The Engaging Brand

Bob-o-Graphic on What Make an Innovative Culture

This week on The Engagigng Brand we discussed Innovation with Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg  and as the book gives a great insight into business innovation we have created a little Bob-o-graphic for you to use.

1. Focus beats freedom. You need to focus on ideas that matter to the business.
2. Insights come from the outside. Connect to the outside world to find original ideas.
3. Be ready - in fact want to - tweak as first ideas are usually flawed.
4. Select -  Remember your role is to select ideas, as not all ideas are created equal and you must discard the rest so you can focus on the best.
5. Stealthstorm past the internal politics so they work for you not against. Internal politics of innovation will always exist....your role is to pave the way for the innovation to succeed.

And then add that vital leadership behavior.....Persist - Not for ONE day but EVERY day to move from one successful product launch to a business culture that lives and breath innovation - helping your people bring great ideas to life.

This is based on the HBR book Innovation as Usual - website here

10 Step Creative Manifesto for Innovation in Business

Innovating is the lifeblood of any business, not just in terms of product design but also in creative thinking. Innovation is so often seen as the domain of a function however innovation in business needs to be fostered across the whole of the company.

To help here is a creative manifesto 

How to Encourage Creativity

Most brands, most businesses want innovation but then put so many controls in place which  prevent it from happening.

One of my friends was a fashion designer who was hired to help give the brand's range a greater creative design focus...when her boss gave her the first task, he said...

"Be as creative as you like....the only boundaries are....it needs to be all black and a plain t-shirt!"

Mmm she left not long after that!

But how do you breed a sense of creativity, a culture of creative ideas? We all need some boundaries yet we need to trust in our teams...

The answer is simple.

Don't be true precise with your instructions because too much clarity won't bring creativity....instead suggest ideas, emotion that you want the consumer to feel and indeed the end goal and then let them find the way of bringing those pieces together!

Boundaries are only there to show the playing field, within those boundaries it is the creative approach which will set you apart from your competitors

How do you build a brand?

Conflict sounds bad as we associate with war....but from a brand marketing and even a career advice of view, conflict can really help you to succeed. Here's why...

I was reading about Chad Hurley - founder of YouTube and how he got the idea for You Tube through his conflict with art and technology and it reminded me that 'what is innovation?' can be answered..it is conflict resolution!

• Often it is when someone packages in a different way....so PC's could become art objects according to Steve Jobs, an orange squeezer becomes decorative in the kitchen through Phillipe Starck
• Often it is the conflict you feel that nothing fulfills your need...so think Zipcar, think You Tube.
• Often it is a conflict through the pressure of life that you feel....so an easy way of doing something.....think how Google has transformed how we find out about things!

To build a brand is to stand for something, or stand against something...freedom (Southwest Airliines, Google, Zipcar). But to stand for something you need to feel passionate about it....and that often comes from the conflict that you feel...

So today...turn that conflict into a business opportunity, see conflict as a source of creativity.

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Creating Customer Experience Through Social Media Innovation

Innovation in business tends to be seen as relating to the product or service.

Now of course new products are vital but when it comes to social media, the business opportunity is even greater...

In social media marketing it is not just about innovations in technology, it is also about innovation in the website content.

We are human and we can be blown away with all the innovations from a technology perspective....and ignore a vital element of the customer experience.

"Content is what will engage the customer"

Too often in social media we fail to have a content strategy that looks at the social media prism of innovation.

A prism in optics is defined as a "transparent object..triangular withrefracting surfaces at an acute angle with each other and that separates white light into a spectrum of colors."

Social media marketing is about creating that spectrum of colours to your customers and that spectrum is created through creative thinking across the following areas

• Content, content, content - this is the lifeblood...the air that your customers read. So if it isn't valueable to their lives...it won't matter about the delivery mechanism.
• Social Delivery mechanism - how does your market consume content? How can you design a delivery that meets your consumers needs?
• Social Technology - how can technology help you achieve the top two items...this is the enabler of a great customer experience NOT the customer experience in itself.

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Are You The Prophet for Profit Leader?

Ironic isn't it that to make profit...you have to be almost prophet like?

You need to think about business ideas that will sell in the future and now with social media, marketing ideas that will be shared.

When you combine that with looking at future trends, anticipating ahead on talent management...the future is at the centre of all we do as leaders. The irony is that we get promoted on what we did, rather than what we can do....does that make sense in such a reactive world in which we live?

So why do we spend so little time in our working day, thinking about the future? Why are so many business meetings about the past? Why do we keep looking back when we need to look forward and create our own business growth?

The answer is that it is easier...but when something is easier...it doesn't make it the right management decision! It is easier as you have facts rather than prediction, you have analysis rather than insight.....

But this week as a leader imagine yourself being the Oscar nominated Business Director in 5 years time.....for creating a blockbuster of a team, of a brand, of a business (you choose!). What do youneed to do today, to create that future success?

• What talent do you need to cast in your business?
• What setting do you need to produce a great customer experience?
• What story can you develop to wow your marketplace?
• How do you create simplicity through editing nice to have's but not need to have's in the product/service?
• How creative can you be within the budgetary constraints...use the contraint to inspire the creativity rather than the constraint to limit the creativity.

How to Recharge Your Mind This Weekend

The weekend I find is a great time to recharge. Recharging means relaxing, means laughing with family and friends but also allowing our minds some space to think. The problem with modern life is that time can feel short.

Yet our minds need to be given the time to digest all the information, all the ideas we are consuming. You see I think it is even more vital now because we are on the verge of something very different.

Social media is often likened to the printing press in democratising information. But we are only at the start of this adventure. The printing press was revolutionary but remember it became much more powerful over time, over decades, over centuries.

Social business is like the first few printing presses....revolutionary but only the start.

Whilst your mind has space, try not to think about what is happening now, to that blocks are occuring within your business to progress now, or even what you need to do next week in terms of social media marketing.

No...let your mind wander with the principle of where this could lead, of what is democratising, of what this means for society and business as a whole.

Then next week when you are once again at your desk ploughing through your in tray, ticking off the action points of today....allow 20 minutes each day in your diary to contemplate the following

"We are on the verge of something, something that will be bigger than social networking or tweets etc.....what small step can I take now to ensure that when I step over that verge....I can fly...our brand can fly....our company can fly"

This isn't about how to do now social media now as much as how to construct the social business of tomorrow......

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The 3 Dimension's of Great Business Ideas

Too often people feel as though they need to protect ideas. They feel those ideas give them control.

As I always say it is not the idea's that give you control, it is the sharing of idea's that give you control.

Imagine if Einstein had kept all his ideas to himself? He is considered a genius because of sharing his idea's and allowing others to benefit, add and evolve his idea's into different products.

So if it is good enough for Einstein, isn't sharing a great brand management strategy?

BUT people say....if I share ideas on social media then they won't want to use me....well if you only know enough for a 140 characters on Twitter or a couple of paragraphs in a starting a blog and blog posting consistently..then you are in trouble!!

It is the sharing that brings the ideas to life. Bob and Babs in their little cartoon, show a 3 Dimensional IDEA.....that is because sharing in social media marketing is about taking that idea and allowing it to grow in breadth, depth and length. It creates and demonstrates thought leadership.

Breadth is created by allowing that idea to be seen by more people, more potential consumers.

Depth is created by comments and futher sharing that give you concepts of how that idea can work better, can evolve, can be amended etc

Length is created by online publishing which means that the idea is always there...ready for anyone to use..today or in a decade.

Ideas which are contained to a few people are flat, one dimensional. Ideas which are allowed to come alive through social media are your taster's to your main course of what you offer...

The question is...will people want to eat your main course of website content, without a taster?

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Why Social is Not Just for Marketing

Test markets are part of launching a new product, yet test marketing can be difficult and costly. However a side effect of social media is the ability to prototype and to use the research & development process to engage the consumer community. 

One of the huge upsides to a company like Kickstarter is the ability to forward sell and in the process receive feedback on product design. Amazing because what is research and development if it isn't about understanding and working with the consumer base?

Social media can often be seen as a pure marketing tool but the social element is reaching beyond the sales process. We need to start extending our thinking past marketing.....why can't social be part of the business DNA as a whole?

Social production with the consumer printing it out, social funding like Kickstarter, social resourcing as a network of skills. The social web is not just about conversations about product, it gives the consumer the chance to come inside the walls of the business. It gives the business the chance to really develop customer relationship management and merge supplier and consumer supply chains.

If I was to offer you a 'free' way of accessing research and resources wouldn't you want to take it?

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New Business Ideas for Profit and Growth

Business ideas are the fuel for profit and growth. New business ideas though are hard, they need space to flourish and space is not necessarily easily found when you are busy at work.

New product development is about 'distillation'. Great business ideas come not necessarily from having many of them...but about having the creative thinking ability to distill an idea down to its core.

Business tend to concentrate on brainstorming sessions that produce many new business ideas....a few are chosen and then through the wonderful world of meetings tend to become compromised or to extend beyond their initial scope.

Profit and growth is created through the consumer recognising value and therefore being willing to pay a premium for it. To create that value, you need to chip away the compromise, chip away the bells and whistle and concentrate on the core aspects of the idea.

The value is in the core and the core should never be compromised.   

The value comes not from the simplicity and should never be compromised to make it easier for you.

 

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