You don’t have to be the largest company in the industry to inspire change. In fact, it’s usually the larger companies that fear disrupting innovations that can cause chaos in the industry and challenge their position in the market.
Here’s how your business can set itself up to lead the industry.
1. Innovation is Your Biggest Ally
Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder— for small businesses. Businesses that overtake previous market leaders are those that use innovative technologies to disrupt the market and take the throne for themselves—all before the competition has the time to adapt.
Amazon and Netflix are two of the greatest examples of this in modern times. Both of these companies used the internet—an innovative technology that the market leaders weren’t using at the time—to take the market right from their underneath.
2. Focus on a Small But Growing Niche
How do you bring innovation to the industry? By focusing on a small but growing niche.
In an interview, when asked why he started Amazon as an internet-based book company, Jeff Bezos said,
“I found this fact on a website that the web was growing at 2,300 percent per year.”
The size of “the internet book market” sector was too small for Barnes and Noble (the market leader at the time) to bat an eye. However, the growth in the market was exponential, and Bezos realized that the internet was going to become a huge marketplace shortly.
The lesson to gain from Amazon’s success is that you don’t have to go head-to-head with the market leader to challenge their position. A better way is to focus on a smaller but fast-growing market sector and win the race slowly and steadily.
3. Use Latest Innovative Technologies
Businesses aren’t usually very quick to catch up on technologies, partly because of the status quo bias. People tend to resist change even if it promises better productivity and output quality for the company. Small businesses suffer from this as much as larger businesses.
For example, video calling and other work-from-home technologies were there before COVID. Many companies only continue to use these technologies post-COVID because they’re productive. We could’ve been using them before COVID if it wasn’t for the status quo bias.
4. Use Digital Signage For Marketing and Branding
One of the trendiest technologies right now is digital signage. Digital signage uses OLED, and Quantum Dot LED screens to replace signboards and posters with motion graphics. The technology is cheaper and more energy-efficient now than ever before, but only a few companies have started to realize the high benefits-to-cost ratio of digital signage.
Axis Business Technologies has partnered with Samsung, Panasonic, and other technology companies to bring state-of-the-art business technologies to small businesses. We’ve been helping small businesses adapt to the latest technologies for over 40 years. We also offer Print Management Software Solutions and a variety of commercial copiers, color laser printers, and scanners.
Want your business to be an example for future startups? Get in touch now!
