New ideas are the lifeblood of any business so it is
important to encourage creativity and to be truly
innovative. But creativity and innovation are not the
same. Creativity is all about coming up with new ideas,
whereas innovation involves putting new ideas into action.

New ideas can be very difficult to find. When you do find
them and put them into action, they can provide a powerful
marketing edge and become a license to print money.

Here are some ways to help generate new ideas:

Ask For Opinions
You could hire consultants or you could simply seek
opinions from someone who knows absolutely nothing about
your business. We get so close to what we are doing, that
often we can't see another way of doing things. There are
times when we need to step outside our own environment
because sometimes ideas used in one trade can be adapted
to another.

Encourage Staff Creativity
If you employ staff, then encourage them to think up new
ideas and get them to suggest changes. You will need to
be open-minded and encourage their input. You'll need
to be tolerant when their ideas don't work. And you'll
probably need to reward them in some way, although you'll
probably find that the satisfaction of "seeing their
ideas in action" may be reward enough.

Brain Storm
One of the best ways to tap into new ideas is through
brainstorming. This could involve family, friends, staff,
customers and even other business owners. The key with
any brainstorming session is to disallow any negative
comments and to only analyse or develop ideas once the
session is over. The purpose of a brainstorming session
is to produce a quantity of ideas. It's quantity not
quality. Refining the ideas comes later.

Re-educate The Mind
There is an old saying, "you never stop learning" and it's
true. If you are willing to make a personal commitment to
perpetual re-education you'll reap the rewards. Allocate an
annual budget (maybe 1% of your turnover) for personal and
staff re-education. Consider training courses, seminars,
workshops, audio-tape programmes etc.

Become A Case Study
Consider approaching a local University or polytechnic that
runs business courses. Offer your business as a case study
in return for feedback from the students.

Become A Surfer
There is a wealth of information on the Internet and most
of it is free. Search other areas of business rather than
just your own as you might be able to adapt a totally
unrelated idea.

Read And Subscribe
You can often find ideas in the most unlikely places.
Business, fashion and trade magazines are all worth a browse.
These days it's easy to subscribe to any number of overseas
newspapers, magazines, newsletters or ezines.

Travel Opens Your Eyes
Visit similar (or even unrelated) businesses overseas.
You'll be surprised at how freely many of them share their
knowledge, after all you are not a threat to them. In my
travels I have made it a point to visit factories that make
the strangest things, huge shopping malls, numerous small
businesses and international marketing companies. Each time
I seem to come home buzzing with ideas.

"The only purpose of a business is to bring in a customer;
and there are really only two ways to do it...
through Marketing or Innovation."
Noel Peebles

About the Author
Noel Peebles
noel@marketleadersltd.com
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