Nowadays, innovation is synonymous with business. It’s even come to define the state of business today. And every company and business, regardless of size and the service or product they provide, aspired to be perceived as being innovative.
There hardly goes a day when a business leader, commercial, or even a teacher tells you to be more innovative. This is the only way to break into the future and to keep up, they say. Before the word “innovation” was thrown around so much, other terms such as “cutting edge” meant the same.
It goes like this: be innovative or slowly become irrelevant to the point your business fails. So, why is society so enamoured with the idea of innovation? Why do we flock by the millions to purchase new revolutionary products? Let’s find out.
Today, we’re bringing you why we’re all obsessed with innovative business ideas.
Zero to one
by Peter Thiel
⏱ 15 minutes reading time
🎧 Audio version available
Before the words “innovative” and “cutting edge” were regularly used, history was full with premature innovations, new ideas the world wasn’t ready for. Now, not only is it satisfying to accomplish, but it’s consistently well-rewarded.
To find out why we’re so taken with it, let’s first discuss what the risk for not innovating is!
Discovering the consequences of the absence of innovation is the first step to uncovering its importance.
Here is why the biggest risk of all is staying stagnant: if you stop trying to invent and improve, your business will be unable to compete, diversify, or even simply operate.
You run the risk of going out of business entirely, of losing market share to competitors, of losing staff, of reduced margins and profit, and of reduced productivity and efficiency.
Now, let’s move onto the benefits of innovative business ideas.
Brand Perception
The first cause for obsession may be the most important: brand perception. The truth of the matter is that customers have proven time and time again that they are more willing to buy from companies they perceive to be more innovative.
For now, it’s proven that innovative business ideas improve sales and customer relationships. It only makes sense: when you stop trying to improve your services and products, customers are bound to move to more innovative competitors.
Consumers notice when companies invest time, money, and effort. And they appreciate the extra value, which translates to more sales and improved relationships.
They Reduce Costs
The next amazing thing about innovation? The world is currently obsessed with another important subject: reducing costs.
Innovation can help reduce costs in businesses. That’s the whole point, to make things less pricey, more sustainable, and more easily available.
Innovation Keeps Businesses Relevant
With the world is constantly in flux, full of the ever changing trends, it’s imperative for businesses to remain relevant to stay in the public’s interest. As business ideas adapt to meet the new reality, more people flock to them. Want some statistics to prove it? Look at these facts and numbers.
More than 570 new websites are created every minute. Some estimates clock it in as 547200 websites a day! It’s also believed that there are over ten billion devices connected to the Internet. That means there are more devices connected to the Internet than there are people in the world. As a result, 90% of data in the world has been created in the last couple of years.
How is that relevant to innovation? This is why corporations and businesses are constantly striving to do more. It allows new businesses and ideas to enter the market. And it allows old ones to be wiped out. It’s estimated that 40% of Fortune 500 companies will vanish in the upcoming decade due to this digital disruption.
The reason the world is so obsessed with new innovative business ideas is the same reason why so many are members of the Elon Musk fan club. It’s the same reason why Elon Musk is hailed as the real-life Tony Stark. No one can deny his genius and innovative ideas.
Those ideas enabled him to amass millions and millions of fans while spending a minimal amount of marketing and advertising campaigns. How come? Our obsession did the work for him.
Elon Musk didn’t have to throw millions of dollars at publicity and marketing. His success has been more organic and more about people wanting to be part of his ambition. Musk’s ambition is a revolutionary future.
His dream is to have a reality where people around the world exclusively use renewable energy. His first dream was Tesla and its progressive and energy-saving products. People who buy Elon’s products don’t view themselves as simply making a purchase. It’s more like they are investing in their futures and by extension, the future of the world.
This is part of why millennials are often so attracted to his projects. And not just them, millions believe in Elon Musk’s products because they believe in his mission.
Another method where Elon Musk proved that people will always follow innovation is with his Tesla store– or should we say his lack of a Tesla store. He figured millennials are more likely to want to shop for and buy a car online rather than settling for a network of old-school brick and mortar dealerships scattered around the world, so he developed an efficient and aesthetically pleasing online ordering system.
Apple
Apple is another incredible example of how people prefer to invest in brands they perceive as innovative. For decades now, Apple has proven time and time again that they can rise to the challenge of coming up with new and improved products. While they’re not exactly cost-efficient, they’re certainly about innovation.
And their strategy works. If you ever met an Apple user or if you are one, you’re more likely to stay loyal to Apple products. More often than not, people buy the latest iPhone because they’re more of a status symbol of elegance and innovation– a reputation the company has carefully cultivated.
And also, oftentimes, you don’t need to look at the flaws of the iPhone to jump in line to buy the latest model. Because of Apple’s reputation, we already feel like we’re making the right decision. We’re sure that we’re buying not only the right product for this phase of our lives, but also the best product. That is the Apple appeal.
Innovation Advantages in Business
Some of the advantages that make innovation in business so appealing are that innovation helps with problem solving. Because it provides creative insight, it allows people to see things from an entirely different perspective.
Without it, there will never be anything new, and without anything new, there wouldn’t be any progress made in the world. That’s why innovation edges out competitors; it creates positive change. It’s the core reason for our modern existence.
It Increases Overall Well-Being
Wherever there is an abundance of innovation, economic growth and increased well-being follow. That’s because living standards rise. Innovation positively impacts even company culture. It increases the ability to strive, to create, to acquire, and to work on increasing skills and knowledge.
Innovative business ideas build a culture of continuous learning and personal development because they motivate people to constantly and consistently improve the way they work.
It Reduces Poverty and Hunger
As we mentioned, countries that depend on innovation are healthier. Innovative solutions create opportunities to combat poverty and hunger. Developing countries, particularly in the poorest regions of the world, depend on innovation to solve their problems.
How does innovation come in? For example, agricultural innovation was critical to reducing hunger. Innovation extends to technology connecting farmers to the information they need. Innovation also helps people continue producing the food the world needs, as well as provide tons of opportunities that can help reduce poverty and hunger around the globe.
Take mobile devices for example. The World Wide Web is, what, 30 years old? It’s quite possibly one of the biggest technological revolutions in history. It’s believed that even among the poorest 20 percent of the population, seven out of ten households have mobile phones. That means that more people have mobiles than clean water or sanitation. These technological advances help rural areas become more sustainable.
It’s hard to find areas where innovation isn’t important. There is a reason why the world is so taken with it. In order to deal with environmental and sustainability issues, we’re going to need innovation in the future.
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