It seems that wherever one looks these days, there is some new gadget or program coming out that will make consumer’s lives easier or fill a niche that was either previously vacant or just adds freshness to an already full market.

But the question of how one is to come up with ways to sell those new products is a real challenge. Recent marketing innovation has demonstrated some keen trends that would be foolhardy to ignore. Here is a look at the most recent trends in marketing innovation that are getting results.

The Utilization of Social Media

Certainly everyone serious about marketing innovation has a website – but there needs to be more to it than that. The biggest trend in marketing innovation is to have a Facebook page or a Twitter account. While some argue that Google + will be another point of marketing innovation, it is not there yet. So for now, the concentration is on Facebook and Twitter. With Facebook, consumers get the chance to interact with the product and product makers, getting a more personalized and interpersonal relationship with the brand. This can do a variety of things for a product:

• It can get the brand “out there” and allow consumers to tell their friends via “sharing.”
• It allows consumers to gripe about a product, and, with a good marketer at the helm, allow for those problems to be publicly remedied, which makes the company look caring and responsible (as it should).
• It allows satisfied customers to praise the product publicly, which is seen by their friends, and can raise interest an excitement around the product.

With Twitter, companies can “Tweet” statuses in 140 characters or less to generate enthusiasm around their product. While it has some of the same features of Facebook, there is more of an urgency to Twitter – but there is more difficulty in remedying a gripe from a disgruntled customer. It is not as visible to other followers.

Insourcing

When considering marketing innovation exclusively, insourcing is a great way to figure out how the general public will receive a new product or strategy. For companies with over 1000 employees, there are typically demographics of all kinds, and collecting anonymous information from them can be quite simple.

• The promise of overtime or bonus rewards makes it quite enticing to participate in a focus group. Offer $25 gift cards and free lunch to whomever chooses to participate, and employees will show up in droves. That’s chump change for the valuable feedback the business gets in return.
• The answers can remain anonymous via nameless questionnaires, so employees don’t feel uncomfortable given less-than-positive feedback about a particular aspect of a product or strategy.
• Employees know the company well; they can sometimes foresee problems that the general public might miss.

Marketing innovation must keep up with the changing trends and shifting desires of the public. To do so, companies must be ready to come up with creative ways to demonstrate their products and services.