🪄 Pity Marketing on TikTok skyrocketed this app on App Store

Hey,

The Spells Master is back!

Welcome to the 30th issue.

Today's topics:

1. Pity Marketing on TikTok

2. A tool to Boost App Store Ratings and Reviews

3. One recommended video on ASSET HACKING in Midjourney for Stunning Ad Campaigns

Pity Marketing on TikTok

Jeff Foulk created a GPS navigation app for boats called Argo Navigation.

At a boat show, his daughter Megan noticed people were ignoring her dad as he tried to promote the app.

So Megan recorded a TikTok video showing her sad father being overlooked while he offered brochures.

She added a sad song to the video. It was Wiz Khalifa's See You Again.

The TikTok video went viral with over 20 million views.

The daughter intended to make it go viral and it did achieve what she wanted it to do.

The comments were wholesome as well.

As a result, Argo Navigation became one of the most popular apps in the app store, even though most people downloading it didn't actually have a boat.

For a few days, Argo was the No. 1 navigation app in the app store — ahead of Google Maps and Waze. More than 20,000 people reviewed the app, bringing it up to a five-star rating.

Jeff Foulk said he will keep using social media as a tool to grow his business.

By his own estimation, he spends 80 to 100 percent of his time retooling and reimagining the GPS app, Argo Navigation. He made it easy to use. He color-coded routes based on depth. He added a social networking aspect that would recommend restaurants and connect boaters with each other.

But despite having a great product, it didn’t matter until the app went viral.

Not too bad for a 15-second video.

The funny thing is most people who downloaded it don't even have a boat.

Here's what one comment reads:

Pity marketing works even if its a real story. But another comment makes a good point.

Some marketing strategies work before they get stale. They face the law of diminishing returns.

After this video went viral, tons of other videos popped up with the same format.

Who knows if those are real or just a marketing gimmick to make money?

Hat tip to Justin Moore from whom I first heard about it.

A tool to Boost App Store Ratings and Reviews

Turns out, you can buy App Store Ratings and Reviews for cheap.

You get Android Ratings from $0.10 per rating and Android Reviews from $0.08 per review.

A mix of blackhat and whitehat strategies are enough to get into the radar of your target customers.

If you look at how the biggest apps like Musicaly or TikTokers like Josh Richards blew up, they specifically target a loophole on the platform to grow fast.

One recommended video on ASSET HACKING in Midjourney for Stunning Ad Campaigns

Asset Hacking as a concept blew my mind.

You can use 1 ad to create 1000s of creatives using Midjourney and ChatGPT to reduce your CPC.

Watch this 6-minutes video if you work on ads. It blew my mind.

I didn't know you could use AI like that.

Tweet of the day

In short, build an API.

You know the old saying, "when there's a gold rush, sell shovels."

Rabbit Holes

1. I hit #1 on Product Hunt… here’s how I guaranteed my win 🏆 - Product Hunt is getting trickier day by day but the SEO juice from Product Hunt still has a lot of weight. This post tells you exactly how you should reach #1. You get lots of eyeballs once you do.

2. LTV:CAC Ratio Is a Sham (Use Payback Period Instead) - I love contrarian ideas. This post shows you why Payback Period is a better metric with examples.

3. The Boneyard Principle: Why the Next Big Thing will Emerge from a Failed Idea - Not all startups fail due to founder or market being bad. Sometimes its mostly a matter of timing. Remember, there was a YouTube before YouTube and Crypto before BTC but both didn't take off because of timing. Right timing matters.

Startup of the day

Arcads AI lets you create winning ads with AI Actors.

Add B-rolls to it and they don't look or sound like AI at all.

No more back and forth with expensive influencers.

This will be bad for influencers but great for brands.

Obviously, there will be a future where influencers and celebs sell their faces to these companies as they already have trust.

This product should skyrocket content creation.

Until next time,

Your Spells Master!

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More Startup Spells 🪄

1. Bumble's Psychological Play (LINK)

2. Exploiting Men's Beauty (LINK)

3. Poaching Competitor's Employees and Customers (LINK)

Disclosure: Everything said in this post is for educational purposes only. Please follow the law. By reading this post, you accept full responsibility for your actions.