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Innovation-first or Market-first; The Better Market Strategy for Your Business

“We don’t have any competitors” is never true in any business. Every business has some #competitors with whom they are contesting to be better. Although the way they compete could be different such as some companies may compete by focusing more on #innovation while others might focus more on market perspective.

Innovation-first vs. Market-first

Sometimes clashes arise within a company whether to be innovation-first or market-first. The best solution to this problem is to have complete background knowledge of the business and whether they are more inclined towards products or sales. For any business to be innovation-first, the person leading the business would be someone who has extensive expertise in product and research and development. He would know what things drive the market and how new inventions can help in capturing new or larger segments of the market.

Whereas in market-first, the person running the business would be someone who is more experienced in #sales and #marketing. He knows that innovation doesn’t last forever so the main force driving the business is something in the trenches.

How to Choose The Right Approach

Neither approach is right nor wrong. Whether your business strategy should be innovation-first or market-first completely depends on the nature of the business and what other companies are doing. Market maturity and your positioning in the market have a massive influence on deciding your go-to-market strategy. Any company that dominates the market might not care about what its competitors are doing. Whereas on the other end could be a small business that can be greatly affected by a big move from its competitor.

Points to be noted!

If your company leans too much on succeeding in the market or trying to innovate, you can achieve some balance by conducting solid #marketresearch. For example, in any market-first company, the focus is on reacting to the developments made by competitors. In this way, you can have a close eye on what is happening in the market. So when it’s time to innovate, you just have to train your people to shift the mindset of your consumer. Whereas, in an innovation-first company, the conversation can be transformed by including the consumer in smaller developments that are part of larger innovation.

Once you have a complete understanding of your business and the market you operate in, a plan with a blend of both - a market-aware approach, and an innovation-enabled approach - should ideally be your go-to-market strategy.