"Innovate: Whatever it is you are doing, someone else is doing it. So find ways of doing it better." -David Chiaka, culled from the interview on Pinpointmag.net
I spend a lot of my time studying great people. I do not believe I have to make mistakes on the job. I should be able to learn from others who have gone ahead of me so I can avoid similar mistakes they made.
The likes of Steve Jobs (late founder of Apple), Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, Donald Trump, Tayo Aderinokun (late MD of GTBank Plc) et al, have intrigued me as great and successful business men, leaders and innovators.
There is a common phrase that has driven me in this direction, and its from the Bible - "follow them who through FAITH & PATIENCE have inherited the promise". That's vision and persistence,
I study the bible. I love to learn from successful people in the bible and also from real life. Why should I go around making mistakes when I can learn from those ahead of me?
Why should I make mistakes that I may not recover from?
There is a common trait among "The Great" and that trait is innovation.
There once was a time when we had to travel hundreds of miles for meetings now you can Skype straight from your office Pc, Laptop or even your mobile phone. Why would you spend 5 hours of your day stuck in traffic when a video chat can solve this?
There once was a time when marketing was done in the market place, on buses, in crowded places etc. Yes, organizations still adopt this marketing model but guess what, I would rather identify my target market and market online.
Facebook offers adverts that push your product into the faces of a specified target market and guess what, Nigerians love Facebook. Same as twitter and other social media channels. Identify what mediums your market use to communicate and express themselves, then interrupt them with your products. Get them to look at it and you will be shocked at how effective this is.
Listen, marketing your products is not a one size fits all.
If I have a N250k travel product, I wont waste my time marketing in a public bus!
No! that's not my market. My market are graduate trainees in Banks, Blue chip companies, Energy firms etc. The fast rising middle class and they drive fairly used cars.
They are the ones that want to take selfies and post on Facebook.
They want opinions from Twitter.
They want to show their friends what they have been doing on Instagram and so on.
If you do not sit down to identify your target market, then find ways of reaching them, trust me; YOU WILL NOT GROW B-I-G!
These thoughts will keep you up late at night. It will keep you very busy at your office and it will help you position a great team that is critical in thinking and strategic in marketing.
Ask yourself, what more can I do? What more products can you perfect?
How can you make it better in my product and make it more attractive?
If you continuously do things the old way, you will wake up one day with a negative balance sheet.
You must know when an email will suffice and when an actual physical visit is required.
You must know when its okay to receive cash and when a simple bank transfer is perfect.
These decisions matter.
These innovative ideas must translate to decisions that will alter the face of your business.
Hope this piece has been helpful?
Please share your thoughts and innovative experiences.
Till we meet again, keep winning.
David Chiaka
Follow me on twitter - @MrChiaka
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