Innovation… How does your company do it in a recession?

Innovation is important, isn’t it?  Of course it is.  Innovation is the art of applying creativity to reach a business goal or solve a problem.  Companies can innovate in products, process, and on business models.  If you want to survive in this recession, you need to change the way you innovate.

Product Innovation is all about solving problems.  Think about your consumer in the recession.  What is more important to them now?  In recent years, convenience took precedence but I’m guessing that now low-cost is more important than convenience.  Consumer are willing to accept less for lower cost.

According to the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), the number one driver of success and product profitability is delivering products that provide both unique benefits and superior value.  Strengthen your value.  Do your consumers understand the advantages of your products over the competition?  Make sure you understand how your consumers determine value and offer products that provide that value.

How well do you listen to your consumers?  Social Media is all the rage right.  People are jumping on Facebook and Twitter in droves.  Do you have a presence online and are you listening to what your consumers are saying?

Revisit your product pipeline and stop spending resources on risky, long-term projects.  Resources need to be focused on short-term solutions for your consumer with the recession in mind.  When you don’t, start-ups will take advantage of the opportunity – take advantage of your weaknesses – and offer the basics to your consumers.  You consumers will make the switch to low-cost in these difficult times. 

Think about your major retail customers and take time to learn how their priorities have changed.  Realign your business model quickly to meet their needs.  Be the leader in this area.

Brainstorm with a cross-functional team to determine how to reduce waste and cut costs in your business.  People think differently in difficult times and you will find cost savings that you couldn’t find in past years.

I hope some of these ideas make you rethink your innovation strategy in the recession.  What else are you doing to innovate?

Do you have a good understanding of YOUR brand framework?

So what is brand framework anyway?  In my mind, this is essentially the foundation to branding any product.  Since my background and expertise is in consumer goods, my comments will be most relevant to that industry.

Elements of the brand framework can include information like a mission, a vision, brand personality, brand values, marketing strategy, positioning, target consumer and consumer segments, communication strategy, product portfolio architecture and so much more.  It’s essentially what currently exists for a brand when you step in.  You need to understand your brand’s framework so you can understand the strengths and weaknesses.

I’ll talk about different elements of the brand framework, and also the elements of product management and innovation – which is my real passion.  I really want to hear from my readers and get feedback to add to this content.  My hope is to have a blog with great content about marketing and product management that is enriched because of my readers.  There are so many great marketers coming through online with social media and I’ll be sharing many of my favorite bloggers to follow and sharing their blog posts here.

When thinking about branding yourself – which if you haven’t heard is a must do given the ease these days using social media – you should begin with your brand framework.  What do you know about yourself?  What’s your mission?  Your passion?  Your purpose?  What are your strengths?  What makes you different?  Think about how you work with others and what they would say about you.  Many people already know the answer to this question but if you need help then ask those that you admire and respect that you’ve worked with in the past.  Ask your friends.  You can also consider taking one of a number of personality tests.  There are many good ones that look at this from different angles.  Take one or two and ask friends and co-workers, or past co-workers if you’re in transition.  You’ll have your own brand statement pretty quick.  You will probably have a couple of statements that could apply to you so pick the one that makes the most sense based on your mission, goals and objectives.

One piece of advice, if you don’t have all the answers to these questions, then just get started with your Linkedin and Facebook profiles, and begin writing your blog.  You will find your voice and the answers to these questions as you go.  Then you can add other elements like a VisualCV and Twitter.  I think I waited too long because I wanted to have it just right.  In the end, you will fine tune as you go anyway, so why wait?  Just do it!

I’d love to hear from other marketers out there.  What do you consider as part of your brand framework?  Please post a comment and let me know YOUR thoughts.