First, remember that innovation isn’t just about products and technologies; it’s about delivery, too. No less than the “Oxford Handbook of Innovation” distinguishes between invention and innovation: “Invention is the first occurrence of an idea for a new product or process,” its authors write, “while innovation is the first attempt to carry it out into practice.” Google wasn’t the first search engine and Zipcar wasn’t the first car-sharing business. Yet each brand has succeeded because it innovated — it devised a better way to deliver the goods. And that’s how each has positioned itself. For example, Zipcar’s tag line isn’t “Innovative car-sharing” but “Wheels when you want them.”
Here in the Massachusetts medical device industry, one of the most succinct and enduring expressions of innovation without using the word is Natick-based Boston Scientific‘s tag line, “Delivering what’s next.” As with Zipcar’s tag, it’s about what the market gets from innovation, not what the company can thump its chest about. Of course, marketing communications isn’t limited to tag lines. NxStage Medical of Lawrence talks about “leading a movement” to make renal care simpler and portable. BioSphere Medical in Rockland positions itself as the pioneer in embolotherapy. DePuy invites physicians and nurses from around the world to its institute in Raynham, where it offers training in new technologies in orthopaedic, spinal and neurosurgical care. These activities say innovation as well.
What about your product or company? To market innovation with a fresh voice throughout your communications, the first step is figuring out what gap you’re filling. What can your customers do, do better or do with more confidence because you or your products exist? What couldn’t they do before you or your products came along? What need did they have that they didn’t even know they had until you identified it? That’s the very essence of innovation.
It sounds rudimentary (and somewhat grade-schoolish), but use verbs. Even saying “We innovate” is stronger and more customer-focused than the often-used claim, “We’re leaders in innovation.” Too many companies say what they are. That’s passive. Tell us what you do — or what you help customers do.
This may seem obvious, but you wouldn’t know it given the same-o same-o of many companies’ messages: Be original. Everyone expects you to talk about leadership/revolutionary technology/unparalleled R&D, yada yada yada. All fine, but that won’t differentiate you from 90 percent of medical device companies. One of Google’s stated corporate principles is, “You can make money without doing evil.” It makes you stop and think. And you want your market to be thinking about you.
And here’s one we’ve advised to many of our own clients: Create your own category. The medical device industry is rife with categories within categories, from infection control catheters (ICCs) to drug-eluting stents to the digital operating room, to name three Massachusetts exports. Could your innovation be in a category all by itself because of a unique aspect? It’s one way to be first. When the going gets tough, the tough re-categorize.
These are thought-starters. As you ponder your innovation and how to bring it to market, just remember that showing is better than telling. How you communicate may convey your innovative ways more effectively than what you say. And if you act innovatively, you may never have to use the i-word again.
{IMAGELEFT:http://www.massdevice.com/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/headshots/Kinslow_Rob_100x100.jpg}Rob Kinslow is vice president of strategic communications at Seidler Bernstein.