innovative marketing ideas that will fuel your business decisions

Marketing professionals are often referred to as “creative” because they come up with clever taglines and campaigns. But creativity does not always mean innovation.

A pitch deck is not necessary for innovation. Since the end of World War II, when technological innovation became the catalyst for economic development, organizations have discussed the need to innovate.

How can we tell if an organization is truly innovative or if it’s just being told to “be more innovative”? Potter Stewart, a Supreme Court justice who is known for his famous phrase “I know it” when he sees it, describes the threshold test he uses to determine obscenity. Marketing teams can’t wait to see innovation.

Innovation can be found in the quality and consistency of decisions. All marketing activities can be boiled down to decisions. These are the building block of innovation.

Three ways to find innovative marketing decisions in your team

1. What are your thoughts?

Some marketing teams are still stuck in a military-style management, where decisions are made from the top down and then passed to frontline workers. The top-down method leaves little room for innovation, unless your leader is Midas who can turn everything into gold.

Most marketing ideas come from the wrong sources. Many teams are influenced by their competitors, Linkedin and random conference presentations. Many teams try to copy what other people are doing.

Many marketing teams have jumped into TikTok as soon as it became popular without thinking about whether this was right for their customers. Why would you want your company to be the 1,000th one making videos about shoes?

You should instead focus on other sources of ideas such as your team members (especially those who are the youngest) and people outside the business world. Customers are still a great source of new ideas. Their answers are not usually sexy.

Shows like “Undercover boss” remind us that the frontline workers have some of their best ideas. They are the ones that spend most of their time dealing with customers. The doorman of a hotel is more likely to know what works than an executive, who may not live in the same area.

Encouragement of ideas by anyone on the marketing team does not mean they must be implemented. All ideas must be evaluated using an objective framework. There are many options but I like the 3 Os which stand for Outcomes Options and Obstacles.

In order to develop innovative marketing, it is important to survey the company and look for new ideas. These are then evaluated according various criteria, such as alignment with the strategic goals, potential, risks, etc.

All your decisions will be the same if you always get your ideas from the same person.

Dig deep: Why data driven decision making is the foundation for successful CX

2. Magic of decision speed

It is important to make decisions quickly. The markets are moving faster than ever before. We can debate the reasons – social media, connectivity, etc. – but what is important is that we need to make decisions faster.

We can never make perfect decisions, but we can always make “good enough” ones. Travel restrictions were a problem for Disney Parks when the pandemic struck. In 2021, Disney Parks had a 20% increase in profit with 17% less visitors than pre-pandemic. Disney achieved this feat by introducing a new app (Genie+), changing the ideal customer, and removing all free perks.

Starbucks is a good example. Howard Schultz’s “third place” concept, imported from Milan, is no more. Starbucks has redesigned its stores to accommodate drive-throughs and walk-throughs.

Innovation is often the result of a good idea that’s implemented quickly. Starbucks could have waited for all research to be completed, but would likely have lost market shares to competitors.

This is why marketing teams that are innovative need to use a new metric called decision speed to measure how long it takes them to make important decisions. When an organization begins tracking this metric they are often shocked by how slow they actually are. Slow decisions will not allow innovation to flourish. By the time your decision is made, the market will have moved on.

Dig deep: How decision intelligence can be used to solve complex business problems

3. HPO: Forget it

Third, you should focus on the HPO’s weight. I’m talking about British Brown Sauce. HPO is an acronym for highest-paid opinions.

I noticed an oddity in the way decisions were made. The person with the highest salary in a group commands attention. If they give an opinion, their words are often taken as facts. The HPO is then favored in making decisions. HPOs don’t always realize their power but the result is the same.

To avoid groupthink, innovation requires a degree of meritocracy. My work with organizations is largely about giving new life to the members’ ideas. Then I help them to challenge their own thinking. Here are three of my favorite techniques.

Blind decision making

You should collect all ideas, arguments, and comments blindly. Create an anonymous form for people to enter their thoughts or ideas. The team can then review all the information without bias due to individual organizational status.

This method can add a lot of administrative work, so it is only recommended for the most critical decisions.

Devil’s Advocate

The Catholic Church will appoint a “devil’s advocate” to argue against the candidate during the process of canonization. It can be a very effective way to uncover holes in reasoning.

To see if you can find flaws in a particular decision, you can ask individuals to take a different position. This ensures everyone has a fair chance to express their concerns. Here, we are not talking heated debates. Before making any decisions, we want to know about all potential issues.

Think partners

Informally, the best executives find thinking partners with whom to bounce off ideas. This formal process allows them to have someone who will challenge them and understand their biases.

A good partner can respect your choices and challenge them. They are usually at the same organizational level, but in a different role.

A team of innovative marketers is always debating and working to find the right solution. You may be making the same decisions repeatedly if none of these things are happening.

True innovation is embraced

William Gibson’s quote, “The Future is Already Here, It’s Just Unevenly Distributed,” is one of my favorites.

Innovating is about finding the future that already exists. Your marketing team has many innovative ideas that could be used to grow the business. You want to discover these ideas and let them influence important business decisions.

One decision at a moment will bring the future to you. Making the right decisions?

Dig deep: Innovation or rebranding? How to decide which is best for your business

The article Find innovative ideas for your marketing decisions first appeared on MarTech.