Innovation - Using "No" to Reach "Yes"
- Omer Ben Yehuda
- Nov 1, 2004
- 3 min read
Finding one good idea that will move your business forward is one of the hardest things to do.
Whether inventing a patent, selling an innovative service or product, or even integrating into an existing market with new management methods, this good idea is sometimes the pillar upon which the organization will either fall or rise.
However, after the wheel has begun to move and the idea has proven itself, finding a way to renew and continue the momentum of success is even harder.
Many companies have succeeded in entering the market with a brilliant idea but collapsed after it exhausted itself or became common knowledge, and they failed to evolve.
How do we avoid this decline? How do we maintain success?
The answer is in an old-new word: Innovation!
After we've developed a product or service, sold it to our target audience, used specific sales and service methods, and we feel it's time for a refreshment, we can think about the following directions:
The Who?
Have we exhausted our target audience? Is there another target audience, perhaps one we didn't initially consider, who might be interested in our message? Take, for example, the Association for the Fight Against Breast Cancer - after they felt that reaching out to secular women had exhausted its potential, they began to approach a unique sector: women in the ultra-Orthodox community. Another example is that companies developing mobile games knew teenage boys dominated their target audience. An entire target audience was missed - girls. Adapting existing games for girls by changing character names and/or objectives (saving the dream prince instead of the dream princess) opened up a completely new market, and it was recently reported that the trend in computer game dominance has changed, with girls now being the controlling majority in the world.
Same product, innovative target audience.
Sometimes, a new approach to the target audience or audience adaptation is the solution for innovation.
The What?
Is our product/service still relevant? Is it time to try new directions with it? It's difficult to abandon a successful idea and take a risk with a new product, but it's not always necessary. One method for innovation is to use "no" as a way to "yes": we need to think about our limitations. What's stopping us from progressing and developing? Identifying limitations can generate new and brilliant ideas. Sports shoe companies did this when they realized their shoes were too heavy; they searched for new materials and created lighter shoes. Computer companies found a way to take a computer the size of a living room and put it - and even more - into a laptop.
Identifying reasons and limitations for development can be the leverage we need for innovation.
The How?
We all know sales methods that work and methods we should avoid like fire. But to stay fresh, we need to think innovatively: the most prominent example is the improvement in customer service perception and promotional emphasis on this as leverage for sales. Other innovative ways are merging brands and refreshing products. Food companies do this often when they remarket an old product in new packaging; car companies do it when they take a car model, slightly change its shape, give it a new name, and market it as the best car of the next year.
Sometimes, what we have is enough, but improving how we present it expresses innovation.
Innovation is not just a word. Innovation is a concept with survival value that can be the difference between a company's success and its bankruptcy. If we maintain a positive atmosphere that promotes ideas, innovation can also be exciting and add spice to the routine life in our organization.
Innovate yourselves!
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