Innovative ideas are the lifeblood of any business. Without them, a company can’t grow or expand its services. Even the smallest businesses need innovative ideas to grow. Small businesses have fewer resources than big businesses, making it harder for them to innovate in other areas. However, that doesn’t mean small businesses can’t innovate—they just have to work harder than their bigger competitors do. Do you think your company is missing out on an opportunity because you don’t have these creative juices flowing? Read on to find out if your company needs innovation to grow and expand.
1. Discovering the blue ocean
Let’s start with the basics: What is the blue ocean? This might sound like it’s straight out of a jargon-filled management book, but it’s actually a very simple concept. The blue ocean strategy is a new, untapped market that your company can create and dominate. The concept is about discovering a vast new market that other companies aren’t even thinking about, or even know about. It’s about finding an underserved market that other companies are not serving. For example, the blue ocean strategy is relative to the hotel industry. Airbnb-style vacation rentals have created a new market that existing hotels are not serving by renting vacation homes rather than a simple room. This is an example of how your business can reinvent a product or service that has been underserved. There are no rules to it. Just do it.
2. Learning how to pivot
So, you’ve found that vast, new market that other companies aren’t even thinking about—great work! But now you have to figure out how to stand out from all the other companies in that market and win customers over. A pivot means fundamentally changing the direction of a business when you realize the current products or services aren’t meeting the needs of the market. The main goal of a pivot is to help a company improve revenue or survive in the market, but the way you pivot your business can make all the difference.
3. Dominating your space
Now that you’ve found a new market and are starting to sell products, how do you become the standard? You want to dominate your space or keep competitors out of the market completely. It’s not easy to dominate a market, but it’s essential if you want to grow and expand. This requires careful planning and development of your product to ensure that it meets all of the consumers’ needs. It also requires a great deal of marketing to build awareness of your product and service.
4. Becoming the standard
Understanding the weaknesses of your competition is crucial for maintaining your competitive advantage. By identifying how to get the most out of the competition, you can gain a competitive edge to truly dominate the market. Implement competitive analysis into your marketing plan to better understand where your business needs to compete the most. Competition drives innovation; therefore, you should not be afraid of healthy competition and strive to improve your product or service like your competitors. To make your product the “best” choice for consumers, you have to meet all three of these requirements.
Conclusion
While there’s no single path to growth, finding innovative ideas and dominating your space can help your company grow and expand. In the dating example, you want to find the perfect date, then date only for a few months and see if you like them enough to date for a few years. If so, you’ll know that you’re dating the right person. Once you have the perfect date, it’s easier to keep dating that person. Don’t let the challenges of growth get in the way of your company’s growth. Innovative ideas and dominating your space will help your company grow and expand.
