We love reviewing the Greenbook Research Innovation Trends Report each time it comes out because it is an in-depth look at the Market Research industry. It’s one of the few research-on-research pieces that are publicly available. One thing that stood out to us this year was the question of how folks in the Market Research industry (both suppliers and clients) stay up-to-date on the industry. We imagine these numbers are also quite common across a number of different functions as well.
(Images from Page 28 in report)
Based on what we see in the data, less than half of market research professionals are giving themselves the opportunity to seek out information or analogs outside of their own industry. There is a heavy reliance on seminars, conferences and industry specific websites, but much less of a habit to connect to social media or other channels to learn and get inspired.
We believe that the most breakthrough innovation is inspired by things going on outside of an industry or category. Looking for analogs that solve a business or industry challenge in a new way opens up our thinking. We shared some of this thinking earlier this year at the MRMW conference in Chicago.
Here, though, we thought we’d share a few channels we use to ensure we stay inspired and build a catalog of analog inspiration — applicable not just for Market Research, but really any industry or business.
- Local events where folks come together to talk about new business ideas as well as new methods and approaches. A few that we regularly participate in are:
- Lean Start Up Circle – Check out meetup.com to find one in your city
- Startup Weekend – Check out Startupweekend.org for a schedule of upcoming events
- ProductCamp – Check out Productcamp.org for a schedule of upcoming events
- and Unpolished, which is a community based effort that we participate in to drive entrepreneurship in our region
- Local events that expose you to trends and analogs that you can apply back to your industry. Meetup.com will give you info on events on topics ranging from arts & culture; design thinking; health & wellbeing; pets & animals; technology; cooking and a long list of other categories.
- Setting up a stream of inspiration on topics that interest you can help you navigate the vast amount of information coming through social media and the web. We use the feedly.com app.
- Network, network, network. We make a focused effort to meet new people, from a variety of backgrounds and interests each month. This takes time and effort, but is well worth the investment. And, once you start reaching out to a few people, the list of folks they will connect you to creates a fairly organic feed of opportunities to meet new people. Start with a book or blog author you’ve read, or someone that you worked with in the past that’s doing something new and interesting now.
It’s important to set a few focus areas for your learning. So, maybe you want to learn more about omnichannel shopping or wearable technology or corporate innovation processes or cooking and restaurant trends. Then, focus your efforts on those prioritized topics. In addition to the list above, seek out podcasts, books, blogs, conferences, and LinkedIn groups. These types of sources can often point you in the direction of other resources.
Your ability to impact your business as well as your own growth and development will expand exponentially when you go beyond traditional sources and open up your consumption of inspiration beyond your industry or category.
The Garage Group enables corporate teams to innovate like startups.
