Marketing & Innovation is key to support every business

Image credit: http://cdn.cio.com.au/

While I was searching the success stories of some of the big and giant corporations of our time, something baffled me to my very nerves. Most companies begin with the same set of skills, their human capital is similar and so are their financial resources. Yet so many businesses fail to provide what their competitors do. How would you feel if you and your friends today started a small scale business with the same set of opportunities, but one of you succeeded while the others failed?

What’s going wrong? What is it that the others are doing that you aren’t? What is the core competency that you lack? As a company, you have the mission, vision and goal, you also employ the same strategic concepts and provide the same products and services. In a homogenous business environment, it is very common practice for one company to bring the other down through disruptive innovation. The cause of the innovation is present somewhere in the thinking and perception of the entrepreneurs or the marketers. The strategic decisions made by the directors follow a mindset that often most of us require. Let us get deeper into what I mean by saying unique mindset.

When we talk about Apple, we talk about differentiation. Apple is a great firm which has the success rate of jaw dropping numbers and is a consistently premium brand for most people in the world. It has a success formula that many companies and businesses lack. They do not just sell their product - they sell their beliefs and values. According to researchers, the success of Apple lies in the fact that they do not sell the product or service, they sell their idea, their purpose.

What, how and why are three main important concepts for any innovative mind. Most businesses go from what to why. Apple, which is a centre of innovation and a hub for creativity, does the opposite. It moves from why to what. Most companies and business sell by saying “we sell this (what), by the support of our people (how), because we want to provide better opportunities (why).

When we talk about Apple the Steve Jobs’ innovative portal, they start off by saying, people do not buy what we sell, people buy why we sell. You see the difference? Apple says “to provide you with the best technological solutions (why) our company (how) sells you the latest and premium technology (what).  This is the value addition that most businesses and companies do not provide. This is the ideology and innovation that people from Apple have and this is the secret formula or ingredient of their success. People do not buy your product; they buy the purpose of your buying. This is the innovation that needs to be built up in our culture to nurture growth and opportunities.

Enjoy !

Alejandro Catalan
Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School