Often at New Marketing Labs we discuss the concept of innovation and its impact on clients and their businesses.  What is interesting to note is that often people are looking at innovation as fundamental changes to the way things are done.  For instance, the introduction of the internet was innovation. As was the car, the plane, the boat, the telephone, the light bulb, and many other inventions that created change in the way we function as individuals or businesses.  People often look at these types of innovative ideas and think - to be innovative we really need to BREAK THE MOLD and fundamentally change things. 

At New Marketing Labs, we realize that while exciting, the fundamental change ideas that create innovation are few and far between and more fail than succeed over the long term.  In contrast, we look at innovation as an incremental change that may seem small in its implementation but is huge in its impact.

For instance, when we launched our event technologies business many years ago, we decided we needed to be innovative to have an impact and be noticed.  To accomplish this, we decided to turn the computers at our registration desks around and allow people to register themselves.  We called it "Self-Registration" and won huge acclaim and accolades and ultimately a significant amount of business because of this "innovative idea" when in fact it was an amazingly simple one - literally just turning the computer around.

When companies are looking to be innovative, they need to look at their current processes and offerings and determine which incremental adjustments would have the largest impact.  To do this, companies need to look from the outside in, not the inside out.  Often, people are looking at being innovative by trying to figure out "What can we do" or "what can we do different".  Instead, ask yourself these questions:

1. What are our clients / customers looking for us that we are currently not providing?
2. Where are our clients / customers spending the most time that is NOT providing the most value and how can I change it?
3. What 3 things that we are currently clients / customers doing as a part of our offering are the most "frustrating" or "annoying" or "inconvenient" for our customer?
   

Once you see the answers to these questions, you will then see where an incremental innovation will have the most impact and provide the most value.  From there, you have the roadmap and the opportunity will be clear.

Photo by: Clearly Ambiguous