Why Use Innovation to Grow your Business?

A business can get really old really fast. If business owners do not acknowledge this, then their business may not have very long left under the sun.

Especially in the business landscape that we have today – quick, global, and technology-centered, the scale at which business is done may be unmatched throughout human history.

So, there’s only one way for business owners to cope with this, and that is building a fortified innovation strategy.

What is Innovation?

Innovation refers to new ways a business might approach pre-existing ideals, business models, business plans, and products. You may call it evolving, adapting, or even observing, but it all boils down to finding new ways to build revenue and maintain or improve cash flow.

Now you may be asking yourself next, what is innovation strategy? Well, businesses can utilize innovation however they like, and examples can include taking a failing product for rebranding, changing up the workflow inside the office, or navigating a new marketing scheme.

You can focus one at a time or even do all three and more, but the main goal is not to become stale to an audience whose tastes are constantly on the move.

To illustrate how much innovation can affect the performance of a business, the Boston Consulting Group, or the BCG, used a poll consisting of the world’s best professionals who gave insight into the most innovative companies in the past year. 

The poll saw Apple rank top place, as Apple has always marked innovation as its top priority ever since its genesis. Apple’s understanding that innovation beats invention and that adding value to the product will help maintain its relevance in the market has become the main reason why Apple has dominated the electronic and software company for the past few decades.

It is worth noting Pfizer’s return to the top 10 list, showing a great spark of innovation with groundbreaking breakthroughs in phasing out vaccines for the Covid-19 pandemic, which, to say the least, had shifted the world economy. Considering that Covid had barely reached the one-year mark, Pfizer had created a vaccine in record time as vaccines normally take several years up to a decade to create.

With this in mind, it goes to show that the best way to remain ahead of your competition is to innovate, innovate, innovate. Acute business and capable people skills can take you far, but innovation will get you to your destiny and even beyond it. Here are some of the best reasons you should use innovation to grow your business.

Why use Innovation to grow your business 

1. Innovation Helps Companies Grow

Innovation is not that hard to grasp, and in a simpler form, it can be labeled as change. A change in uniform, a change in serving size, a change in product color, these things all fall under that umbrella of change. Whether or not these changes work is another question, but what’s important is to take the outcome of that change and work on it.

However, not all companies are very good at that.  According to the Accenture US Innovation Survey, 49%  of businesses fail to make the better of previous failures. This may mean a lack of a proper system to digest mistakes between constituents, a lack of accountability, or even a lack of vision. 

Not being able to take mistakes and failures will probably lead to committing them again, and there is no quicker way to lose an audience than to continuously disappoint them. The basic steps of innovation will help you avoid this as it encourages you to commit these mistakes and make it a foundation upon which better and new ideas will be made form.

Innovation strategy requires you to be vigilant with mistakes and to enact action as fast as possible because if you don’t, other businesses will make something out of the mistakes you make. It’s all about who capitalizes on who’s first.

2. Innovation Keeps Organizations Relevant

As it’s been stated before, we are in an unprecedented era of business and technology. We are moving at a pace so fast that market trends can change daily and the demands of people may not even last a few months. So, long-term planning may not be the most clever of moves, and adaptability is the main quality that businesses should develop.

Technology continues to be at the forefront of shifting business operations, with surveys showing that 58% of firms are planning to utilize AI for their workforce. With 83% of organizations who have gone on to implement AI in their business operations having observed substantial benefits, it’s hard to argue against the efficiency that AI offers.

Let’s not forget to mention the staggering change when it comes to our audience, with over 2 billion buyers opting to do shopping online. This statistic should not be taken lightly, it presents a lot of opportunity for businesses, as well as give them an idea of just how much business landscapes have changed over the years.

This leaves businesses no choice but to innovate, and they will have to take on that challenge as if they do not, they may be left in their competition’s dust. Innovation will keep companies in touch and up-to-date, being able to create an innovation strategy that can cater to their market whilst refurbishing their products.

3. Innovation Helps Organizations Differentiate Themselves

Innovation is not all about keeping up, but it’s also about setting your business apart. 

Sure, you will more likely be in the process of adjusting services and products to new trends, but just how you go about that shift will make all the difference.

You will want to offer something that is not in the market at all. Pay attention to which products are oversaturated in the market, and which ones are just the replica of a replica of a replica. Going along that formula will not set you apart from the competition, and changing course with a totally new product will be something that can bring incomparable interest from your market.

Uniqueness is not all that matters though, and your new product should really amp on the value it offers. Being something noteworthy, but offering something that can be of use time and time again will be an element that will put you ahead of the competition in no time.

4. Innovation will help you gather a better workforce.

This may not be the first thing that you think of when you start your innovation process, but it is something that will totally improve your business once you acknowledge it.

A dedicated and capable workforce is something that a business can only dream of, and some businesses will often settle for individuals who may be up for the task but not put the energy into their work.

The quality of your workforce can have severe ramifications for your business, they may damage your brand or even provide you with enough stress to have second thoughts.

This is where innovation comes in to help, as having a stimulating, energetic, and exciting innovation strategy will help put your workforce into second gear. Developing your workforce into a set of individuals given creative freedom and flexibility will help produce better ideas and thus create better productivity.

Acknowledging that your employees are the backbone of your business will give them a kick of motivation and drive for their work, and this in and of itself is enough of an innovative move as it is.

Moreover, an energized workforce will more willingly give feedback on ideas as well as the state of your business, and their first-hand experience can all be used to improve your already upscaled business strategy.

An innovative business will also naturally attract top talent as individuals who are more creative and more knowledgeable will want to work at a place that will allow them to work and make the best out of their skills.

Models of Business Innovation

1. Revenue-Model Innovation refers to an innovation strategy that is more centered on the products and services that the business offers. From pricing to market to changes in the product itself, this type of innovation leans more on specific changes within the business itself.

2. Business-Model Innovation is an innovation strategy that aims to single out problems within the business strategy, mission/vision statements, the technology used, and business partners. This allows the business to branch out towards partners that may suit them better for an upcoming project or rebrand, as well as gear up with better software. This can also mean taking things to a digital platform, selling online, and dealing with business online.

3. Industry-Model Innovation will entail analyzing which industries are a better market to be in rather than the current one. This can either be through browsing different industries or creating an entire one if the business believes it is capable of it.

Risks of Innovation

With everything we’ve put on the table for innovation, we aren’t saying that it is a full-proof plan for success for your business.

Some risks and concerns come along with it, none of which can be avoided and will often be a necessary speed that one has to overcome to ensure that the innovation scheme is pulled off.

Some of these risks include:

• Overshooting expenses

Expense is something that all business owners worry about, but when it comes to innovation, there is a considerable financial risk before entering into that venture. Especially considering that innovation is something that already failing businesses should opt for, the expense that covers new technology, new talent, and new products may be out of reach. 

Make sure to assess this always and get a professional if you have to. Always consider whether or not the risk is worth the value that you believe it will bring.

• Not being able to stay on schedule

Schedules are something you will fix before embarking on your new innovative strategy. 

Innovation does not happen overnight, and you will need to map when each new installment to your business will happen. Staying on schedule and quota will help you stabilize and keep your capital and trust on their feet, as well as not lose track of any important events and schedules.

Innovation will take time, and it comes recommended that you manage it efficiently.

• Losing brand identity

It is easy to get lost in your innovative process. After all, it is a sort of identity shift. Business owners will often inhabit the identity of their business, so the process of innovation may be hard to comprehend at first.

This can cause a few problems, such as too many ideas, not sticking with the original plan, or total instability. This will put all the effort that has already been put into the project at risk and perhaps break at the seams.

Customers, investors, and employees need to see that your innovative strategy has direction and it has a vision. Otherwise, it can not be trusted to be anything different from its old shell.

Additional Tips

To make your innovation strategy work, you will need to be quick-witted, wise, and knowledgeable when it comes to business. There are a few tips and tricks that can help you along the way. Some of these include:

Competition assessment

Innovation does not only entail analyzing and reviewing your own business, but it also takes a great deal of doing it towards your competition.

It may even be more important than assessing your performance, as the performance of your competition will also show you what strategies work and don’t, what the audience looks for, as well as be able to contrast it with your strategy. 

Think of this innovation as building a whole new robot, and this contraption will be better off with not only your parts but bits and pieces of other businesses. It becomes the perfect marketing prototype moving forward.

Leverage Customer Data

By incorporating a customer 360 platform into their existing framework, businesses can take the necessary steps towards innovation. 

The best customer 360 platforms provide organizational intelligence by creating an interconnected data model that helps to break down silos and leverage insights from various departments. 

It collects and aggregates disparate bits of automated information to create one detailed view of customers. 

By having a single unified view of customer interactions, businesses are better able to identify patterns and relationships in customer behavior, allowing them to design innovative products and services that cater more effectively to their target audience. 

A customer 360 platform also enables real-time personalization for customers for a truly personalized experience.

Nail the product launch

Imagine this – you are already at the last step of your product, your product’s ready, you have your marketing plan all sorted out, and you already feel like you are gonna earn a million bucks.

The job isn’t done there. In fact, you’re only halfway through. 50% of your product’s success will be dependent on how you do with your product launch. Needless to say, you need to nail it.

1 out of 5 products will fail to meet customer expectations. To make your product boom, it needs to have a vision, and the value should be immediate. It is also worth noting that you need to have the right marketing people and product managers on the board. 

Understanding your market and your customer will be key to how you will go about your product launch, as putting yourself in the shoes of your customers will allow you to understand what it is exactly that can reel them in.

A good product can fail because of a poor product launch, and a mediocre product can find some momentum with a substantial product launch – do not take this one for granted.

Apply for business grants

If you are a business, seasoned or amateur, you must know that funding is essentially the most important factor in building a business from the ground up. This is where the risk comes in, the doubt and the uncertainty that you will fail to regain any of your capital.

This said, there are ways to help you gain confidence when it comes to gathering funds, resources, and equipment. One of these ways is getting a business grant, which can prove to be a different maker for juvenile businesses.

Grants are basically free money offered to new businesses without needing to be repaid. It can be Godsent for small businesses as it will provide them with all the finances needed to make a project successful. Who’s to reject a helping hand?

Especially when your venture happens to be in the realm of innovation, there are a lot of organizations that will be willing to assist you with your experimental process. One of which is the SR&ED Funding Program, which was put in place by Canada’s government to give credit to those who partake in research and development.

SR&ED wants you to be adventurous, daring, and willing to innovate. Innovation has become a priority for not only Canada’s government but for all governments worldwide, and with 3$ billion in credit going out to over 20,000 businesses, it’s safe to say that SR&ED may just be waiting for you at their doors.

Takeaway

Innovation keeps your business ahead of the curve. More often than not, businesses are more likely at the adjusting end of the spectrum when it comes to trends and market shifts, but innovation can help you stay ahead of your competition.

When you know what innovation strategy is and learn how to make the most out of it, innovation will keep the heart of your business beating, as there may be little hope for your business going into the future without it.

Author’s Bio:

Shelly Solis is a writer and search engine optimization specialist. She started as an online freelancer in 2011 and also formerly worked as a university teacher and a public servant. She is currently focused on SEO and marketing efforts for SaaS businesses, startups, and B2Bs.

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