Does your product need to be innovative in order to succeed, or does it just have to be unique?

Can you be innovative in other ways rather than offering an innovative product?

Sure you can! While innovation can help with marketing and lead generation, it can also make you leaner, more flexible and more creative.

While innovation might not be a necessity under normal circumstances, this economic environment requires you to innovate in order to stand out.

Below are different ways you can innovate in order to be as competitive as possible.

Product or service innovation

Innovative products are those that might:

• Have distinct features and benefits
• Perform a task in a new or inventive way
• Utilize new or experimental technology

These products normally carry a larger markup because they attract consumers who are willing to pay steep premiums for newer technology.

The benefits of offering innovative products include enjoying large margins and high-paying customers. Also, you may often be regarded as an industry leader.

The down side to innovation is that you always have to innovate in order to continually enjoy these benefits. This can be very costly.

You don’t HAVE to innovate. Instead, you can have another Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Innovation is only one type of USP, but there are also many others. Creating a different USP is a great way to differentiate yourself from your competition while also attracting many targeted customers without the expense of innovation.

Innovative management

Your business can have innovative management through:

• Management training
• Finding new ways to motivate employees
• Granting autonomy and empowerment
• Allowing your employees to self-manage

You want to come up with unique and creative ways to lead, control and organize your staff. Being innovative through management can save you money, improve the workplace culture, encourage openness and even raise productivity. In turn, this can make you more competitive, adaptive to change and have cheaper operations.

Innovative marketing

Your marketing strategies could be innovative with:

• Unique marketing messages (ie: Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads)
• New channels of marketing (ie: ads in Video Games)
• Who you advertise to
• Creative ways to retain customers

The benefit to innovative marketing is that you’ll find new and effective methods to attract customers in ways that your competition has never even though of.

Innovative processes and manufacturing

If you can find a new way to create a product, run a department, or even measure the output of a process, you are innovating. This process innovation should usually result in less resource usage without sacrificing output quality.

This innovation may result in simplified production, higher quality products and/or lower production and overhead costs. This can often give you the option to either reduce your price, or enjoy a higher profit margin.

Innovative culture

Google is considered extremely innovative in its workplace culture. Between the Wi-Fi enabled buses they send to pick up their staff, granting their employees time to work on any project they choose or even the casual work environment they provide, Google’s reputation for being a great place to work has quickly become legendary, all thanks to their culture.

Because of their well renowned culture, they attract top talent and always have a large pool of applicants. This allows them to hire quality employees who can keep the company humming at and incredibly efficient level.

By having your own innovative culture, you too can attract superstars. These kinds of superstars can do wonders for your company’s success, and can help it to grow even faster than if you were running it by yourself.

Innovative office environment

Having a green work environment, aesthetically pleasing interior decorating, ergonomically friendly offices and desks or even something as simple as providing a means to work from home are all examples of ways you can innovate.

Providing an innovative physical work environment can be a great way to increase productivity and boost worker morale. This can ultimately improve the quality of your output while decreasing your level of input.

Innovative use of technology

Twitter has gained an enormous amount of popularity in the past month. It has proven to be a great communication channel, marketing channel, blogging channel and in my opinion, the best social network medium out there.

This is just an example of ONE innovation that individuals and companies are all taking advantage of. Innovative uses of technology can save you time and money when communicating, marketing, managing, motivating, manufacturing or in pretty much any business process.

I think a great example of innovative uses of technology was in President Obama’s election campaign. He utilized Twitter, Facebook, Text Messaging, all of which allowed him to more intimately target and market to the demographic of students, twenty somethings and the technologically inclined. No other presidential candidate has ever used technology to the extent that Obama had in a campaign.

While I can’t say if this was the deciding factor in his campaign, it certainly helped and it certainly was successful in getting him a lot of support from this demographic.

Thus, finding innovative ways to use technology will allow you to better communicate with and relate to your demographic. Also, it can reduce any business expense or improve product or service quality.

Are there any other ways businesses can innovate in order to become more competitive?

Want to know the single, best tip for idea generation?

We have covered some useful tips to get you started on idea generation when either beginning down the path of entrepreneurship, or looking for more inspiration to expand your business.

These tips may be quite helpful, but unfortunately they wont make you the next Starbucks.

So what are the types of ideas that will make you hugely successful? What is the anatomy of a solid business idea that will bring you the enormous successes that some of the well-known companies have enjoyed?

Let’s have a look at some of these enterprises and see if we can point out any similarities in their ideas and visions.

Facebook

A recent Fortune article pointed out that Facebook aims to be the main tool that we use to communicate on the internet. CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisions that the site will one day allow users to use their Facebook ID as an “online passkey to gain access to websites and online forums that require personal identification”.

That’s quite an ambition. Zuckerberg’s vision stretches far beyond the aspiration of creating just another social network and instead aims for something much more far-reaching and meaningful.

These visionary ideas are a huge factor in what drives the company’s success forward.

Google

Google is best known for its original ambition: it created a better search engine that delivers more relevant information to the user.

While the concept sounds basic, Google has truly revolutionized the way we find information online.

But Google’s recent projects have made the company even more ambitious:

• An email client that rivals Outlook in both features and usability
• An online equivalent to Microsoft Office
• An internet browser competing with Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari
• A desktop search application
• A photo browser rivaling iPhoto

All of these services Google offers are extremely user friendly and have the same amount of features the professional-grade software has–all for FREE! These services can also be used without taking up any more system resources than an open browser window does.

Google is taking on some of the older titans of the tech industry who charge hundreds for their products. Google on the other hand, charges nothing yet still manages to be incredibly profitable.

Google has created an impressive business model that offers free, professional-grade products, all based on ad-supported revenue. This is truly an outstanding feat, all derived on an ambitious and unique vision.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s founding vision might not sound so impressive today, but for its time it was extremely ambitious: to create an operating system that anyone can use.

If you sit back and think for a minute about the wide-reaching effects of this aspiration, you’ll realize that Microsoft’s influence over our day-to-day lives is nothing short of incredible.

What made this vision a reality was the impossible dream of turning a machine that was only used by specialists and programmers into something user friendly that anyone can use.

Apple

Apple, as one of the first manufacturers of the Personal Computer has had an equally impressive influence over our day-to-day lives.

Recently, the Cupertino company has continued to produce remarkable innovations and has revolutionized the way we listen to music.

Apple is in the business of consistently producing new and innovative products that continue to wow us every day.

Ford

The automobile company’s founder, Henry Ford was once quoted as saying: “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse”.

Ford Motor Company had a crazy ambition: to create a machine that could be used for faster transportation.

Instead of improving on an existing “technology”, Ford thought outside of the box and created a product truly remarkable that changed our lives forever.

General Electric

GE’s founder, Thomas Edison has 1,093 US patents to his name. He was a serial inventor, most known for inventing the first Incandescent Light Bulb.

Like the previously mentioned visionaries, Edison had an idea that would change the world: using electricity to create light. He then went on to founding a company that would distribute electricity that could provide power for lighting.

Edison’s contribution to our lives is miraculous; and it all started with an ambitious vision and a passion to create.

What can we learn from these companies?

These are some strong examples of companies that have changed the world with technologies we have come to rely on every single day. What can we learn from what these businesses have accomplished?

The answer is to generate star-reaching, ambitious ideas. Never reject an idea because it is too ambitious or far-reaching.

Each of these companies have looked at existing technologies and envisioned something two or more steps ahead of what we were previously used to.

While these ideas may have sounded outrageous at first, the founders of these companies persisted anyway and enjoyed tremendous success because of it.

It doesn’t have to be new, just remarkable

There is a big difference between MySpace and Facebook. Not only between the user interfaces but also in their successes.

How?

MySpace aimed to be a social network targeted to teens and twenty-somethings. Facebook, on the other hand, aims to be a communication medium for EVERYONE.

Facebook’s visions are two steps beyond that of MySpace and are more ambitious and far-reaching than MySpace’s vision of a social network.

The final tip for idea generation: think BIGGER!

Let these company’s successes be your inspiration. They dared to think bigger and more creatively, and sought to do the seemingly impossible. What prevents you from doing the same?

You might not be able to pursue ideas the way larger companies can do, but you can start planning ambitious projects and ideas now.

You may have to begin by taking smaller steps, but they should all lead to an ambitious, seemingly impossible overarching vision. You’d be surprised at where your company will take you if allow your motivations to guide you and if you invest yourself in your vision.

Thinking about starting a new business but have no idea on what business to start?

We’ll you’re not going to find any ideas here. Business ideas cannot be given to you–you have to come up with the ideas yourself.

Idea generation is an essential skill that every entrepreneur must possess and it is vital that you develop this proficiency.

Still, idea generation is a big problem that many new entrepreneurs face. Go to any entrepreneurship forum and you will see a ton of threads from entrepreneur hopefuls asking for ideas on what business they should open.

To help with this issue, I have put together some tips for entrepreneurs and entrepreneur hopefuls on how to formulate solid business ideas.

1. Pursue the type of work you love

As described in the previous post, you should always look to pursue the type of work and work-related roles you would enjoy before pursuing an idea related to your favorite hobby or pastime.

The reason is that hobbies don’t always translate well to enjoyable or empowering work. Thus you should pursue a type of business that will give you the role that you would enjoy filing the most.

It is often suggested that you use your passions as a starting point when generating ideas. You can do this as long as you make sure you hone in on ideas that would allow you to work in a role that you would enjoy.

2. Look for opportunity

We often hit ourselves in the head when a business releases a product that we could have thought of ourselves. We get frustrated because the product is an obvious solution to a problem we commonly face, but didn’t think of it first.

These businesses are doing something very important that all entrepreneurs should learn from: they actively look for opportunity everywhere, especially in the routines we have gotten used to.

Don’t let yourself get comfortable with our day to day problems. These issues are usually the greatest targets for improvement because no one else sees the opportunity.

3. Brainstorm

Brainstorming can be a very powerful tool and is a great technique for rapid idea generation.

Use this tool to generate ideas for what you think can be done better. Consider what you are unhappy about, or what needs improvement. You will find that you’ll have a long list of ideas in no time.

4. Keep your goals in mind

The types of ideas you should pursue will vary depending on your goals. That is why it is important that you identify these goals before generating ideas.

You may want a passive income business which requires barely any of your time or you may want a brick and mortar retail store that you will manage yourself.

These two types of businesses will require very different things from you, so it is important that you know what you want before listing ideas.

5. Go traveling

Traveling is a great way to identify new opportunities. You might find that there is a certain technology missing in your area of destination, or your vacation spot has a service that would be in great demand back home.

Traveling gives you the chance to observe the many differences various cultures have and can open your mind to new ways of providing value either when abroad or back home.

6. Look for where demand is

If a certain industry, product or service enjoys high demand, chances are there is more than enough room for you to help fulfill these needs.

A great way to generate ideas is to identify which sectors have lots of consumer demand. Once you indicate areas of need, it will be easy to generate ideas on what you can offer.

7. Look for unfulfilled demand

You can also look for needs that haven’t been fulfilled. Unfulfilled demand means that consumers want something but haven’t been getting it.

Examples of this could be bad customer service in a particular industry, a service that is normally paid for that can be offered for free, a product or service that is more reliable or a technology that hasn’t been developed yet.

Try to think of anything that customers are demanding, either out loud or quietly, but aren’t getting. If you can fulfill this need, you’ll find customers flocking to you.

8. Improve a process

Think about a process that can be improved. This may be one that can increase sales, cut costs or deliver goods to customers more quickly.

Customers love convenience so if you can think of any process innovation that can make a product or service more convenient, go for it.

If you can perform a process better than your competitors, you are giving yourself a significant competitive edge. You can offer cheaper products, higher quality products, better customer service or market the product more effectively.

Improving a process means you have created a better way to produce or add value to a product and have thus raised the standards for your competition. While you have already innovated, your competition will be struggling to keep up.

An alternate benefit is that you may perform a process so well that other companies may want to outsource to you because of your improved ability to deliver.

9. Fill a niche

An industry might be saturated with competition, but individual market niches may feel alienated by the advertising of the bigger companies.

Marketing products to a niche could be a great opportunity for you to enter into an industry without having to outright compete with the bigger companies.

When considering different businesses to open, try to think about the different niches you could target and you’ll find that you’ll never be short of business ideas.

10. Consider your resources

Money, skill, time. How much do you have of each? Depending on what you have of each can effect which business ideas are feasible, and which need to be put on hold.

If you are thinking about offering a particular service in which you have no experience or money, you might have to wait and pursue another venture until you have acquired enough skill or money to provide the service.

Are there any other tips or pointers that can aid in idea generation?

How would you like your staff to regurgitate the same ideas to you over and over again whenever you ask for new thoughts?

Doesn’t sound like the makings of an innovative business, does it?

That it why it is so important that you strive to maintain diversity in your business–both literally (different cultures, race, religion, etc…) as well as diversity in thinking.

Below are some benefits to workforce diversity:

It creates a more accepting environment

Not only is this important for moral and ethical reasons, but it also ensures everyone keeps an open mind about new ideas.

You would certainly prefer an environment that welcomes and encourages unorthodox and outside-of-the-box thinking rather than ensuring everyone is always in agreement.

By allowing this, more people will feel free and comfortable expressing their ideas, bringing forth a better chance that you will stumble upon useful concepts that you can work with.

It allows for an easier free-flow of ideas

Sometimes ideas or projects aren’t conceived by just one person. They can be created by a team of people, in a brainstorming session or can be built upon during casual sharing of new thoughts.

The easier it is for new ideas to be communicated throughout your business, the easier it is for these ideas to be built upon and turned into something that can bring innovation to your company.

It can give your business an international focus

Considering diversity in the literal sense, encouraging the hire of a variety of people from different cultures, races and religions, etc… ensures that you and your staff are welcoming of different conventions and generates awareness of the variety of customs that exist around the globe.

It will ensure that you and your staff keep different countries and cultures in mind when either designing a product or service, looking for partners or new markets.

It keeps your staff thinking outside-of-the-box

All around, diversity in the literal sense and diversity in thought keeps your staff thinking creatively and seeking new conventions for solving problems. This can save you money, reveal new markets or products, improve processes, etc… Generating a large and diverse set of ideas is a major ingredient to the recipe of a truly innovative business.

Does anyone have any thoughts about diversity? There are plenty of other benefits that diversity provides companies. What are they?

Are you out of good ideas? Are you trying to come up with new cost saving strategies or more effective marketing techniques?

If you haven’t already, you need to try the old tried and true technique: Brainstorming.

Here is how brainstorming works:

• Start a brainstorming session with several people (3-7 is best)
• Identify the problem or topic you want to address
• Allow everyone present to contribute the first idea, and as many ideas that come to mind
• Every idea is to be written down and no idea can be critiqued, edited or evaluated, only built upon as a new and separate idea

This is a very powerful technique and allows for a list of good ideas to build up very quickly. There are numerous benefits to implementing this strategy throughout all levels of the organization. Below are just a few of them.

You can develop new product ideas, businesses and income streams

If you are looking for new income-producing streams, brainstorming is a very powerful tool. Because this technique allows to you come up with a series of un-critiqued ideas very quickly, you will have a wealth of possibilities at your disposal after a brainstorming session.

Some of these may be very creative and outside-the-box, others may require editing or elimination, however all of these items are something that you can work with one way or another.

There is no limit to how many times you can brainstorm, so whenever you are in need of more income-producing ideas, brainstorming is always a technique that is available for you to use. If you are giving your time unlimited value, brainstorming may turn out to be a very frequently used tool in your entrepreneurial tool belt.

You can create new innovative processes and ways of solving problems

Maybe you have some expenses that are ballooning out of control, or certain practices in your business are becoming less and less efficient. Brainstorming can allow you to think of new and creative ways to solve these problems and implement new processes that can make your business both more effective and efficient.

Toyota saves so much money when manufacturing cars through their “Just-in-Time” (JIT) inventory system. This technique is simple: obtain the parts of the car when needed, rather than storing the parts and incurring carrying costs.

While I don’t know of the origin of the JIT system, whose to say that you can’t brainstorm a cost-saving process as effective as this? I am certain there are hundreds of processes like this one that are just waiting to be discovered. Brainstorming can help you think of some new and creative ones.

You can find new visions and perspectives

You may need to begin viewing your business and how it relates to clients though a different angle or critical lens.

Because of this, you may need to periodically adjust certain elements of your business, or how your core beliefs are implemented into the culture of your organization. Brainstorming can help you discover new ways of doing this. Use your new list of creative ideas to ensure your organization’s core beliefs are being followed most effectively.

Brainstorming can help establish a more accepting culture that values new ideas

Brainstorming should be done throughout your organization, not just by you and your direct reports. New ideas and perspectives are very important in every level of your business and allows for your entire enterprise to be more quick, flexible and responsive to change.

Embracing brainstorming at all levels of your organization also gives your staff the message that your business’s culture values new ideas and diversity of thinking. Showing your staff that you are open to new thoughts and ideas will allow everyone to flex their creative muscles, give you their input and keep a steady flow of new and great ideas coming to you.

You can come up with new marketing ideas

Brainstorming is probably mostly used when thinking of new marketing ideas. If you are trying to think of new ways to market your product, especially if your past efforts aren’t working, brainstorming is something you must do.

This can be very effective in helping you come up with a series of marketing ideas very fast, that you can constantly refer to when trying different advertising techniques. Again, being able to come up with new and creative ideas very quickly will allow you to have a nice flow of marketing ideas that you can test, tweak and test again.

Has anyone else had any success with brainstorming? Any suggested best practices when brainstorming? Does anyone have any other benefits that this technique provides?