Developing a Marketing Strategy for your Small Business

As well as being the major source of job creation in developed economies, small businesses are critical to driving economic growth through innovation and market expansion. There is growing evidence of the economic significance of the small proportion of businesses that exhibit high growth, which are to be found in all regions of the country and in all industry sectors.

Marketing plays a key role in the success of any small business and its potential growth. Your market is the individuals and organisations who buy your business’s products or services. Identifying who they are is the role of marketing. Remember that marketing and selling are different activities. Selling is the activity of influencing people to buy the goods or services.

When you’re in business for yourself, marketing is incredibly important. A good marketing strategy helps you define your vision, mission and business goals, and outlines the steps you need to take to achieve these goals.

Your marketing strategy shapes the way you operate your business, so it should be planned and developed with your team and can serve as an effective business tool that:

• Defines your business and its products and services
• Describes the market position and role of your products and services in the market
• Describes your customers and your competition
• Distinguishes the different marketing methods you will use
• Enables you to create a marketing plan and measure its effectiveness.

A marketing strategy sets the overall direction and goals for your marketing, and your marketing strategy could be developed for a few years. The marketing strategy will assist you in realising your business’s goals and building a strong reputation for your products.

A good marketing strategy helps you target your products and services to the people most likely to buy them. It usually involves you creating one or two powerful ideas to raise awareness and sell your products.

Your marketing strategy should include the following:

Identify your business goals – This will enable you to arrive at set of marketing goals to support them. Don’t ignore the SMART approach to developing goals.

State your marketing goals – By listing your specific marketing goals these will motivate you and help you measure your success. These marketing goals could be long-term and might take a few years to successfully achieve. A good marketing strategy will not be changed every year, but revised when your strategies have been achieved or your marketing goals have been met.

Research your market – Research is an essential part of your marketing strategy. You need to collate as much information as possible about your market, such as its size, growth, social trends and demographics. Use your market research to develop a profile of the customers you are targeting and what their needs are.

Research Your Competitors – Similarly, as part of your marketing strategy you should develop a profile of your competitors by identifying their products, supply chains, pricing and marketing tactics. Identify your competitive advantage and what sets your business apart from your competitors.

If you can choose the right combination of marketing across product, price, promotion, place, people, process and physical evidence. , your marketing strategy is more likely to be a success. Each is a variable you control and your effective use of the marketing mix will go a long way to ensuring your strategy is a success in attracting the customers you need to make your business a success.

Don’t ignore the importance of testing your ideas – Do some research, speak to your prospective customers, suppliers, staff and distributers assess what works and what may need tweaking. You will need to choose a number of tactics in order to meet your customers’ needs, reach the customers within your target market and improve your sales results.

Remember that your marketing strategy doesn’t have to be set in stone. Ideally it should as flexible as possible and subject to regular review and updating to reflect market changes and conditions. Don’t be afraid to embrace new technologies and always be prepared to adapt to the needs of your customers.

 

 

Government Announces New Tax Relief R&D Plan for SME‘s

A new plan has been announced detailing how the government will make it easier for small businesses investing in research and development to claim tax relief.

The two-year plan, announced by financial secretary to the Treasury David Gauke, is a response to an HMRC consultation that aims to increase take-up of research and development (R&D) tax relief through raising awareness of the relief amongst small businesses and making it easier for them to apply.

The tax relief, which encourages companies to invest in costly new product development, helps companies reduce the amount of corporation tax they pay on profits by offsetting them against any investment in research and development.

Latest statistics for 2013/14 show more than 15,000 small and medium-sized enterprises claimed the relief in 2013, an increase of around 19 per cent from the previous year, but the government wants to go further.

The financial secretary visited London-based footwear specialist Vivobarefoot to launch the plan and to see first hand how the government’s R&D tax relief has helped the small business invest in developing world class products.

Gauke says, ‘R&D is crucial for the long-term growth of the UK economy. Over 15,000 SMEs claimed the relief in 2013, an increase of around 19 per cent from the previous year, but we need to go further to support pioneering small businesses.

‘That’s why we’ve published a document setting out our plans to increase awareness and make it easier for people to apply.’

Vivobarefoot CEO Galahad Clark adds, ‘Innovation is at the heart of what we do. We are proving that the modern shoe industry, with its padding and support, is doing more harm than good and the modern world has a movement crisis. It’s good to have the government support us against the biggest brands in the world on what we think is a very important social mission.’

Vivobarefoot designs shoes to prevent common sports injuries caused by standard sports trainers. The company has claimed R&D tax relief for five years and has since become a market innovation leader, working at the cutting edge of running shoe technology.

The plan sets out that, from November, small companies with a turnover under £2 million and fewer than 50 employees will be able to seek advance assurance on R&D tax relief. It is proposed that this will give them greater certainty and enable them to plan their finances effectively.

HMRC will explore ways to improve its communication around R&D tax relief, including looking at ways to use data and work with other government agencies to identify companies that have carried out R&D but have not claimed relief.

Also, interactive guidance will be developed with stakeholder involvement.

HMRC evaluation shows that each £1 of tax foregone by R&D tax relief stimulates between £1.53 and £2.35 of additional R&D investment.

 

How a Small Business Can Make a Better Brand

Everyone knows how important brand is to any business. Some people believe a brand is the bunch of ideas and feelings your customers and your employees have about you. The ideal is that the stronger and more positive those ideas are, the more customers will purchase from you, and the longer they’ll remain loyal to you.

Large companies invest heavily in building their brands, and the ones who do it best tend to last longer and make more profit. But because brands are made of ideas and feelings, they’re tricky things and sometimes difficult to control. The best brands are natural things, whose meaning grows organically over time. They’re authentic, growing out of the reality of their company or product.

Small businesses, by contrast, are ideally placed to build the best possible brands. Often they’re founder-led, or family-owned, which makes the company a very personal thing. Values tend to be woven into the business. All those things to do with tone, style, beliefs, purpose, perceptions – which get summarised as branding

So what are the key mistakes Small businesses make and what can they do to solve them?

1. Not thinking about the brand

Many companies just don’t think about their brand at all. They focus on the day-to-day, internal aspects of their business: their craft, their product, their technology – not on the ideas and feelings in people’s minds out there in the world.

Solution: Every three months, step back from the day-to-day issues, bring some customers in, listen to them, find out what they value most about you.

2. Big spenders

Others think they can build their brand just by improving the website, tweeting and running adverts. But the ideas and feelings in people’s minds are influenced much more by reality than by communication.

Solution: Switch your spend from advertising into creating a brilliant experience for your customers, online and offline, from the moment they first encounter you. And, in your advertising, give people useful content, not empty sales talk.

3. Not communicating the brand values to employees

Many small companies fail to spread their brand thinking widely enough. The soul of the company is totally clear to the founder, but less so to their employees. The founder gets frustrated because their people are doing it wrong, and the people get frustrated because they don’t know what the right way is.

Solution: Write down your brand values in 100 words or less.

4. Failing to innovate

Often, small companies stay with a successful formula, even when it’s no longer successful. They don’t innovate, and they gradually become outdated. Brands are curious things: they partly depend on consistency and predictability, so that customers know what to expect, but they also thrive on novelty.

Solution: Every six months, try something new. Get a new service or product out into the world. Think of it as a prototype, and learn from it.

5. Being too secretive

Many small companies are surprisingly insular. They like to do things themselves, in their own way. They keep their methods secret. But consumer culture today is much more open. People want to see behind the scenes, they want to share the secrets, they want to make things as well as consuming them.

Solution: Whatever it is your company does, share it with your customers to help them feel like insiders and spread the brand.

Britain’s future rests with our best and brightest small businesses

The economy has always been pivotal in deciding the outcome of general elections in post-war Britain.

Next week’s election will be no different. The economy will be a key factor in how we all vote. And the future of Britain’s best and brightest small and e l in turn determine that economic health.

There are 4 million British SMEs that have an overwhelmingly positive effect on the health of the UK economy, job creation and the nation’s ability to innovate. We all need to care about what happens to these saviours of our future.

Many of the initiatives introduced by the last Government to support entrepreneurs and small businesses have been transformative. These initiatives have provided better access to finance, nurtured seedling enterprises and have helped to deliver economic growth.

Big business has a key role to play alongside government in helping to build on the success of the past few years: The London Stock Exchange Group launched its next cohort of “Elite” companies. Elite offers businesses a full programme to help them grow, including education and direct contact with Europe’s financial and advisory community. Managements are guided on how best to fast-track their development and capital raising processes, how to access the most suitable funding, and given advice on building their profile and reach.

This election is important for these stars of tomorrow. As much as they need partners in the business world, they need a strong partner in government, a government that wants to support them and see them prosper.

The challenge for any new government will be to maintain momentum and develop further a supportive environment for high-growth businesses like these Elite companies. The new government will need to ensure that SMEs can continue to access the finance they need to grow, developing from million-pound start-ups to billion-pound stars. It won’t be the big blue-chip companies that create the jobs: it will be the small businesses.

A record 500,000 new business start-ups emerged in Britain last year. The London Stock Exchange Group’s recent “1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain” publication found that some of the fastest-growing companies across the UK were not only in the digital and technology sector but also in the manufacturing, construction and engineering industries.

A subset of the UK’s 4 million SMEs have been identified as “the magic 6 per cent” or “scale-ups” that are particularly important to economic growth and job creation. It has been estimated that boosting these SMEs would create as many as 230,000 new jobs and add £38bn to UK GDP. We need to apply a multiplier effect to this “magic 6 per cent”.

We need to build an ecosystem that promotes the right type of funding for companies looking to scale up. Measures to provide SMEs with greater access to a wider range of risk capital have already yielded impressive results.

Bank lending is not the only answer. North America is the global leader in innovation and a key reason for this is that people, business and government are willing to back great ideas, not with debt but with equity. Risk capital in the form of equity is, for small businesses, often the most suitable way to finance growth. The decision made by the Chancellor in 2013 to abolish stamp duty on the purchase of shares in growth companies has been transformative. This was followed swiftly by a move to widen the eligibility of Isa investments to include Aim stocks.

These moves, which received cross-party support, were and are game-changing for British business and the UK. They have encouraged investment in high-growth companies, which in turn has lowered the cost of capital for companies looking to raise money and grow.

This is what the UK needs.

Since this change in tax policy, £4.4bn of Isa investments has been moved to support high-growth SMEs. The number of SMEs raising capital via initial public offerings (IPOs) has increased significantly. In 2014, London had 80 growth market IPOs on Aim, raising £2.8bn with an average IPO of £35m, injecting vital capital to UK SMEs.

Independent research by Grant Thornton showed that 3,580 companies have raised money over the past two decades on Aim, adding £14.7bn to UK GDP, supporting 430,000 jobs and paying £2.3bn in tax.

These statistics are real they show real delivery on promises to kickstart our economy, following one of the most frightening recessions in recent memory.

The next government needs to continue on the current path. Global support for SMEs is well understood as a driver of economic success. In France, for example, the courageous efforts by Emmanuel Macron – Minister of the Economy, to reverse anti-business rhetoric have sent a clear message in support of SMEs.

Our new government must build on the momentum that has been achieved since the end of the financial crisis and not put the successes of recent years at risk. Government must help deliver for Britain’s entrepreneurs and small businesses. As voters, as those who have gone before did, we need to once again put the economy and business high on our agenda.

5 Things CMO’s Must Avoid In The Digital Age

Staying isolated and not measuring are just two of the ways that CMOs can get themselves fired in an increasingly digital world.

CMOs today have a tough job, and it’s not getting any easier. Gone are the golden days when the all-holy TV commercial reigned supreme, when the push to win a Lions or a CLIO award consumed almost as much attention as planning the outfits for the ceremony after-parties. Meanwhile, since the United States appointed its first-ever CTO in 2009, we’ve seen the number of chief technology and chief information officers of the world grow almost as quickly as the big data that has made these new titles so necessary.

In a world ruled by technology and data, the CMO has to stay savvy to stay put.

Here are the five things that CMOs absolutely should not do if they want to keep their jobs in this quickly-changing digital age.

1. Stay Isolated

Want to lose your job? Then keep pretending like marketing exists in a vacuum and executing campaigns that leave your organisation’s data advantages on the table. Ignore the data that is being generated by other departments, shut out the customer insights that are being harvested in your research and CRM departments and stay far away from those crazy product teams.

The CMO heroes of tomorrow will be the ones who take on the big data questions from across their organisations and leverage proprietary data to their advantage: the airline CMO who uses revenue management data to drive demand instead of just managing it; the retail CMO who uses real-time location data to delight customers in new and interesting ways; the telecommunications CMO who cuts through the advertising noise with custom-tailored offers that perfectly match his clients phone usage.

2. Measure success the old-fashioned way, or worse, don’t measure at all

John Wanamaker famously complained that, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” While measuring effectiveness of advertising must have been a challenge for Wanamaker back in the 19th century, today’s CMOs have the tools and technology to measure return on investment with a great deal of accuracy and to be able to react in real-time. That’s why the success marketing campaign today must be measured in real results: did it drive sales? An advertising award will no longer tell the whole tale.

As connectivity is added to a host of new devices, surfaces and screens, the number of measurable marketing touch-points is growing every day. Those who can’t, or won’t, use technology to measure the success of marketing interactions across those devices and channels will fail. Meanwhile, KPIs like ROI, CPO and CLV will become the new love language of marketing. The modern CMO must be a hybrid of media strategist and technology expert, someone who can deal as well with data analysis as with creative briefings. While previously the CMOs inbox was filled with pitches for creative, brand awareness, media and market research, today these decks cover topics like attribution, incrementality, cost-per-profit and more.

3. Assume that “big data” is the best data

There’s no question that big data is a big deal, there’s a reason that phrase graced the word count of nearly every digital marketing article in 2014. The trouble is that big data is usually also a big mess. Just because the data is created doesn’t necessarily mean it should be kept, and just because it’s been kept doesn’t necessarily make it structured or usable. Sometimes, trying to get value out of unstructured big data can be like getting blood from a stone lots of effort with little return.

The CMOs who want the chance to stick around should go smart before they go big when it comes to data strategy. Smart data strategy means using the data you already have the structured, accessible data stores that are already used to drive other parts of the business to make marketing work harder. From customer relationship management to on-site behavioural data, from revenue management to real-time inventory: these are the smart data stores that you can put to work tomorrow.

4. Leave innovation and new partnerships to the agency

The days of the single agency partner are long gone. Today’s CMO is responsible for orchestrating results from dozens of vendors, agencies and service providers spanning every device and channel in the book. It’s no wonder that Gartner predicted that, by 2017, the CMO will spend more on IT than the CTO.

With so many moving parts and technologies that seem to change at lightning speed, a successful media consultancy depends on getting good advice from data specialists and technology experts who know as much about product feeds and tag management as they do about CRM databases. That said, these experts are rare, and as such, they’re often found at the source of innovation. Technology providers are becoming ever more important in their roles as advisor to the CMO. When it comes to innovation and technology adoption, every CMO should make it a personal mission to work with and learn from only the best in the market.

5. Focus on customer acquisition at the expense of loyalty

It’s an easy mistake to make, but it could be a career-ender: don’t get so caught up in gaining new customers that you forget to take care of your existing ones. Customer centricity is no longer the remit of the CRM department alone, but must be extended to every part of the business.

Sure, filling the top of the funnel is a huge part of growing a business. But if you lose customers just as quickly as you gain them, then sustainable growth it is not. It’s time for marketers to realise that an investment today could and probably should be measured not only in terms of immediate return, but also in terms of potential future gain. Customer lifetime value is the name of the new game.

And what better way to lose a customer than to deliver offers that are irrelevant, stale or too-often-seen? Cat food for dog owners and sanitary napkins for men these missed connections are helping CMOs lose customers every day. When the next option is only a few clicks or keystrokes away, marketers will have to work harder than every before to win customer affection. The CMOs who win will be those who learn to use the automation power and real-time speed of programmatic technologies to provide user-individual marketing at scale.

How to find your perfect business idea

If your dreams of running your own business are frustrated by the notion that you have to come up with a brilliant new idea, think again. The key is to come up with a business concept that is relevant in today’s market to meet customers’ needs. The majority of successful new businesses are based on existing ideas, products or services with maybe a tweak or improvement in the offering, thereby creating its appeal in the current market.

We all develop a unique set of experiences as our work and personal lives and this is where we suggest you go hunting for your own new business idea. To achieve this you need to undertake a thorough, logical and well-organised search including researching the current market and the ideas will begin to flow.

Our suggestion is that you adopt the following three-stage approach.

1. What skills have you developed?

Look at all your historical experiences. You will have developed specific skills in your career, which may be provide the basis for a business. In addition, you should think about the different companies and market sectors that you have worked in. Some will have been more interesting and enjoyable than others. More than likely, you will have excelled in those elements of the businesses that you found most interesting and enjoyable.

Do not confine your thinking to those experiences you have had at work, though. Think about the skills you have developed outside of work too. In particular, what do you most enjoy doing when you are not working and what would you ideally love to spend more time doing? It could be sports related, voluntary work or just a hobby, but importantly this pastime could involve additional skills. Creating a business that focuses on a hobby can create a very satisfying future job.

2. What’s going to work?

Once you have documented your past, you can think about your experience in the context of what is happening right now.

Look for areas of growth in the economy for instant inspiration. Look for businesses that are succeeding and explore if there is room for you. We live in a world where people are prepared, even in times of recession, to pay for perceived added value.

Similarly, look around for changes and opportunities that are being thrown up through the depressed economic climate. Is a particular market now being inadequately served? Staying abreast of local press, business publications and trade organisations may suggest some possibilities. The London Gazette, available online, publishes a variety of insolvency notices including winding up petitions and orders and details of the appointment of administrators and liquidators. Keep your eyes and ears open.

The world is becoming a smaller place all the time and this opens opportunities for you to be able to source products from afar and take them into a more local market. Also, there is a very rich vein of consumer interest in locally sourced products.

Think about your friends and colleagues, as you may be able to marry up your business and management skills with someone else’s physical or creative skills.

Online shopping is the fastest growing area of the retail trade. Can you see opportunities to meet consumer need with a product with limited online provision?

3. Think long-term

Finally, do not forget to look forward.

There are certain global and local trends in markets and demographics that you should consider when searching for your inspiration. It makes sense to go into a business that has future growth potential. The media can be a good source of information as they regularly report on new trends – the skill here is to find long-term opportunities as opposed to short-term fads.

But possibly the greatest inspiration of all is to try to envisage how it will feel to have your own business. Think about the rewards of running your own company both financially and emotionally and the benefits of being independent. More than anything, this should spur you on. Your personal experience is unique and should be the foundation for any new business venture; don’t underestimate it as it can go a long way to making your business unique too.

Big Increase in young entrepreneurs and start-ups following recession

Record numbers of young people are starting businesses, according to new statistics released by data research firm Duedil and small business network Enterprise Nation.

A new report, released today, compared pre-recession company formation rates in 2006 with latest statistics in 2013, showing a marked increase across all age groups.

The under-35 age bracket saw the steepest increase in activity. In 2006 there were 145,104 companies founded by young people. By 2013 it had jumped to 247,049.

Young men are leading the charge in the start-up stakes, however. The figures show that 74pc of these new firms are run by men, while just 26pc are founded by women.

Younger entrepreneurs are now also less likely to co-found. Statistics show 66pc of young people launched their firm with a partner in 2006. By 2013 that had dropped to 42pc.

This research adds weight to existing research into youth entrepreneurship in Britain. According to UnLtd, a foundation for social entrepreneurship, more than 55pc of young people aged 16 to 25 now want to set up their own firm. A report from Santander also estimated that 80,000 UK university students run a business, and a quarter of these plan to turn it into a career when they graduate.

Emma Jones, founder of small business network Enterprise Nation, said: “These statistics show that younger generations are no longer pinning all their hopes on finding the perfect job, they are taking their destiny into their own hands and creating a business around a skill, a passion or a hobby.”

However, research from entrepreneur network Shell LiveWIRE and Youth Business International last November found that while 18pc of 18-34 year olds in the UK have a business idea and believe they have the entrepreneurial skills to start a venture, fewer than 4pc go on to create a company that pays a wage and makes a profit.

The statistics show there was also an increase in those registering companies in the over 35 bracket, with a 55pc increase in this age group over the same time period.

 

How to introduce a smarter working strategy into your business

Written by: James Caan

From planning with precision to hiring an extra helping hand, there are simple steps you can take to incorporate smarter working practices into your business.

We hear a lot in business about ways to cut corners and make everything quicker and easier. Of course, there’s no way you can truly do this, because you will always be compromising on quality or potential at some level.

However, there is something to be said about working smarter and finding creative ways to get the best out of limited resources and focusing on productivity. The faster you learn to do this, the better it is in the long run. As someone who has been in business for over 30 years, I know this only too well.

Let’s take a look at some ways in which you can adopt a “work smart” attitude and apply it to your business.

The first and arguably most important step is planning. This isn’t just knowing what meetings you have in the day; this is about prioritising and ranking tasks and projects by their level of importance. This is critical to streamlining your thought process when making business decisions. It can seem impossible to gather your thoughts and create clarity in your mind when you have a lot of work to get done. As a startup this is especially true as you juggle the conceptual, admin and financial sides of a business all at once. You understand your business better than anyone so make things easier for yourself by being organised from the outset. Eventually all of the preparation will help you make better thought out decisions – leaving less space for mistakes.

As a new business, you will be strapped for cash, so initially you will be doing much of the work yourself. However, in order to grow as a business, you have to focus on your business model to refine it. One key area that will help you is hiring extra resource to share the load. They may be a full or part-time person – you will know what’s best for your business. Remember you have to be able to justify the cost of bringing somebody into the business. I have spoken in a previous piece about hiring at the right time – if your workload justifies it and you can find someone that really adds value, then you know the time is right to make a hire.

If you can find a specialist in an area that is key to your business, you will reap the benefits of delegation by saving your time, while working with individuals who have the expertise to help your business grow.

Of course, the caveat of delegation is just as former United States senator Byron Dorgan stated – you can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility. Ultimately, as the business owner, all the good and bad decisions will come down to you, so to ensure that accountability doesn’t drive you out of business, you need to make the right decisions when delegating. Communication also plays a big role here – something I learned early on in my career was that when things went wrong, it was probably because I hadn’t explained it well enough. Communicating tasks clearly to the right people will ensure they get done just as effectively as if you did it.

Now, things don’t always go well and there are businesses that fail. However I truly believe that failure is one of life’s greatest lessons, and will teach you a lot about yourself and the market. I myself have failed in business before, but the key is to pick yourself up because a true entrepreneur is resilient. More than this, admitting to failure earlier rather than later will save you both time and money. Even at a smaller level, if a decision in your business isn’t working for you, abandon the idea before you are in so deep that you have to abandon your own business.

The benefits of working smarter are undeniable. Not only will you have a better work/life balance, but you will be more satisfied with the performance of both yourself and your business. You can focus on the areas that matter most, and this can only be of benefit to the overall growth of your business.

How technology and innovation can be positive change factors

Technology and Innovation are powerful tools for change, in both positive and negative ways. As we begin to face up to the multiple economic, environmental and social challenges of our time, could it be that technology offers the solutions at the speed and scale required?

From clean energy to the mobilisation of collaborative consumption, the force of technology to drive sustainability is in many ways unrivalled. Africa’s mobile banking revolution, global consumer movements such as Tck Tck Tck, alternative energy sources and the power of social media to propel change are all examples of technology’s unique ability to redefine the way systems, society and governments work.

Innovation within business, such as Nike’s work to scale sustainable textiles or the growing incorporation of biomimicry in the design of buildings, could offer new ways of thinking and doing. But it’s not just about grand ideas. The kind of systemic change required to tackle large scale sustainability challenges will only come about through collaboration; by bringing together and catalysing the ideas of product designers, business thinkers, regulators, NGOs, scientists and many more experts.

In an interview, Diane Coyle, author of Economics of Enough, describes technology as “a driver” for sustainable change. Doyle uses mobile phones as an example of the transformational effect that technology can have, explaining how they have moved from being “yuppie toys” to being a market driver in developing economies. However, she also warns that technology has a dualistic nature and can further entrench elite power structures within society.

“We are in an economy with lots of concentrated power, the economic elites are extraordinarily powerful. Just look at how little banking and financial reform there has been given a crisis on this scale, I find it absolutely extraordinary but that’s a measure of embedded power in the economy and technology could embed that even further.”

Ultimately, as Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, co-chairman at Infosys, says, it will be people who decide whether technology is leveraged for good or bad and where the limits lie.

“If you look at the challenges facing humanity today such as climate change and poverty and water scarcity, they all need answers from using technology, but we have to be very careful we look at any unintended consequences. We have to control technology rather than letting technology control us.”

Change is ever evolving and relies on organisations being able to enhance their means and methods of communication with their staff, to gain their commitment. This requires more face to face contact and consideration should also be given to contract staff who provide a service to the organisation, but are not employee’s directly.

The organisation’s vision is paramount and its ability to communicate and gain this commitment will under pin its change management deliverables.

 

Innovation an act not merely words

In the course of our projects, I’ve been very fortunate to come across some truly tremendous people who are inventive, creative and absolutely brilliant, in mind and thought. I am a big fan in recruiting and working with the best. It poses another question in terms of organisations. How innovative are organisations in today’s business world.

Innovation is about taking the creative ideas that can be generated within a company or from their partners or competitors, and putting them into action, to drive your business forward.

The most successful organisations have strategies in place to capture innovation from all angles. Creativity is the starting point for innovation; you need to assess your services, processes and products, and transform them into a competitive advantage. How can you achieve this?

You need to look inside your business and identify what methods you have in place to capture ideas. Ask yourself, if you have the systems in place, to monitor the trends, within your marketplace? What methods have you got to interact and do joint work with your suppliers or business partners? What means have you available, to improve your service or products? Finally, how do you assess what your marketplace competitors are doing?

Innovation should be part of your overall business strategy. Innovation put properly into action, can be the competitive difference and it can drive better business performance, resulting in a much higher quality service or product. You should use all the means available to you, to generate feedback from staff, customers and suppliers. This feedback can lead to you making improvements and increase your long-term competitiveness and profitability.

If you are going to promote innovation within your organisation, you need to create an atmosphere, which encourages people within your organisation, to contribute their creative thinking. Encourage risk taking among your staff, without fear of criticism or blatant rejection at the outset. Ask yourself, do you have sufficient processes within your organisation, to capture those ideas consistently. How do you currently value and reward your staff when they produce a creative idea, which when implemented, is an innovative success.

Innovation is about taking action, it is central to adding value to your organisation. It creates that differentiating factor which leads to long-term success.

If you want to place innovation at the core of your organisations strategy, you need to consider what is required. How does your recruitment process ensure you recruit creative and innovative people? What impact will such a strategy have on your organisations training? What resources do you need to make it happen? What financial commitment will you require on an on-going basis and most importantly, how will you protect your idea?

Creativity is the actual thought aspect; innovation is about taking that thought and putting it into action. Most successful innovative acts will make a lot of money, do not make the fatal mistake and not protect it. Patent your idea, trademark it, do whatever you need to protect your innovation.

Innovation can provide your business with many benefits such as;

Increased product life, new product development, reduced costs, increased brand value, staff retention, business longetivity and profitability, to name but a few.

All businesses need to consider what emphasis they place on innovation. Innovation can be transformational and take your business to the next level. Innovation needs to be at the core of your business and use it to transform and drive your growth and success.

Innovation empowers your staff to do their creative best and enables you to be productive and take action. Innovation is about being resourceful, producing results and enabling your business to constantly evolve and reach its true potential.

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