Innovation – a word that builds hope and expectations among people and indeed an important word that calls for attention. In this world of endless needs, unceasing advancements, high competition and even more players, it’s those who bring innovation in the market that stays! Be it the ideas regarding your product, execution, functioning or even the business model, a brand can retain or bring in customers and also beat competition when they improve their offerings or way of offering!
Want to retain your existing position in the market? Planning to create a dominance over your competitors? The key to it is constant innovation!
Here are the top 5 techniques to inculcate innovation in your business:
1. Gather more information and stay upfront
Where is the real fun if you don’t get to experience the lows while you begin your venture? Those flaws and lows will eventually turn out to be lessons for success. Ensure that you take one step at a time and assess your progress to see how far you’ve made it. Also, compare yourself with people who are of your same level instead of those who are miles ahead of you.
2. Grab hold of all opportunities to bring innovation
A successful businessman always understands the pain points of his customers and tries to rectify it through his brand. And when customers are not happy with the existing offerings, the chances to bring in innovation are high! Simply put, every crisis or problem faced by a customer with a product/service in the market is an opportunity to innovate and thrive. Uber is an excellent example for this as it addressed the issues faced by commuters in regards to factors like payment, reliability and service quality.
3. Have a wider and broader perspective; think out of the box
It is not necessary to always think within the boundaries. Sometimes the best ideas for innovation can be inspired from a different industry or vertical. Have a team ready to do the research on a constant basis to dig out ideas, inspirations and thoughts for innovation that can be incorporated in your business.
For example, PepsiCo was successful in finding a way to reduce the sodium content in its snack foods with the help of a technology created by the medical industry.
4. Create an environment open for innovations
Is your office environment open for changes and innovative thoughts or ideas? If not, it’s high time it should be!
Assign tasks or schedules to gather the team and do a brainstorm session to collect suggestions, ideas and thoughts. This must be done regularly with proper follow-ups and by giving ownership for innovative ideas and its execution. Encouraging such processes will help in retaining employees bring out the best in them.
Innovation need not be restricted to products but it can be implemented at workplace too. Replace the boring cubicles and walls with theme-based workspace; play area to relax; and refreshment corner. All these have proved to boost their productivity and thereby, profits too!
4. Run a contest, collaborate or get ideas from public
There are companies that run contests in colleges, institutes, among customers or even through social media platforms and offer rewards that best suit their specifications and requirements. This way you can gather ideas and the best ones can be licensed and commercialized.
Have an open communication with your customers to understand their pain points or factors that could help in improving your brand and its offerings. Thoroughly analyse if your customer wants a change in your current product/service before you go ahead.
Apart from these techniques, ensure that you follow the below mentioned tips:
- Have an effective innovation process structured out to track all the efforts, results and possibilities for improvement in the future.
- Be systematic and head over to the next task only after completing the present one properly. Focus on one innovation project at a time. Look for problems within and outside the business that needs to be solved first.
- Deviate from all projects that does not bring innovation to your brand as it is a mere wastage of efforts, money and time. Put your primary focus on things that require innovation right now.