Innovation in Marketing
“A business enterprise has two and only two basic functions: marketing and innovation.” — Peter Drucker
Unlike what most people think, I believe innovation extends beyond the concept of an “idea” or a “new piece of technology”; instead, innovation is about putting your ideas into practice. As both innovation and marketing work together to drive your business to achieve entrepreneurial success, you’ll realize that one can’t really exist without another.
Every day, new ideas are created and this is how innovations work their way into the business culture. Integrating these ideas into actionable measures that will work in the market require appropriate marketing strategies. The collaborative efforts from innovation and marketing therefore lead to innovative marketing.
Still, what is innovative marketing?
First, let’s take a look at the definition of each word.
Innovation involves the creation of new ideas that have a positive impact on a new product or service. Marketing then communicates the information of the said product and service to the intended target market.
Innovative marketing thus combines the two concepts which involve the invention and implementation of new marketing methods to promote a new product or service in an unconventional way.
The purpose of innovative marketing
The primary role of innovation in marketing is to explore new markets which will ultimately lead to an increase in sales and profitability of your business.
At the front-end of the innovation process, innovation marketing contributes to the identification of the future and new market opportunities and research into customer needs. During the product development process, innovation marketing has the task of assuring the continuous involvement of customers and users in the process.
At the back end, innovative marketing is responsible for ensuring a successful introduction of the new product and service to the intended target audience, which is also anchored to the product’s overall life-cycle.
With businesses moving away from the conventional way of doing business, innovation marketing therefore should be present in all phases of marketing funnel to ensure that customer and market orientation aligns with the advancement of technology, which often leads to the application of new marketing approaches.
Brands that succeed in bringing innovation and marketing together
In this highly competitive digital age, innovative marketing is definitely an exciting approach to increase brand awareness and visibility in such a way that have a positive impact on consumer’s mind while trying to optimize the marketing budgets.
Here are some of the companies that have successfully employed it.
IKEA
When talking about innovative marketing, IKEA focuses on enhancing the overall customer experience.
From launching augmented reality integrated app to provide their customers with elevated shopping experience, providing simple yet aesthetically pleasing DIY products that customers can easily assemble on their own, to introducing a platform to directly help their customers to sell their second-hand furniture online, IKEA successfully integrates innovation into their brand culture and executes it on a level of detail that is ahead of their competitors.
Netflix
Netflix is the perfect example to show what data can do to you as part of your innovative marketing initiatives. One of the crucial factors that attributes to Netflix’s success today is the implementation of data and analytics of consumer viewing behavior and demand.
Netflix meticulously analyzed and collected intensive data about Hollywood entertainment to help them design their content and production endeavors, as well as formulate the appropriate marketing strategy to directly market their products and satisfy their target customer’s needs.
Expedia
We all agree. Content marketing is one of the most important elements in the marketing process and Expedia successfully showed you how to integrate innovation into it!
The company introduces interactive map to entice their audience on various topics, from mythical creatures, the world of movies, even otherworldly destinations. Users can simply navigate icons on the map to learn information, such as “how to get there” or “where to stay”.
Using a simple interactive medium, Expedia successfully creates an evergreen content to improve their overall engagement and create new conversion opportunities. From SEO’s point of view, these maps also serve as a brilliant way to promote back-link and boost the company’s authority within the travel industry.
Building innovative culture in your company
Innovating in marketing is both an art and a science.
The art is in finding a way to utilize your existing resources to trigger better business outcomes. The science is about carefully observing the outcome and using that data to improve your future campaigns.
I agree that innovation and marketing are inseparable. After all, the benefits of innovation for brand marketing efforts are clear. Effective marketing strategies require brands to have the ability to adapt to change and to grasp new opportunities. Innovation thus allows brands to conceptualize their new ideas into actions.
The key to innovative marketing, therefore, lies in the business culture, not the products. What you as a leader and entrepreneur can do as a start is to promote a business environment that encourages proactive innovative thinking among your employees.
Provide them with a purpose, and then create the right conditions to empower innovation. Afterwards, gather the necessary resources and talents then encourage collaboration to blend in their strengths. And finally, focus on the problem. Remember, every great idea addresses a real customer’s problem!
So, what other innovative marketing strategies have you employed at your company?
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