The “Digital IP Scouting” Prompt
Digital markets are crowded with recycled ideas and copycat strategies. It’s easy to get lost in a sea of sameness, where everyone is chasing the same audience with the same tools. Finding something truly original feels rare, but it’s what sets you apart.
By exploring new frameworks and refining concepts others haven’t thought to protect, you create a defensible position. These aren’t just ideas—they’re opportunities to establish unique methods, systems, or processes that make your work not only effective but also difficult for competitors to replicate.
Core Idea
Use AI to brainstorm novel marketing frameworks or digital service concepts, then cross-reference them against existing best practices, open-source tools, and known industry methods.
The goal is to identify truly new approaches you could develop and possibly protect as your own intellectual property (through copyrights, trademarks, or unique process documentation).
Prompt Outline
1. Step 1: Clearly define your digital domain or service category.
o Example: Online course creation, email marketing automation, SaaS tools, membership site building, etc.
2. Step 2: Ask the AI to generate a list of 5–10 potential innovations (these could be unique marketing funnels, automated systems, data-driven frameworks, gamified user experiences, etc.).
o Focus on ideas that could be turned into proprietary methods, processes, or digital products.
3. Step 3: Ask the AI for existing “prior art,” mainstream solutions, or well-known methods so you can gauge how these new ideas compare to the current state of the market.
o You want to find out if your concept is already in use or if it’s sufficiently original.
4. Step 4: Request ways to modify or improve the concepts to be more novel, more defensible, or harder to replicate.
o This might involve adding exclusive data analytics, new integrations, specialized design elements, or proprietary processes.
Example Prompt
“You are an AI digital innovation consultant. My focus is on [online/digital marketing domain—e.g., course platforms, AI-driven copywriting, automated sales funnels].
1) Generate 5 innovative, out-of-the-box concepts that address emerging needs in this domain—make them more than just a simple re-hash of existing solutions.
2) For each concept, explain its unique functionality or methodology.
3) Compare it to any existing open-source, public domain, or widely used industry approaches to highlight what’s new or different.
4) Suggest modifications that could help me develop a unique, proprietary framework or service model that competitors can’t easily duplicate.
5) List potential audience segments or use cases for each idea and propose viable revenue models (e.g., monthly subscription, pay-per-use, one-time license).
Finally, label which concepts have the highest potential for branding or IP protection (e.g., could be trademarked, copyrighted, or documented as a proprietary method).”
Why It’s Powerful
It helps you uncover genuinely unique digital methods and processes that can serve as differentiators in a crowded market. Because these methods can potentially be trademarked, copyrighted, or otherwise protected, they create a defensible advantage and open up multiple monetization channels.