It's all in the 'shin'- InnovaTION, ImitaTION, ExecuTION, CaptivaTION, ConsumpTION, DominaTION

In any market, there are innovators, who want to create an entirely new market space or revolutionise a current one like Red Bull with their energy drinks, Apple Inc. with the iPods and iPhones, Elvis Presley with Rock & Roll, Toyota with their hybrid vehicles, Google with PPC (pay per click advertising), Alexander Graham Bell with the telephone, Paypal with its internet payment gateway, the New Zealand All Blacks in rugby, Microsoft with its Windows operating system, McDonald’s, or Southwest Airlines with budget travel.

When you are an innovator, your future market will be created by you and shaped by how you create and develop it. Most things are different yet the principles of growing a business are still the same. Your marketing challenges are different because you have no direct competitors. Your business development is slightly different because you have to constantly monitor the market place to build on your barriers of entry. The harder it is for your potential competitors to enter your market space, the easier it will be for you to keep building on capturing more market share. Your maintenance and building of your new market requires absolute precision in the delivery and development of your product/service brand.

Constantly assessing and reassessing how the market reacts to your new innovative product/service will ensure your competitive advantage is maintained as long as you religiously improve your new product/service. Never stop innovating and improving your product/service because it can always be better. You won’t find Apple stagnant in their innovation, you won’t find the NZ All Blacks team stop improving how they play the game of rugby, you won’t find McDonald’s not looking for new markets to build a signature restaurant, you won’t find Toyota giving up their lead so easy in the hybrid car market, or Southwest Airlines not finding newer locations to service or better ways to improve their customer service.

Like in nature, business is a game of the fittest, the smartest, the most proactive, the most adaptable and flexible. Keep your game tight, your scoreboard ticking over with runs (cashflow) and you will improve your odds of being highly competitive in your market space.