The most innovative and audacious business ideas aren’t worth much if customers don’t see them the way you do. And the significance of innovation largely depends on how a specific brand delivers a concept to its audience.
If you think about it, a supercar wouldn’t exactly be the best candidate to market something that’s super-quiet and requires only electricity to run. A Tesla Roadster, on the other hand, is.
To help you find success, here are 6 ground-breaking principles:
1. Give Real Meaning and Purpose to Innovation
Innovation needs a place it can call home. However, where it finds that home depends on who the target audience is and what message your product communicates.
Volkswagen (yes, we can’t help but give another automobile manufacturer example), for instance, is known for making some of the best suspension systems in the world. Having a system like that in Audi’s luxury super-sedan line-up makes more sense than having it in a Subaru Impreza, which is built to be a sporty street machine and take abuse on off-road conditions as well.
A fast and efficient lace-up system on Rockport shoes may be seen by customers as adding comfort and convenience. On the other hand, if the same is added to Nike shoes, they may be interpreted as adding speed and performance.
Understand how you want your audience to profit from your product and you’re well on your way.
2. Build the Business Before Anything Else
From setting up your first company to going mainstream is all full of challenges. As much as we like to believe that we can build a brand that can be a national sensation overnight, we just can’t. Taking a business mainstream has a lot to do with building a great personal brand first and maintaining a solid reputation in your industry, both of which take time.
The biggest personal brands today have gotten results by putting in years of hard work in order to build an empire first before taking it mainstream.
Take, for instance, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. He built an entire empire around his interests and ambitions before building his brand name and becoming one of those infamous “internet personalities”. Another name that comes to mind is Mark Cuban, a billionaire who found his niche and didn’t let anything stop him.
First, build expertise and credibility in your field. Make money selling products in the thousands, win the hearts and minds of your customers, give speeches, fight for a noble cause etc. Then, you should consider going mainstream, because people will be willing to accept you with open arms.
3. Choose the Right Partner to Go Mainstream
We can safely count off at least a few brands on our hands that have skyrocketed to fame after a successful endorsement or partnering up with a bigger, more successful brand. Historically speaking, this has been dubbed the “Oprah Effect”.
Well-known brand collaborations can take the market by storm. The very first MP3 players were called MPMAN, manufactured by Saehan Information Systems in Korea. However, it wasn’t until the advent of the iPod that MP3 players were widely accepted.
The right partner can immensely facilitate consumer acceptance and pave the way to going mainstream. Just make sure you partner up with someone who’s a good fit for your product.
4. Be a “Yes Man”
Taking your business mainstream means being everywhere. It also means saying yes to every opportunity that comes your way as it can very well get you more exposure.
Saying no to opportunities in the beginning can be a bad thing no matter what kind of a business you are doing. You need to be big enough to say no to something. Look anywhere for inspiration; even the President of the United States wasn’t born as a president, he had to start small.
In addition to this, you should know when to say no. If there is something you cannot do or something that might sabotage your image, it is okay to decline.
5. Social Media is King
In 2015, companies increased their social media ad spending by 33.5% to almost $24 billion, which a few years ago, was next to $0. You need to be a part of the companies that are spending on social media networks.
Post blogs from time to time where helpful videos, images, and infographics are integrated to demonstrate how your product is unique and offers something your competitors don’t. This content can then be cleverly advertised in Twitter ads and other social media channels; Facebook in particular, which happens to be the top choice for many businesses as an advertisement and marketing platform. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, as of the first week of November 2016, Facebook reported having 1.79 billion monthly active users.
To get the most fruit for your labor, consider hiring a digital marketing agency to run your social media campaign. There’s hardly any successful business in existence today that hasn’t leveraged the power of social media to go mainstream.
Be patient and continue working hard to get the exposure and recognition you need. Once that’s out of the way, you’re ready to go mainstream.