Here’s one of my favorite examples of a valuable innovation!  I’ll bet you never thought a brownie pan could be the subject of an innovative new design. Here’s a quick analysis of the delicious innovation process.

The Problem: Many people like brownies with “chewy edges” – the edge that contacts the baking pan.  But, a traditional rectangular baking dish has a limited number of brownies with chewy edges – and most of those brownies only have one chewy edge (four “lucky” corner pieces have two chewy edges).

The Solution: Design a new brownie pan that has a different shape.  Here’s a picture of the innovative brownie pan showing the new shape that produces lots of edges.

The new design produces a batch of brownies where every brownie has at least two chewy edges, thus solving the problem mentioned above.  An added benefit: the new design provides more uniform cooking so there are fewer undercooked center pieces and burned edge pieces.

A larger version of this baking pan is available to make lasagna.

How about lasagna and brownies for dinner tonight!

An innovation strategy for your business should support your business objectives – including both short-term and long-term goals.  Does your Innovation Strategy have a long-term outlook to identify and develop a steady flow of creative ideas?

Unfortunately, many companies actively identify and develop innovations for a period of time.  The flow of creative ideas is often strong when a company is getting started and looking to establish itself with a unique product or service.  However, once that first innovation is identified and developed, too many companies stop the innovation process that created the business success in the first place.

Don’t fall into this trap.  Here are a few ideas to maintain a steady flow of innovative ideas.

Develop A Culture of Innovation – Encourage everyone in your business to identify creative ideas and submit those ideas for evaluation.  Make innovation a part of the daily routine for all personnel.

Schedule Regular Brainstorming Sessions – These can be individual brainstorming sessions as well as small group sessions. Try different brainstorming formats to see what works best in your business environment.

Hold an Innovation Contest – Do something to make innovation fun – a diversion from the “regular job”.  Offer prizes, put together innovation teams and schedule innovation activities. You will be surprised at the creative ideas an innovation contest can generate.

Celebrate Innovation Success – Throw a party to celebrate successful innovations that strengthen your business. These are fun events and they provide excellent examples to all employees about the importance of innovations to the growth of the business.

Implement one or more of the ideas mentioned above to continually identify creative ideas that can increase revenue, create a competitive edge in your industry, and reduce business expenses.

When people discuss “innovators” in your industry, do they mention your company?  If not, you can start taking steps today to establish your business as an innovator and begin attracting loyal customers and fans.

What companies do you believe are leaders and innovators in their market?  Do you follow these companies in anticipation of their next product or service announcement?  This type of position in any industry can generate lots of attention: customers talk about your company online and with friends, and publications write about your company and its products. This attention strengthens your competitive position in the marketplace.

If you are not yet seen as an innovator in your industry, you can change this perception. As your business develops innovations and introduces them to the market, the business will position itself as a source of creative ideas. People will take notice and begin following your activities and announcements.

You can leverage your business’ innovative activities through advertising, social media and other announcements to show customers (and potential customers) that your business is a leader.  Start identifying innovations today by looking for new products or new features that satisfy unmet needs in your industry.

Share your innovation success stories in the comment section below.

Innovation is a popular term these days when discussing business.  A recent business magazine headline stated that today’s businesses must “innovate or perish”.

Innovation in business refers to the introduction of a new product or service – or “a new way of doing something”.  Innovation for business also includes improving an existing product or service to be faster, cheaper, or easier to use.  Valuable innovations can improve an existing product that makes the product more desirable to customers (and potential customers).

Business innovation can be the addition of a new feature or the removal of a feature.  For example, a software product may be improved to add a new “automatic report generating feature” that simplifies the process of creating and printing custom reports for each customer.  This new feature can distinguish continue reading…

Brainstorming is a great way to develop creative business ideas to grow your company.  I’ve worked with people who come up with great ideas in individual brainstorming sessions, especially when they find the perfect environment to do their creative thinking.  I also know innovators who are very effective in innovation brainstorming groups – usually small groups of 4-6 people.

If you’re looking for a way to develop creative ideas for your business, try combining these two activities to produce even greater results.  Here’s the approach I use myself:

1. Individual Brainstorming – Spend time brainstorming by yourself.  You can brainstorm for new products or creative ideas that solve problems in your own business or in your industry.  Record all of your ideas and don’t lose that list.

2. Group Brainstorming – Use the ideas on the list you developed during your individual brainstorming process as “seeds” for your group brainstorming discussions.  Let the other members of the group further develop your ideas and develop new ideas based on your “seeds”.

I like this two-step approach to innovation brainstorming because it allows me to freely come up with my initial ideas, then expand on those ideas with the input of others.  This approach has produced some great innovations for the companies I work with.

A baseball team in New York (the Hudson Valley Renegades) is offering free tickets every Monday to iPad owners.  This promotion appears to be in response to a decision by a different major league baseball team in the same area not to allow iPads into their stadium.   To capitalize on the publicity received by the other team, the Hudson Valley Renegades are encouraging fans to bring their iPads to the stadium.  In addition to free tickets every Monday to all iPad owners, the team is providing a support booth to help fans set up various social media services.

This is an innovative marketing approach to attract fans and get some “free advertising” for the team.  I’m not sure what the team is doing on Mondays to interact with the fans that bring iPads, but here are a couple possibilities.  The team could ask the iPad users to tweet during the game using a particular hash tag, then randomly select one of the tweets and give that person a prize.  The team could also send messages (tweets, text messages or emails) to fans at the game providing additional information about the players, statistics for the game, specials at the concessions, etc.

How can you apply similar innovative marketing techniques in your business?

Many businesses are looking for new ways to generate income in today’s difficult economy.

New business innovation is one way to increase revenue by developing new products or enhancing existing products to increase sales.  In today’s economy, people are still buying products and services, but often purchasing things they already have.  For example, people are still buying televisions, cellular phones and video game systems.  But, today, many people are less likely to buy a new type of product they have never purchased.

Keeping this in mind, when developing innovation in your business consider adding new features to your existing products that make the product faster, cheaper or more useful.  Assuming people are already buying your type of product, you can create a competitive edge if your product provides new features or a better value to the consumer.

If you are going to create a new product, be sure that the market for that type of product is already established.  In other words, make sure that people are already buying that type of product.

In today’s economy, trying to create a new product category can be difficult and expensive.  There are many ways to apply innovation for business that do not require “teaching” people that they need a new type of product.

Start applying the innovation process in your business to find ways to make your current products or services stand out in the marketplace – and watch your business grow.

For several weeks, I have been “encouraged” by two business colleagues to host teleseminars that help entrepreneurs and business leaders apply innovation in their business.  I am accepting this “challenge” and committing to host several free teleseminars in the coming weeks.

I have a list of frequently asked questions about innovation as well as a list of questions that business leaders should ask about innovation in their business.  I will be answering these questions in my upcoming teleseminars.  However, I want to be sure I answer the questions of everyone who follows this blog, reads my articles, etc.  So, I am asking you to submit your questions by adding a comment to this post.  I will do my best to answer all questions during one of my teleseminars – dates to be announced soon.  If you would like to receive email notification of these teleseminars (and receive a free copy of my Innovation Excellence report), click here.

Here’s a sample of the questions I will be answering:

• Why does my business need an innovation strategy?
• My business is not a technology-based business, does innovation apply to my company?
• How do I get started with an innovation plan?
• Who in my organization should I include in the innovation process?
• Can my business afford an innovation strategy?

Please submit your innovation questions by adding a comment to this post.