Navigating The Path to Business Growth: Innovate or Die

Innovation is a key component of a business. For a business to grow appropriately, the key decision markers and business managers have to think innovatively and creatively. The benefits of innovation on business are already well-documented, so there isn’t really any need to go over it again. In any case, you can read about them here.

How exactly can you think innovatively? Here are a few tips:

  • Clear your head: This should be the first thing you do. Make sure you are relaxed and do not feel pressured. The best ideas are formed in a relaxed and calm atmosphere. If you find it hard to stay calm or keep a clear head, you can complete some relaxing activities like taking a walk while listening to calming music, preferably classical. It works for me and should work for you too.
  • Ask questions: ‘Curiosity kills the cat’ a common phrase. But this does not work when it comes to business. Prime your mind to observe, inquires, question and understand concepts around. Remove any constraints that might inhibit your inquisitive nature. Challenge old ways of doing things and try to imagine new ways that they can be done.

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  • Increase your exposure: Make sure to put yourself in a position where you will be able to observe a wide variety of things. Never assume that any knowledge is useless. Note that ideas are usually birthed from other ideas. Henry Ford got his idea of the assembly line technique of mass production from observing a meatpacking plant. The more exposure you have, the more likely you’re going to pick up ideas for your ideas.
  • Be imaginative: You should be creative. Don’t squash that random idea that comes to you prematurely. Allow your imagination run wild. Think of ways things can be done differently. You can follow some tips to boost your creativity.
  • Exceed boundaries: Don’t feel caged or forced to follow the status quo. Be ready to think outside the box. Learn to deal with and learn from past failures; be ready to take risks to find out what works and what does not.
  • Welcome feedback: Ask for people’s opinions and ideas and gather these to come up with a better idea for your venture. Also, feedback is important to know if a current idea you implemented would be a hit. Never disregard this.
  • Run brainstorming sessions: This can be done individually or in a group, although it is usually more effective when done in a group. This would involve coming up with a large number of new product ideas. Make sure to have people from diverse backgrounds if you plan to have a group brainstorming session. You will be better served if you include a provocative outsider, like a consumer or supplier.

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  • Adapt old solutions for new problems: You could do this by applying an existing product to a new need available. You could look for new uses of your product. For instance, De Beers produced industrial diamonds but found a new use for diamonds when they introduced the concept of engagement rings. It opened up a large new market for them.
  • Watch your competition: This does not mean to blindly follow whatever innovation they come up with. Instead, observe them intelligently. See if there are any of their ideas you can refine and adapt and even possibly license as your own. You can also acquire smaller profitable businesses if possible!
  • Look outside: You can outsource your new project development to external companies to work on this. Company like Edumark Consult can help us engage actively within the education community.  If that seems like a risk for you, you can ask individuals to come up with novel ideas for innovation. Countless big companies have been known to do this successfully.
  • Go back in time: Look back at older business models and products. Try to ascertain which of these models can work for the present market. Be sure to refine it, however, to fit into the current market trends.

The tips above are in no way exhaustive of all the tips that can be used to improve innovative thinking. Also, not all of them might apply to your business model. Whatever the case, use the tips as a guide to building your business even further through innovation.

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Mar 13

Edumark Unveils Exciting Plans for TOSSE 2020

Edumark, popularly known as the “education company”, has made known its plans for the 12th edition of TOSSE (Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition). The educational exhibition has been a haven for educational bodies, institutions, educational influencers, teachers as well as students to connect, share ideas, and learn from each other new innovative strategies and techniques that can bolster educational productivity in their schools.

The announcement was made by Mr. Ibrahim Oguntoyinbo who emphasized that TOSSE has been the go-to event for school owners, businesses and influencers in the educational sector to converse, share and sell ideas that would improve the quality of education in Nigeria as well as enlighten and train the teaching workforce about the dynamism of education and why they need to be abreast of new educational changes and how to adapt to it.

He stated that the TOSSE 2020 theme which is “Think, Innovate, Impact” is targeted at revamping the educational sector to promote explosive creativity and innovation at all educational levels, seeing that innovation is the spark that lends credence to productive learning. Having achieved so much in previous years through quality Teachers Training Seminars and effective branding and marketing for productivity in school business, TOSSE is set to hit for higher milestones through its insightful seminars and discussions, some of which Mr. Ibrahim Oguntoyinbo highlighted being:

  • Leading for Progress, Profit and Purpose
  • 10 Principles for Principals
  • Becoming a Winning Leader in a Difficult School
  • Beyond Academics: Teaching for Social Progress.

Edumark’s TOSSE has, in previous years, raked in over 7000 guests and is set to witness an explosive attendance of 10,000 guests and above from every part of the world. The event also promises an array of insightful activities and experiences where educators and guests can meet, chat and do business with over 120 companies from diverse countries. Educators and students can also brush up their skills and learn through several Masterclass sessions, free seminars, and IT classes.

TOSSE 2020 promises the very best of educational exhibitions, as several well-respected companies would be present at the event. Some of these are:

DLA Toys

DLA Toys offers parents, schools and the general public the opportunity to create the dream playground for their kids, in a secured and safe environment as well as various types of playground equipment, toys, modern, classroom, and decorations and facilities.   
Evans Publishers

Evans Brothers Nigeria Publishers Limited has continued to thrive in the development of high quality educational and curriculum-based books, as well as leisure books, all of which would be readily available for school owners to browse through to update their school’s catalogue of books.

Zeco Schoolwears

Zeco Schoolwears is one of the leading clothing companies focused on providing top quality school uniforms, school accessories for top schools all over the world. Zeco School wears have also featured consistently in previous TOSSE events, providing school owners with top quality school accessories.

Several other companies such as Nocett Academic Services, Safe School and Nexcel Group would be in attendance at the event with an aim to providing quality educational services and offers to educational institutions present at the event.

The event which is set to run for a week, starting from June 1st to 5th, would be held at Ten Degrees Events Centre, Billingsway, Oregun, Lagos, and would be the first of its kind as it would be a week-long experience to learn, meet international educators like Prof. Kirsti Lonka (Author of Phenomenal Learning from Finland) who would be lecturing on leadership for teachers. The TOSSE Event 2020 is where teachers, educators as well as education-focused businesses should be to learn, do business and improve the educational sector of Nigeria.

For Inquiries and Registration, contact the TOSSE team via the following channels:

Website: www.tosse.com.ng or www.edumarkng.com

Email: info.tosse2017@gmail.com,  info@tosse.com.ng

Phone Numbers: 0708 480 8659 and 0701 120 2454.

Seminar ticket can be obtained at Eventbrite

Feb 12

How Likely Are You to Buy from Yourself – Thinking Like The Customer

Marketing your business has evolved over time. Apart from the traditional methods of marketing, one way to get a proper marketing strategy is by getting into the mind of the consumer. Let us do a little exercise to help do this.

Everyone is familiar with role-playing games. Let’s do a little role play now: You are the customer and you want to purchase an item or service from your franchise. Be completely honest, will you be willing to sanction the purchase? There are a few parameters you can use to evaluate this. Ask yourself the following questions:

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  • How easily did I find the product?
  • How does the product compare with other competitors in the market?
  • Is there any benefit from further patronage?
  • How good is the customer service?
  • Does the product keep up with recent technological trends?

 

The idea of this exercise is to make you understand exactly what the thought process of the consumers is. This will give you a basis to work with a  better strategy.

Reverse-Engineer Your Findings To Your Benefit

After going through the process of getting into the consumer’s mindset, you most likely would find areas where improvements or adjustments can be made. You would find that you would be able to understand your customers better. This will help you to be able to tailor your correspondence to them in the future.

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If you can see yourself on the same level as your customers you can better drive customer loyalty and develop the trust that is so important these days and it humanizes your company and enhances your marketing capability. In the end, you will be able to anticipate your customer’s needs because you are thinking just like them. It will put you in the best spot to market with confidence. How likely are you to buy from yourself?

Mar 20

How to Attract The Media To Your Stand At Trade Shows

The main objective of exhibiting your business at trade shows is capturing leads to acquiring new business and brand awareness. However, attracting the media to your stand is certainly the best way to achieve such objective, but how do you achieve this?

Prepare Media Kit

To get the media to talk about your products, the first thing to do is to provide them with valuable contents. Unless your company is very famous or your news incredibly powerful, journalists won’t spend time searching for information and material to talk about you. You must provide them with everything, make it easy for them.

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What should my Media Kit contain?

A good Media Kit contains the following information:

  • Company introduction
  • Company factsheet (figures, facts, graphs – key elements about your business that make it worth talking about)
  • Company timeline (your historic, major dates and milestones)
  • Major products / services / innovations introduction
  • Bio of the founder / CEO / key employees
  • High-resolution Photos and Logos (a good article always comes with a photo, if you don’t provide it, you risk losing control over your content or losing the article altogether)

The strategy is to always provide something very short to give a quick overview with links to find out, make it easy to grasp your documents within seconds, don’t lose your reader in pages of text.

Build your story

Most companies have no story to tell, hence no PR coverage.

Unless you have some incredible innovation to share or an internationally famous brand, why would people talk about you?

You need to have a story that will captivate your audience.

The story can be about your company and what it stands for or about your CEO or founder on his own journey or unique personality.

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Make use of PR (Press Release)

Write a Press Release announcing that you will be exhibiting at the show. Make it bold. Use your story as the backbone of your release and add some suspense into it. Talk about innovation, announcement, exclusive information, etc.

If your press release is boring, don’t even bother publishing it. It would have no impact and would only waste your time. Write something worth reading that makes people (and media) want to come pay you a visit.

Once written, publish your PR and relay it through your own networks (website, Social Media, blog, newsletter, etc.), send it to journalists within your network and invite your partners to help you spread it.

Prepare Question & Answer Forms

You did everything right and some journalists stop by your booth, well done!

Then what?

They start talking to your staff. Your team members have been trained for capturing leads and educating visitors, but do they have a clue on how to handle media? Most probably not.

You will certainly ask them to direct journalists to you, but what if you’re not here or the journalist has no time to wait?

Prepare a Q&A sheet for internal purpose. This sheet should contain the top 10 questions you expect journalists to ask about your business and the “correct” answers your staff should be giving.

Use this document to standardize your numbers (you don’t want a person to claim a number and another one say something different) and make sure everyone is on the same page. Distribute this Q&A document and tell your team to read it and memorize it carefully

YOU ARE READY FOR THE TRADESHOW

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