The Worst Business Budgeting Advice Making the Rounds

I read the worst business budgeting advice online today.

A “thought leader” was arguing that businesses should only direct their efforts and attention on products and processes that generate the most profit and ditch all other efforts. Their larger point:

Innovation is a complete waste of resources.

Somewhere between pandering and “hot take” clickbait, this advice is just plain wrong. No matter how carefully designed, well-executed, or beloved by your customers, most products are destined for discontinuation. Many processes will become obsolete. Factors like increased wholesale prices, market saturation of competitors, and disruptive technology will either push us forward or out of the market. 

Smart Business Innovation Is Survival 101

If you want your company to thrive, you must always be investing time, money, and resources into finding ways to improve your processes and offerings. Between long timelines, experimentation, and failures along the way, innovation can be challenging. Makes for fertile ground for a post about bypassing it altogether, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want to hear that they can just skip the hard part?

It’s annoyingly troubling to see bad advice sent to a world with real, hardworking small business owners. These folks are looking for people they can trust to guide them along their path. If you need to temporarily inflate your social engagement and impression stats, putting up cheap click posts like this will “work” at first. But, ultimately, it will damage the trust you’re building with your audience.

3 Smart Innovation Questions Responsible Leaders Should Be Asking

Here are some questions about smart business innovation we believe a responsible thought leader focused on build lasting relationships would address:

#1: What are the best practices for keeping long development timelines in check?

#2: What is the most important step I can take to ensure that my customers’ feedback is the guiding light to my innovation efforts?

#3: How can I use training and online resources to foster a culture of innovation in my processes and products?

These are just a few of the questions we’ve asked and answered for our clients’ audiences to help grow stronger, value-driven relationships.

If you want to find out more about how to prioritize your product mix and better allocate your resources, Bruce Henderson’s essay, The Product Portfolio, is a helpful, trusted reference. You can also check out our post on budgeting Crafting a Profitable Digital Marketing Budget.

We’ll leave you with another one of our favorite product mix evaluation tools, the BCG Growth Share Matrix, as well: 

https://www.bcg.com/about/overview/our-history/growth-share-matrix

Want to Be the Brand Customers Trust?

If you’d like your customers to see you as someone they can genuinely learn and get useful advice from, Journey Momentum can help.

Make it a great week out there online, everyone!