Council Post: How To Bake Micro Innovation Into Macro-Level Change

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One of the most truly rewarding aspects of working with entrepreneurs is watching how their concepts begin to take hold of and then effect real macro-level change in markets, often at far greater levels than initially intended.

This phenomenon, while it can surely seem idealistic at first, is not so out of reach for the discerning entrepreneur if they are aware of the market solutions their concept needs to tap.

Here are some of the most crucial fundamentals you should be mindful of in building out your venture if international scale and mainstream impact are truly your mission.

1. Solve For Existing Demand 

This may seem like a simple first step, but it is absolutely imperative.

A successful product launch must either create a superior value proposition for an existing need, or it must create a new category of product entirely that better fulfills that consumer need than the previous categories did.

In being cognizant of this, the entrepreneur of any brand — whether it be a beverage, watch, tech or cosmetics company — must be armed with empirical data that provides a clear picture of where current market demand is directed and be cognizant of who the top performers are and what their value propositions provide that create their market advantages.

These market advantages can then be seen as the baseline or starting foundation for any product development work so as to ensure that when the product does launch, it has a viable chance to compete and prosper.

Beyond just this baseline, it is important to understand how the top-performing products or concepts in your field can be enhanced to more thoroughly capture demand or even provide an entirely new genre, category or evolution of the concept that would outrank the previous set in all performance criteria.

2. Establish New Precedents 

When innovating a new concept or product, it’s important to be cognizant not just of the early adopter community you wish to capture, but also of the new change or paradigm in consumer behavior you’re seeking to effectuate.

The companies and products that have the most sustained impact and longevity in markets are invariably those that establish gold-standard precedents in their modality.

The reason ventures achieve macro-level change in their industries is because they offer a sustainably better model that serves as a precedent for future companies to compete and build off of.

3. Bake In Environmental Benefits 

This factor cannot be overemphasized.

As population, pollution, and global warming issues become more urgent, there is a greater need than ever across all industries to meet current market demands while ameliorating environmental conditions.

A prime example is the contemporary city planning for Copenhagen, Denmark. The city of Copenhagen has built new green-energy zones that are wind-powered in order to reduce dependency on power plants. These zones, such as Bellakvarter, are attracting the businesses and families of eco-conscious millennials from all over Scandinavia who have united to build thriving, prosperous communities at a lower carbon emission footprint.

The result is that Copenhagen has emerged as a global leader for contemporary city planning. Its current design offers a blueprint for other conscious and forward-looking capitals to learn from in adapting to meet the needs of our climate. Other city planning models that proceed in traditional manners or in manners oblivious to today’s climate conditions will not have nearly the same capacity to scale.

Thus, irrespective of how grand or lofty your particular ambitions may be for your concept, the keys in prudent planning for scaling and longevity are solving for market demand, establishing new precedents and ameliorating environmental health.

By following these keys, you are effectively baking the innovation of your concept into a vehicle that is capable of effecting macro-level adoption and, by extension, macro-level change in today’s global market.