Just a Book, Part 3: Continuous Innovation
Courtney Beasley
Last week’s post covered the importance of agility. This week we will be diving into how maintaining agility fosters the perfect environment for continuous innovation.
Innovation is a term used widely by marketers and software developers alike, but what does it mean to truly innovate and hack old methods of messaging and media to create new experiences? Let’s start by changing the way you think about marketing. Traditionally, marketing took on a communication role, but in a digital world, marketing must innovate to become a granular experience. Each touchpoint should be unique and actively transform your brand for customers.
Messages, media and mechanisms come together to create rich content and user experiences. Since the advent of digital media, marketers have been able to ramp up their efforts and experiment with a whole new palette of mediums to craft innovative messages. So where do mechanisms play in? In order for a customer to have an experience, there must be a mechanism, which can easily be confused with media. Remember, media is the how and where and the mechanism is the what. Therefore, the mechanism is the message.
The biggest struggle that marketers face today is keeping their experiences new and fresh; however, new innovations become contrived as more and more competitors start to adapt the same methods.
How can marketers continue to innovate in a highly competitive digital world?
The answer is simple, maintain a perpetual state of beta. Companies that are hacking marketing sustain this method by operating on minimum viable products (MVPs), which rely only on producing a product that a company believes will resonate with their target audience. Companies are able to find a successful balance between a workable product and minimal time input by continually asking themselves these four questions:
- What marketing hypothesis are we testing?
- Will our outcome yield quantifiable metrics?
- Where’s the value for our audience?
- Does this product speak to the best of our brand?
Once a company has developed an MVP, the job isn’t over. To encompass the true spirit of hacking, marketers need to continue to test their products and experiment with new ideas and information. There has never been a moment in which the digital world has stood still. Likewise, marketers need to continue to move and innovate to maintain a competitive edge in the digital space, and with all of the big data flying around, big testing is even more important. By continuing to test, refine and evolve, marketers can embrace innovation and in return, provide their customers with big experiences.
Check back next Tuesday for the final blog post on “Hacking Marketing” where we’ll go over hacks to balance innovation with scalability and inspire your talented team! If you haven’t already, don’t forget to RSVP for the “Just a Book’ author meet and greet.
Want more content like this? Learn more about Just a Book with Scott Brinker here.