The art of navigating the market

Today’s marketplace is not static. It’s changing all the time, requiring businesses to constantly adapt with speed of light.

However, there are some practices if adopted, they can give your brand an edge. It does not matter if your business is just starting out or your brand is figuring how to out-innovate the competition.

There are two approaches in doing business or any other project. The first one is top down innovation. It’s not a joke, this approach is on its deathbed.

The brands’ positioned for winning customers are those that have discovered and stopped from relying solely on their internal R&D teams to drive their innovation in the market.

Just think about it. How can just few employees seated in a corporate Head Office beat an innovative company that is soliciting input from the millions of engaged consumers which they can connect to via various digital platforms?

There is a concept known as dispersed innovation which is replacing the “top down” innovation approach.

As you might be aware, stimulating brand innovation can be accomplished by letting your employees bounce into each other as often as possible. If your brand can make it easy for people to connect, they will do so and the impact will result in more creative productivity.

When it comes to dispersed innovation, a good example is YouTube. While it can serve in many forms and lots of functions, one form is educating people in different concepts. Conversely, YouTube functions can be to discover new talents at an incredibly efficient process. There could be a pool of artists, hence utilising economies of scale and expanding your brand greatly for doing great work by directors and producers whererever they are. This is dispersed innovation at its best among the masses.

The common idea to disintermediate the top down innovation process that has always dominated many industries like education and music.

Dispersed innovation has revolutionised the ability to identify innovation in the hands of the consumer.

The second one is the bottom-up innovation. It’s a flexible model which allows innovation to happen by using feedback from different stakeholders like employees, customers, etc.

The lessons gained from crowdsourcing are taken into consideration, then refined and improved, ready for consumption or any other creative output.

The form or function of bottom-up innovation is used to draw attention that provides curation for great products that consumers otherwise would not have access to. The brands which are taking a bottom-up innovation approach are revolutionizing their niche markets for the better.

How will consumers learn about your brand if you can’t afford to engage them? Or at least be visible in front of them? Hence, the reason why the top down innovation approach is dying, and the future looks bright for the bottom-up down innovation approach.

If your brand wants to increase innovation, make make your business lean, that means being structureless and procedure-free as much as attainable.

Mr Swai is content director for MobiAd Africa Tanzania Ltd, [email protected] or visit www.mobiadafricad