Consumer focused ideas key to success

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Ashwin Merchant | 12 Apr, 2010
Good ideas or Great Idea! A sudden flash of inspiration that hits you and ... you’ve good product. Innovation people often see as an unpredictable business mystery. Frequently those who initially bring technology to market make kiss profit from it.

But, the truth is different. Idea generator lacks the first entrant advantage but a person who follows this and has core competency and does a better job of matching the technology to customer needs makes a fortune out of it. Good ideas have to go through ‘survival of the fittest’ process. Innovation has to undergo a process and markedly enhance your likelihood of success. Only if you have guts to transfer vision into reality, you cannot become Bill Gates, Dhirubhai Ambani and alike.

While transforming idea into action on the path of reality, statistics reveal that 90% of ventures find its death in 1-3 years; 5-7% survives for 3-5 years and hardly 2% beyond that. In the mean time, one man army slowly become ‘caravan’ and team subsequently with a mentor, select few leaders and others faithful enterprising persons. A company starts as SME with self sustainable business model, scalable over period of time and significant social impact over the years to come. But, one fact is true that converting idea into a business, entirely calls for great deal of planning and execution. Idea conceiver has to have the appetite for high achievement and a willingness to take risks.

Ideas have nothing to do with the age factor. Entrepreneur is one who remains young at any age. With maturity, idea filtration becomes too quick and smooth. Whether idea is a new concept and if so in a product or service, otherwise idea is of value addition type? Whether idea is want or need based; how a want will be converted into need for idea fulfilment. Will take how long, will cost how much? Whether across the market domain you have necessary resources to do so? A seasoned entrepreneur while working with new idea answers these questions and ventures thereafter. Often, it may work out to be less risk to backup such idea. Simply zeal is not enough.

Many a time, idea is simply transformation what is happening or escalation in terms of application based on technology. Needs are assumed and often it’s safer to make it successful / viable under commercial framework.
Often, the business model built around idea(s) for improved technology, low cost of labour (re-engineering) and subsidies work out to be better in productivity point of view than profitability.

It is true that in the recent years, the firms with the most explosive growth have been the most innovative.

Marketing analytics offer reality check for new ideas, preventive check and periodic check for ideas from incubator to stagnation stage. Science of marketing says brand is a being and not a thing. Consumer focused idea management will be a key to a brand’s success and ultimate in a journey from idea from creator’s mind laboratory to customers and consumers’ minds.

* Specially authored for start-ups, young entrepreneurs and SME owners by Ashwin Merchant, a well known marketing specialist who has successfully transferred ideas & concepts into business – to know more about him www.ashwinmerchant.com email: marketing@ashwinmerchant.com.
*The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of SME Times.