Breaking the Marketing Mold: Dmitry Lepeshko Of AIBY On 5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing Strategies That Can Engage Audiences Like Never Before
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
AI tools. They speed up creative production and hypothesis testing, making it possible to develop ad concepts that would be difficult or even impossible to create manually due to their unconventional nature.
Traditional marketing methods are no longer sufficient in today’s dynamic and fast-evolving market. To truly engage and captivate audiences, businesses need to think outside the box and adopt innovative and non-traditional marketing strategies. What are these strategies, and how can they transform audience engagement? I had the pleasure of interviewing Dmitry Lepeshko.
Dmitry Lepeshko is the Vice President of Marketing at AIBY, a leading American co-founding company, specializing in building, acquiring, and operating top-tier consumer apps. He leads AIBY’s mobile app marketing division and oversees marketing for EpicScale, a publishing company dedicated to empowering app creators with comprehensive marketing and operational support, backed by AIBY’s investment and expertise.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! To start, could you share when and how you got started in marketing?
My career in marketing began as a Social Media Specialist at an advertising agency. That’s where I learned how to build an online brand presence and interact with audiences. Later, I moved into the gaming industry, joining a global video game company as a Marketing Specialist. That experience sparked my interest in user acquisition and eventually led me to the mobile app industry.
Today, I’m the Vice President of Marketing at AIBY, where I lead a marketing department, focusing on business growth and global expansion. When we launched EpicScale, our publishing company for mobile app creators, I also took on marketing leadership for our partner products, helping great apps reach their full potential.
What has been the biggest shift in the marketing industry and can you give us an example of how it impacted you?
Marketing is a highly dynamic field where change is constant. If I had to highlight the biggest shift and how it has impacted me, I’d point to the rise of AI tools and platforms. At AIBY, we not only develop AI-based apps, but we’ve also integrated AI into our processes, particularly in ad creative production. This transformation has significantly improved our team’s efficiency while helping us optimize labor costs. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine working without AI tools today.
Can you explain why it’s essential for businesses to break away from traditional marketing and embrace new strategies?
As the digital landscape evolves fast, traditional marketing alone can’t keep up with today’s mobile-first, highly personalized, and data-driven world. Innovation is no longer optional — it’s the key to staying connected and relevant to your audience and making your work more effective.
Could you share and briefly explain the first major change you made to break the trend of traditional marketing that was not so common?
I’d say it was a combination of strategic shifts rather than a single change. In addition to integrating AI tools into creative production, we previously expanded into influencer marketing, which allows us to interact with diverse target audiences and generations more effectively. We also developed highly active social media profiles for our apps, enabling direct communication with our users. To increase brand awareness and credibility, our in-house experts, who create content for our apps, regularly contribute insights to leading media outlets. Together, these steps have helped us move beyond traditional marketing and build a more dynamic, authentic, and engaging global presence for our products.
What specific results did you see after implementing this change?
If we take AI integration as an example, creating a static banner using traditional design tools used to take about 4–5 hours. With MidJourney, we can now complete the same task in just 1–2 hours. AI platforms allow us to produce a greater variety of creatives and test hypotheses much faster, helping us quickly identify top-performing ads. In particular, this approach also played a key role in scaling one of our partner projects under EpicScale from zero to $400K in monthly revenue.
How do you ensure that these new marketing strategies resonate with your target audience?
Most of our marketing channels are rooted in data. We continuously run A/B tests on creatives and messaging, segment our audiences, and track real-time performance. By analyzing this data, we gain insights into what’s working, what isn’t, and when it’s time to pivot our strategies.
Can you share an example of something you tried that didn’t deliver expected results or ended up becoming a financial burden, and what you learned from that experience?
Although we consistently develop and test different strategies and tactics, not every app we create becomes a hit. Even with deep research and planning, some strategies don’t deliver the results we expect. We accept this as part of reality. What matters most is that we learn from every experience.
Could you list “5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing Strategies That Can Engage Audiences Like Never Before”?
1. AI tools. They speed up creative production and hypothesis testing, making it possible to develop ad concepts that would be difficult or even impossible to create manually due to their unconventional nature.
2. Personalized ad campaigns. We often tailor content based on region, culture, seasonal context, and holidays, making sure that ads feel relevant and timely to each audience.
3. Influencer marketing. With a special focus on collaborating with micro-influencers, this approach helps authentically reach highly engaged niche audiences.
4. Cross-channel communication. By leveraging social media, email marketing, PR, and SEO, we ensure consistent messaging, increase loyalty, and encourage word-of-mouth.
5. Trend hijacking. Monitoring viral trends and cultural moments allows us to produce and launch creatives that feel native to what audiences are already engaging with, maximizing visibility and emotional relevance.
What challenges might companies face when transitioning away from traditional marketing strategies, and how can they overcome them?
I believe companies need to be open to experimentation and realize that results won’t always be predictable. To successfully adopt innovative approaches, it’s essential to foster a culture that values testing and learning. For example, one of our core company values is constant innovation, which encourages an experimental mindset and pursuit of fresh solutions.
How do you measure the success and ROI of these new marketing strategies?
Measuring success always starts with clear objectives. In mobile app marketing, we closely track key metrics such as ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and retention rate. When working with influencer marketing, PR, or SEO, we assess engagement metrics, branded traffic growth, and the overall impact on organic traffic.
Looking forward, how do you see the role of innovative marketing evolving in the next 5–10 years?
I think the ability to discover unconventional approaches and identify emerging user behavior patterns will become more valuable than ever. As the world continues to change rapidly, staying adaptable and constantly exploring new ways to engage audiences will be crucial for success.
What advice would you give to business leaders who are hesitant to move away from traditional marketing methods?
You don’t need to overhaul everything at once — small steps can lead to big achievements. Start by testing a new approach, such as using AI for creative generation or launching a campaign with micro-influencers. The key is to track the results, learn from them, and continuously improve.
Can you share any upcoming initiatives or plans you have for further innovating your marketing strategies?
We’ll continue experimenting and exploring new approaches in mobile app marketing, while actively monitoring emerging AI tools that help us quickly adapt to evolving trends. Within our team, we plan to maintain ongoing brainstorming sessions to uncover fresh perspectives for our ads.
One of the most rewarding aspects of working with innovative marketing is the ability to turn successful experiments into scalable, repeatable strategies. When a creative hypothesis proves effective, it delivers strong performance and becomes a competitive advantage. We’re also applying these proven approaches to partner apps within EpicScale, aiming to scale what works and transform innovation into sustainable growth.
How can our readers follow your work and learn more about your approaches to modern marketing?
Right now, the best place to follow our work is on the AIBY Medium blog, where we share our case studies and marketing experiments. We’re also launching a blog at aiby.com soon. We’re excited to share even more of what we’re learning.
This was great. Thank you so much for the time you spent sharing with us.
Thank you, it was a pleasure. I appreciate the opportunity to share our experience and vision.
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator.
Breaking the Marketing Mold: Dmitry Lepeshko Of AIBY On 5 Innovative & Non Traditional Marketing… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.