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  Innovation Strategies
Written by Janet Boulter   
In order to grow, your company needs to be continually innovating- making sure your products/services are meeting the needs of your customers and delivering on promises.

1) Live up to defined expectations. If you are releasing a newer, better version of a highly successful product, or if you are attempting to take the market by storm with your new technology gadget or service, you need to manage and control customer expectations. Everyone is looking for and waiting for the next “big thing,” and chances are good your new product or servicelaunchwon’t live up to the unrealistic expectations set by others. Find a balance between quality, promises, results, and expectations and then deliver.

2) Consumers care about features, benefits, and costs. Consumers have become as fickle as the products they purchase, so most consumers are focused on purchasing products/services that meet their needs today and tomorrow. They aren’t necessarily interested in future product advances that may or may not come to fruition. Corporate customers will care about your product viability if they're investing big dollars over many years in a product, they want to know that it will continue to evolve in ways that are beneficial and cost efficient to their organization. Make sure you have a tiered marketing program geared to your specific audiences’ needs and desires.
3) Remember you only get one chance to make a first impression. Your product is going to have to live up to marketing promises and you need to have spent the necessary time and energy to make sure your product delivers on the “hype.” You cannot conduct too many beta tests with a wide variety of audiences. Even if your product won’t be marketed to a specific target group, their feedback will be invaluable.
4) Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Don’t be so cautious and focused on perfection you never get your product to market. Do be aware of any perceived pitfalls or user un-friendliness and be prepared to reach out to your customers quickly and address those concerns. People don’t expect perfection, but they do expect support to be available and ready to help.
5) Encourage “out of the box” thinking. There is a fine line between improving on a known product/service and taking it to the next level. If consumers don’t perceive enough cool new features and benefits, they won’t make the investment. And by contrast, if the new product/service contains so many new bells and whistles it might overwhelm the consumer and they might wait for later versions.
6) Influencers always have a “say.” Finding the middle ground between users and influencers can be tough. Reach out to the technical people, the media, and other influencer groups who will be either helping build the hype or destroying all of your efforts in seconds.
7) If it doesn't work the first time, try again. Sometimes you don’t always hit a home run the first time up to bat. If the consumers in your test markets and influencer group can generally agree on the basics, it might be worth tweaking and re-launching.
8) Be humble. Not everyone will love your product/service the way you might, so take suggestions for improvements, ideas, and innovations to heart, keep what works and disregard the rest.