Innovate or Evaporate

Today's economy and marketplace demands focus, innovation and flexibility.  Distractions shadow vision and hinder progress; stale management and that's-the-way-we-always-do-it attitudes stifle creative thinking and progress; and, outdated, unchecked systems prevent individuals and teams to take immediate advantage of opportunities or to rapidly course-correct. 

In the late 90’s, a client of mine led a large paper-based gift certificate company. We talked several times about the need to transition to a digital model. He struggled to see it – he was old school and lacked the technology gene. What he DID have was a very curious, fertile mind. He watched trends closely and had a real knack for predicting market changes. This, however, was a conundrum for him … until the day he received my gift-wrapped book directly from Amazon with a personalized note card. The very next day he pulled his executive leadership team together, stood at the foot of the boardroom table, slammed his fist on the table and exclaimed, “Today, we go digital. We will become the first and largest digitally-based gift certificate company for the business market in the country.” The room burst with smiles, cheers and unspoken fears.  With razor focus, lots of hard work, solid research and a resilient team with shared passion, they achieved their lofty goal.

Finding ways to increase revenues, streamline operations and measure impact takes dedication to intimately understand changing audience attitudes relative to market trends and keeping a finger on the pulse of convergence.  Needs and desires are changing more rapidly than ever.  Maintaining status quo is not an option.  That’s why fostering an environment that inspires inventive thinking is mission critical.  Team members with a sense of curiosity and an appetite for learning are invaluable assets.  Leaders who not only observe this behavior, but actively stimulate the synapse of ideation will thrive in this ever-evolving paradigm of marketplace relevance.

Equally important, organizations that see its target audience as a real part of its team will garner mass rewards.  For, it is in the gathering of data and information that creates knowledge and wisdom, which sparks innovation.  Just as in real estate where it’s about “location, location, location”, so it is with marketing, but instead, it’s “audience, audience, audience.”  Know your audience.  Live and breathe their needs and desires.  Go to them where they’re at and embrace them as a legitimate team member. If you don’t keep abreast with who they are, what they want and how they think (all of which will dynamically evolve), your market relevance will soon evaporate.

Follow the acronym “ASK” and your business is guaranteed to be market relevant and in the forefront of the minds of your target audience when, where and how they make decisions.

• Ask – What are they thinking? (about industry, product, cause, etc.)
• Seek – Where do they live, work, play, shop, worship, hang? What do they read? (What influences behaviors, beliefs, decisions?)
• Knock – What will it take to get them to “raise their hand” (or click their mouse) to engage with your product, service or cause? Where and how will they pull the trigger to buy/give?

The more you know, the better seeds you’ll sow and the more your business will grow. Innovate or evaporate. ;-)

Observers. Planners. Connectors.  That’s Mosaic Mindshare. 

Susan Sorensen Langer is founder of Mosaic Mindhsare (www.mosaicmindshare.com) with a 25-year career in marketing, management and major donor fundraising.