Corporate Culture As A Strategic Risk MAL66:25 | Page 36

Research

How Social And Market Research Can Leverage Innovation For Success

By Enock Wandera
In today ' s fast-paced and competitive business landscape, innovations have become a key driver for success. This is why organizations seeking to differentiate themselves in the market must continuously bring new and improved services to have a competitive advantage.
Business innovation refers to the process of introducing new ideas, methods, products, or services that result in significant improvements or advancements within an organization. It often involves transforming creative ideas into new solutions that drive business growth, improve efficiency, and meet customers’ changing needs while improving decisionmaking and problem-solving across the organization.
According to MIT Sloan Management Review study, 81 % of respondents at digitally mature companies cite innovation as a strength of their organizations, compared with 36 % from developing outfits and only 10 % from early-stage companies. The Innovation Survey 2019 by Gartner also revealed that top drivers for innovation today include enhancing customer experience( 53 %), driving revenue growth( 53 %), and developing new products and services( 45 %).
Marketing leaders are allocating a significant portion of their overall budget to include innovation as part of their marketing strategy, making innovation a well-funded and quickly maturing initiative. However, innovation that is not supported by market research is futile.
Social market research can support the innovation journey by providing deep insights into customer needs, emerging trends, and market gaps. These can then be used to develop new products, services, or business models that address unmet customer desires.
Innovation requires huge capital investment, and this may end up being wasted if such initiatives are not backed by deep market insights. Research is therefore essentially a guiding force for innovative strategies as it helps businesses to identify potential opportunities and to validate new concepts before significant investment is made.
Businesses that leverage social market research stand a better chance to succeed in their innovation journey and ultimately have a competitive edge in the market.
By analyzing customer feedback, social media sentiment, and behavioral data, researchers can pinpoint areas where current offerings fall short, enabling the development of innovative solutions that truly cater to customer pain points. Conducting surveys, interviews, and focus groups, helps organizations to gather valuable insights into what their customers truly want and need.

Innovation requires huge capital investment, and this may end up being wasted if such initiatives are not backed by deep market insights. Research is therefore essentially a guiding force for innovative strategies as it helps businesses to identify potential opportunities and to validate new concepts before significant investment is made.

The advantage of social market research is that is helps to significantly reduce the risks associated with innovation by providing businesses with valuable insights and data. By understanding market dynamics, customer preferences, and potential obstacles, organizations can make informed decisions that minimize and maximize the return on investment.
Trends and insights can be found by feedback, consultants, and data which is showing glaring signals( lots of people seek it, and lots of companies sell those features). Once you know the new trends,
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