the other direction and embracing new technology. Whatever you and your competitors are currently doing, there may be value in reacting against those norms through creative marketing ideas that stand out from the pack.

The only real requirement for implementing a creative marketing idea is that you stick to solid fundamentals. You should still be engaging in strategic planning and analysis to make sure your campaigns are performing well, even if they’re more offbeat or unusual than your normal offerings. KPI tracking, A/B testing and ongoing SEO remain critical because every tactic in your marketing business should drive measurable ROI.

By its nature, out-of-the-box marketing is varied, so no list of innovative marketing ideas can ever be comprehensive. With that said, here are seven fun and interesting concepts to get your brainstorming session going:

These seven are just the beginning of the innovative marketing strategies you can implement. Don’t be afraid to experiment as you find creative, bold ideas that help your brand thrive, increase sales and establish long-term brand resonance.

1. Interactive content like quizzes, polls and games

Interactive digital marketing solves one of the major issues with more general content marketing. Namely, it encourages people to pause for a moment and engage, rather than simply passing by.

If you offer up a poll where customers want to see the results or a fun, tempting quiz, you’ve created a great hook to keep people engaging with your brand. These tactics can generate buzz on social media channels and even contribute user generated content that amplifies your message for free. Just remember not to make the advertising aspect of the content too strong. After all, playing a game with branded elements can be fun, but interacting with a thinly veiled commercial, less so.

2. User-generated content campaigns

Contributions from your customers can be great additions to your lineup of marketing content. A user-generated content campaign provides value in two ways. First of all, it gives you access to a stream of new material without having to spend your own employees’ time on creating the images, videos or social media posts. Second, it delivers credibility, because the testimonials aren’t coming from you, but from real users of your products and services.

And what do the users get out of this? They gain a platform, and a chance to reach an audience of fellow customers. These marketing tactics can seamlessly dovetail with affiliate marketing or influencer marketing efforts, allowing superfans and niche creators to promote your business organically. Just make sure to keep a close eye on these campaigns — an influx of content about your brand that’s not created by you can risk you losing control of your message, to potentially embarrassing ends.

3. Experiential marketing events

When huge portions of the day are lived in front of screens, whether performing day-to-day tasks on work PCs or scrolling through social media platforms on smartphones, breaking out of that online space can be a marketing cheat code. Giving your audience some face-to-face time with your brand at pop-ups or longer-lasting immersive spaces is a way to communicate directly with a wide audience.

Of course, experiential marketing has its limits — the geographic reach of an in-person event can never compete with a digital campaign. If you can reach a significant portion of your audience with a live pop-up, it’s worth investigating. People may appreciate the chance to unplug and “touch grass,” and your brand can be there for them when they do.

4. Branded entertainment releases

Marketing doesn’t have to be all business. You can create content that’s explicitly designed to be fun, thus associating your brand with well-produced media. Podcasts, live streams and web video series are a few of the formats you can try out, depending on your team’s skills and your audience’s interests. Even in the business-to-business space, there’s room to put entertainment first, through a few different methods.

A series that offers a fun glimpse behind the scenes at your company can humanize your brand and potentially attract talented recruits. Educational content where you show off your thought leadership and expertise can prove interesting and enlightening for highly engaged members of your industry. Whatever your exact field may be, you likely have something fun to share. Creative marketing ideas can act as the linchpin of larger marketing campaigns that increase sales and nurture loyalty.

5. Cause marketing and socially conscious campaigns

Becoming engaged in your community and supporting good causes can build a strong, appealing brand entity when done right. Showing that your company cares about the world around it and is interested in more than profits is a strong, inspiring message. 

With that said, it’s important never to make social causes an afterthought in marketing, to make sure you don’t seem insincere or opportunistic. Every area and industry has causes that need help, and that could make an effective match for your brand. Environmental issues and community groups can benefit from companies’ philanthropy. These initiatives can also weave into a larger ideas box marketing approach — one that helps promote business integrity, increase brand awareness and engage customers on a deeper emotional level.

6. High-tech experiences with AR, VR and more

By offering tech-saturated content marketing experiences, you can tap into a pure form of novelty, giving audiences something they haven’t seen before. Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) may be good mediums in this regard, though it’s worth noting that development efforts on this tech have been back-burnered amid industry-spanning AI mania.

Remember that you don’t need a dedicated piece of hardware to give your potential customers a little “wow factor” via technology. Adding AR elements to product packaging, for instance, is a way to interact digitally with your customers, and the most common AR interaction device is a normal smartphone camera. Pair these experiences with carefully targeted search engine ads and influencer marketing shoutouts to extend your reach and generate real buzz.

7. Sponsored or branded street art

Associating your brand with compelling, beautiful outdoor art is a great way to integrate yourself into your community. Commissioning a skilled creator to work on a piece for your company can forge a connection with the artistic community while also producing impressive work.

As with other unorthodox marketing methods, it’s best to handle art with care and compassion. Think about what kind of piece you’re putting together, and square away the details of the location. Stories about ads being painted over beloved existing artwork don’t count as good press for the companies involved.

These seven are just the beginning of the innovative marketing strategies you can implement. Don’t be afraid to experiment as you find creative, bold ideas that help your brand thrive, increase sales and establish long-term brand resonance.

Why Out-Of-The-Box Marketing Ideas Work (And How You Can Use Them Effectively)

If there’s one concept tying together bold, out-of-the-box marketing methods, it’s effort. The old standbys are old standbys for a reason — they’re reliable, and your marketing department is probably ready to execute them at a high level. So why branch out?

The main motivator is the need to make an impression. Today’s customers have a wealth of choices — no matter what particular sector you operate in, you’re likely competing with a long list of rivals, each of which with its own marketing strategy.

Being different, unique and dynamic is a way to make your name memorable amid a flood of high-quality materials and campaigns. It’s often the only way to truly increase sales in a saturated environment.

Don’t Forget the Audience

The North Star for your innovative marketing campaign should be your target audience. While the content you’re producing may break from the norm, it can be important to stick with best practices behind the scenes, performing market research and tracking audience metrics the same way you would for a more conventional campaign.

The value of a creative content marketing offering comes from its ability to make your potential customers sit up and take notice. If they’re not responding, it’s not the end of the world — but it is potentially a sign that you should pivot. There’s always a new creative marketing idea waiting for you to try out, just one brainstorming session away.

Leave People Wanting More

Some of the innovative marketing ideas we’ve discussed aren’t as explicit as other direct styles. Branded entertainment or socially conscious marketing, for instance, doesn’t have the hard-selling power of a TV commercial. There’s nothing wrong with this difference, though. The content is simply leading your customers down the funnel to deeper engagement and purchases.

An unconventional marketing strategy is also a great source of brand awareness. Interesting, entertaining and informative content can bring your name and logo into spaces that would otherwise be off-limits to marketers, with audiences willingly seeking you out. It’s hard to put a price on this kind of appeal, and that’s exactly why you should consider chasing it.

Ultimately, treating every tactic as part of a cohesive marketing strategy — one that blends SEO, social media channels, user-generated content, carefully-chosen guerrilla marketing and more — empowers you to promote business objectives and generate buzz on a level that traditional ads alone can’t reach.

Keep experimenting, keep iterating and keep your marketing ideas box open, and you’ll discover creative marketing ideas that turn casual browsers into lifelong customers.

Editor’s note: Updated September 2025.