Are you guilty of not prioritizing innovation for business? If yes, then you are far from alone. Many business owners get so caught up in the day-to-day running of their company that they fail to make sufficient time to plan for the future. Others, once they start to enjoy regular profits, simply believe that they don’t need to innovate. As Bill Gates once famously said:
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
If either of the above applies to you and your brand, you should know that no business is safe from the current and, quite frankly depressing economic outlook. That being said, there is no reason why your business can’t flourish in 2021 and beyond. You just need to make sure that you are taking the time to be innovative. This is how you can make your business more innovative this year and, in turn, enjoy more success.
- Create a pros and cons list
If you are not sure where to start when it comes to making your business more innovative, a great place to start is by looking at your current strengths and weaknesses. What are you currently succeeding at? Where are you coming up short?
Once you have a detailed list of your pros and cons as a business, you can now brainstorm ways to improve upon the positives and reduce the negatives. Remember, no idea is a bad idea, so make sure your employees feel emboldened to share their thoughts.
- Consider an external partner
It takes both time and effort to create an innovation strategy for your business, and you need to act quickly if you are going to stay one step ahead of the trends. If you don’t think that this is achievable in-house, you may want to think about looking into innovation partners.
For those who haven’t come across this concept before, an innovation partner is a platform, organization, or individual. Multiple companies work together towards a common goal, namely to uncover new approaches to existing problems within a particular niche. In terms of your business, having an innovation partner can help you to gain fresh insights into your products or services, as well as your customers, resulting in your brand moving in new and exciting directions.
- Focus on digital marketing
Small businesses are more at risk than ever before, and this is especially true for ones with a physical location. To avoid becoming just another small business statistic in 2021, start by focusing your efforts on creating an effective and long-term digital marketing strategy.
Although this can be daunting, particularly if you have not gone down this route before, it is essential to the survival of your business over the coming year. If you don’t know where to begin when it comes to moving your business online, start by simply taking your existing marketing strategies and applying them on the web. Then, when you are feeling more comfortable, start to introduce products or services that you can actually sell online as well as in your physical store.
Don’t forget to also use the power of social media to promote your business, especially if you are trying to target a younger demographic.
- Recruit innovative people
So simple, yet so effective. If you want your business to be more innovative, you should look for innovative new talent. When hiring new employees, look for those who see things differently to you, who can bring a fresh perspective to your business and its current practices.
When conducting interviews, look for evidence of diversity and focus not just on their professional background but also on their leisure interests and their past education. Understandably, the more diverse your workforce, the more innovative it will be.
- Embrace new technologies
Another great way to become a leader of innovation in your field is to use the latest technologies to your advantage. If you have been put off investing in new tech because of the upfront costs involved, you should know that by choosing the right technological tools for your business, you can lower your operating costs, boost your overall productivity and increase employee morale.
New technologies you may want to check out include:
- Video conferencing
- Social media outreach
- Intelligent automation
- Cloud innovation
- XaaS
- Create a culture of innovation
As well as recruiting innovative people, you also need to work on creating an innovative culture for your existing employees. One way to achieve this is by ensuring that all your staff feel valued and safe sharing and voicing their opinions.
As a manager or business owner, it is down to you to ensure that the lines of communication between employees and management are open at all times. Ways to encourage open communication include:
- Organize regular brainstorming sessions.
- Offer employees a simple way to submit their ideas, perhaps digitally.
- Provide an incentive program for innovative ideas.
- Offer innovative training opportunities such as virtual reality and mobile learning.
- Organize creative events
As the saying goes, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” and this is particularly pertinent when it comes to fostering innovation in your workplace. Therefore, you need to take the time to organize team events outside of the office that are specifically designed to get people’s creative juices flowing.
The key to success with this step is to not make your chosen activity feel like a work event. It needs to be focused on fun but not the “drinking in a local bar” type of fun.
Don’t worry if the majority of your employees are currently working remotely, as there are lots of virtual team-building games and activities that you can try.
Becoming innovative will not happen overnight, especially if you have been stuck in your current ways for a long time. That being said, you will find that once to start to embrace creativity and innovation within your workforce, it will become a natural part of your overall business strategy.
