Is ‘Innovation Marketing’ uncontested market space?
Innovation and marketing were once seen as separate functions. Now these two disciplines are increasingly recognised as inseparable. I also believe the combination of Innovation Marketing is vital for businesses to survive post-Covid. It really is an untapped ‘blue ocean’ space.
What is Innovation Marketing?
Innovation and marketing ensure that new products and services are geared to the market needs and customers wants. Together the two processes have the power to increase revenue opportunities. They also eliminate flops and produce zero waste.This approach works in the front end of the innovation process to explore market potentials and customer needs. It opens up new opportunities in products, services and business models. It then analyses research data from the customer in the early stages of the development of these and markets the product or service at the back end of the process. This is a repetitive loop of activity, with marketing feeding back into the innovation process for continuous improvement.
Innovation marketing can be used to increase performance in a huge range of business areas including:
- organisation strategy
- new product, service or process development
- branding
- research into customer needs
- concept and proposition tests with customers
- full roll out, including online and offline advertising.
But I think organisations could share techniques because they can learn so much from each other. And currently I don’t see many organisations specialising in the combined services of both. So, is this market space uncontested?
What is uncontested market space and have I found it?
W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, authors of “one of the bestselling business books of the century” calls this market space ‘blue ocean’ and defines it as the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored.In a world where we must look outside our immediate surroundings to find uncontested market space, I think Innovation Marketing is exciting new territory. It is that blue ocean business opportunity.This new fusion of two important business functions is already driving our business here at Think OTB and the advice we give our clients.
The benefits
Some of the biggest benefits of innovation marketing we’ve found so far are:
- Increases revenue opportunities, eliminates flops and produces zero waste.It focuses on the future, creating sustainability and accelerating ‘better’. It gives customers what they may not even realise they want.
- Achieves wins. The actual mission of innovation is market success. It truly differentiates brands from their competitors by creating greater value or achieving rapid change, growth or profit and it’s the same for marketing – both have the same ambitions.
- Drives profitable growth. This is the single biggest way to bring value to a business and innovation is the number one lever for profitable growth because it’s been proven that businesses that excel in innovation perform better than the rest.
- Reaches full potential. Time and time again innovation is constrained by out-of-date marketing methods, so untapped growth opportunities are going unrealised. I would argue this is where Innovation Marketing makes a real difference. Innovation marketing encompasses marketing activities in the innovation process and innovation activities in marketing processes. Innovations can only reach their full potential with marketing, whilst marketing needs to be innovative to stand out.
- Creates the want and the need. Consumer behaviour analysis happens in the innovation process and reveals what consumers think, feel, and what influences their choice between various options – in short, innovation invents the concept, establishing the consumer need, while marketing translates this into what consumers want.
- Is transformative. Working without restriction and from the inside out gives you the capacity to unlock the most valuable solutions and generate the most meaningful impact. Which means companies invest time, money and resource only in the right place.
- Is fast, iterative and revolutionary. It leverages as much learning from listening as it does from doing – critical if you want to build genuine connections that have the power to last.
…In short, I believe this type of marketing really unlocks the impossible.
So why now?
In this Covid world, we are living in an acceleration environment where new norms are being adopted every day. Our increasingly diverse society is now a minority-majority. Big brand monopolies are losing market share to brave start-ups. Consumers are demanding that brands align with their values, not the other way around.Unchallenged and out-dated marketing is creating irrelevant brands. To remain relevant brands must leave behind the limitations of learnt behaviour and embrace the value of innovation.Innovation marketing is alive, exciting and precisely what the world is asking for right now. So is there uncontested market space for a consultancy that specialises in innovation marketing? I think so – but you decide. Share your views in the comments below or contact me at mark.davies@otbagency.co.uk and let’s talk about how innovation marketing is right for your brand right now.
