How do you become an award-winning business? Well, among other things, you need to innovate. That’s the advice of Gurpreet Jagpal, professor at the University of Suffolk and a judge for the Suffolk Business Awards. For any business to be considered among the best in its field, quality and experience are essential.
For example, Adam Dalby, the managing director of Brafe Engineering, said that quality is what he focuses on when it comes to representing British engineering on the world stage. He believes that his company, as well as British manufacturing as a whole, is “second to none” in terms of quality. For Dalby, that’s what counts in business.
Once a high level of quality has been obtained, one way to stand out from the crowd is innovation, according to Jagpal. Ahead of the Suffolk Business Awards 2022, he said any businesses that have pioneered products that disrupt the marketplace will receive top marks. Of course, it’s easy to say that innovation and originality are desirable in business. The hard part is finding ways to shake things up.
The question, therefore, is how do you innovate? Today, there are various mechanisms you can borrow from other sectors to help breathe new life into your products. Social media is an interesting starting point. Take a brand such as Boohoo. The affordable clothing brand has captured that social media influencer market. It did this by spotting an opportunity long before many of its rivals. What opportunity was that?
The executives at Boohoo saw young adults using Instagram to model clothes. With millions of would-be models out there, all Boohoo had to do was offer the most popular ones an incentive to model its clothes. The end result was a network of influencers promoting Boohoo. This became a self-perpetuating system because people now aspire to get enough followers to get a Boohoo deal. Thus, from a simple idea, Boohoo has shaken up the market and taken its business to a new level.
Don’t be afraid to give away more for less
Another way of harnessing the new culture of online interactions and consumerism is freebies. Today, more than ever, people either want something for nothing or they want more for less. Why? Because the internet made things easily accessible, which, in turn, increased competition. This forced companies to innovate and offer added value as a way to stand out from the crowd.
Even the biggest businesses in the world will host flash sales and give away something extra. Amazon is a great example of this.
The online retailer first used Black Friday as a way to host a flash sale. From there, it helped pioneer Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving). From there, Amazon launched Prime Day. So, from an initial idea, Amazon has innovated and found a way to give customers generous discounts on three specific days. The important thing to notice here is that you don’t have to be 100% original in order to innovate.
Another example can be seen in online casinos. This multi-billion-pound industry is highly competitive. As such, licensed operators have to offer new customers sign-up incentives. Free spins no deposit sites, such as Casumo, give new customers money for joining. The incentive here is one-way Casumo is trying to attract new customers and offer something its competitors don’t. All popular online casinos offer bonuses – the innovation part comes in the ways each operator creates its bonuses. It’s the same in other sectors.
Similarly, Amazon didn’t pioneer the idea of having a special day for discounts. However, what it did do was take that idea and adapt it to the eCommerce sector. This turned it into something original in its own right. Therefore, if you want to get ahead in business, it’s okay to borrow ideas. However, if you do that, make sure you tweak it and, if possible, offer something new. That’s how you innovate and that’s how you give your company a chance to win awards.
