This guest post was written by Tom Orbach - Head of Growth Marketing at Wiz, a marketing lecturer at Reichman University, and a Forbes 30 Under 30 alum.

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There is no such thing as new ideas.

An idea is nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements.

• Vilfredo Pareto, an infamous Italian economist once said.

James Webb Young, considered one of the most successful advertising men of all time, doubles down on the concept by saying, 'The ideas people produce today are mere remixes of older innovative thoughts.'

Okay, cool. But founders and CMOs alike say their #1 marketing concern is finding new, fresh ideas. Sure, you can always experiment with emerging channels or test new content, but where can you actually find those rare, out-of-the-box ideas that go viral and bend the curve?

And if there are no ‘new’ ideas, where do we find these old elements, and how can we combine them to generate new marketing ideas?

Pareto, buddy, can you be more specific, please?

Hint: Not the best way to find new marketing ideas

From my experience, it’s not a question of where, but rather a challenge of how to do it in the sustainable and predictable way.

Today, for the first time in public, I’m going to share my secret weapon for finding and applying new marketing ideas.

☘️ The I.D.E.A. Framework

In recent years, I’ve developed a structured process for finding new marketing ideas.

Here’s the four-step process in a nutshell:

1. 🎯 Identify other companies’ marketing activities.
2. 🧬 Decode how they became successful.
3. 💎 Extract ingredients for your own marketing idea.
4. 🕹️ Apply everything to your organization.