Day 5 of Mindbrand's "Wrong Way Week" - Innovation
Day 5 of Mindbrand's "Wrong Way Week" is about Innovation:
When we hear the word "innovation", we think of iPads, flying cars, and humanoid robots that will do work for us (for now, we just have iPads). But innovation is simply something new and/or something different, even a better version of something that already exists. Innovation in small business is another essential key to being unique and standing out from the competition. Innovation can be applied to your products, marketing, customer service, and pretty much anything within your business.
WRONG WAY:
- "everything is fine the way it is, why should I change anything?"
- allowing yourself to subconsciously fear change
- Never planning ahead
INSTEAD:
Our modern world is flourishing with innovation and these innovations may directly or indirectly affect your business. Just like a good game of chess, you must always have a strategy that is 3 steps ahead from where you are now. And when innovation arises, make a strategy so you can adapt (or suffer the fate Kodak did by not embracing innovation when they had several opportunities).
Sometimes innovation is as easy as repositioning yourself in the market. A great example is Dove's "real beauty" campaign, several years back. Another way to innovate is selling an old product on a new platform. An example of this would be how Dollar Shave Club innovated the market for razor blades. The product didn't change, only the method.
We could write a book about innovation; however, we will leave you with this advice: Think ahead, plan ahead; think differently, do differently!
Thank you for tuning in to Mindbrand's "Wrong Way Week"! We hope the advice we provided was helpful and inspiring.
