Innovation to the Tune of $18 Billion

There is no secret formula to business success, and in fact, this formula is well known and used by successful companies. It is simply creating a feature or function you are truly passionate about and one which improves people’s lives. The more useful it is, the faster it will become successful.  

On the other hand, what will not work is trying to create a demand for a product or service which may not necessarily enhance consumer’s lives or there is not a real desire or need for. Simply because you believe your product idea is cool and you want to make a lot of money off of it does not make it a good candidate for a successful launch and growth. This is why many products have failed and could not get off the ground.

That said, it is not necessarily easy to predict which products will be in demand. However, sophisticated market research will give you a view in to what could potentially be successful. And so information and a direct line to the customer are critical to determining whether or not your product or service will do well. This is also why some companies will prefer pilots or even beta testing, so as to feel out the market before fully committing lots of resources to the launch of a product.

Once these criteria are met, it is important to show the potential customer base how the product or service offered fits their needs. Marketing is absolutely key. Creating a fervor for the product with smart branding and marketing messages is another area where your start up will need to excel. This is another area where a finely honed understanding of your customer could make or break the journey to success.

Marketing may be viewed at times by an entrepreneur or start up as unnecessary, unrealistic, or a waste of limited funds. Additionally, blind marketing (as I like to call it) seems shockingly prevalent. Does this sound familiar – a group of people sitting around a conference room  table trying to determine what their target market feels, thinks, wants without any true data or insight into that market. Perhaps the label marketing has a negative connotation for some, however, call it whatever you wish – it is your lifeline to success. A company absolutely must understand who the customer is, and their very specific preferences.

Perhaps marketing is also a terrifying or misunderstood word, as it might cause people to blank on the ‘what’ of marketing. Or perhaps think this simply entails emails, flyers, or Facebook posts. True marketing is more sophisticated and savvy with very precise information about how, when, what, and who is being spoken to.

For Google, by becoming the top search engine, this put it in a position to attract billions of dollars of advertising dollars. It created an indispensable tool that serves anyone across the planet and, as advertisers saw this reach, it became an intermediary between the advertisers and the consumer. It had $18 billion in revenue by the end of 2014. Compare that to Yahoo’s roughly $4 billion in annual revenue.

I’m listing Google specifically not only because it is worshiped by start-ups and entrepreneurs everywhere as the success story, but also because its story has some useful insights for those who wish to be wildly successful. In Google’s story, there are some interesting and important trends, and in combination, it becomes quite clear what is advisable in building a successful business – good, old-fashioned values:

Gain the Trust of the Customer: “Don’t Be Evil” – this is a very well-known mantra for the company, and there are many stories of how this is used in internal meetings to stay true to maintaining the customer’s trust. If any company doesn’t have the customer’s best interest at heart, won’t that become very apparent and push customers away? Absolutely. The customer is king.

Treat Employees Well: it is baffling that countless companies believe having employees on a short-lease, in other words, the stick approach – is the way to get great work from employees. On company reviews sites such as glassdoor.com or salary.com, there are a large number of negative reviews by employees on bad treatment – to the point where it seems this obvious value is completely unknown. There are multitudes of studies by psychologists and sociologists that clearly show – the best way to motivate any human to greatness is to treat them in a manner that inspires them.

Do Not Expect Less than Perfection: the adage that ‘practice makes perfect’ is certainly true here. Any product that Google releases is perfection; it will be the most innovative and best of its kind. There may be the misconception that perfectionistic tendencies in the workplace, even in a start up, is an antisocial behavior. However, striving to offer the best is a very positive tendency. This puts the final product in the running to be a unique offering.

The other thing that Google and even its top competitor, Yahoo, do well is having new product idea labs to come up with and test products, in addition to evolving older products. This is the internal R&D arm, and even if it’s only a 1-person staff, is hugely important to coming up with and testing pilot products with segments of the market before they are fully launched. To be on the cutting edge, particularly if you’re playing with millions or billions of dollars of revenue, is to create new and cutting edge ideas and products. Of course, the extent to which this will happen will differ by industry. In 2015, the human psyche is such that it wants and expects the new, the improved, the unique. The competition is fierce for the consumer attention and dollar. But a product idea lab helps to produce new ideas based in an understanding and direct connection to the customer.

To recap, there are a couple of important foundational principles in bringing your business to success. For one, old-fashioned values of seeing everything you do through the lens of treating employees well, gaining the trust and loyalty of your customer, and shooting for perfection is critical. Additionally, keeping ahead of the competition by coming up with new or evolved product ideas in an internal product lab is also important.