Do you wonder how Google remains a constant leader in innovation? What does this Silicon Valley company know that others don’t? How do they create a culture of innovation?

There’s no silver bullet or secret sauce.

It’s about establishing core principles of innovation that guide your decision-making and culture.

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What you can learn from Google and their innovation principles

Here are Google’s nine innovation principles to help you create a culture of innovation and find your next big idea.

Marketers can learn a lot from Google.

1. Focus on the user, not the competition

Google believes that if it focuses on users, everything else will fall into place. Google wants to improve its users’ lives.

For example, when Google started Gmail in 2004, they wanted email to be more intuitive. They also aimed for more storage capacity, offering a gigabyte instead of 2–4 megabytes.

It is now the world’s top web-based email service.

Google focuses on its users, not their competition. They worry about the money later.

For example, they added search suggestions that populate after a couple of keystrokes. Google sales reps were concerned that it shortened the time users would view Google ads. Google took the risk, and it paid off with a better search experience for users with more benefits.

What does this mean for marketers?

As a marketer, listen to your audience and analyze the data they generate. Find out what they like or don’t like and how you can improve your products and services based on your findings.

Everything you do should solve a problem for your audience, including answering questions through your content.

2. Ideas can come from anywhere

Good ideas can come from anywhere and from anyone. The power of the crowd is powerful in today’s digital world.

“No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.”

Bill Joy, an American entrepreneur and co-founder of Sun Microsystems

Google’s staff argued to Google that they had a moral obligation to extend help to those typing “how to commit suicide.”

They changed the search results. This change makes the National Suicide Prevention Hotline’s toll-free phone number appear first in Google’s search results.

What does this mean for marketers?

People can work from anywhere in the world, and companies need to tap into global knowledge.

To improve your marketing, tap into ideas from around the world.

To develop better ideas and get more feedback on those ideas, use the power of the crowd.

3. Start side projects

Google provides employees with the opportunity to pursue projects they are passionate about. They give their employees 20% of their work time on projects that are not core to their job.

For example, Google engineers can set aside one day a week to work on their favorite idea.

This could lead to product improvements. An employee found that he could not get a close-up view of a hotel he was staying at in Spain. As a solution, he adapted Google’s Street View camera.

Google follows the 70/20/10 model. In this model, 70% of projects are dedicated to Google’s core business. 20% of the projects are related to the core business. The remaining 10% of projects are unrelated.

This model helps Google focus on the core needs while stretching them into new and related ideas. This encourages out-of-the-box thinking, which is good for Google’s bottom line.

What does this mean for marketers?

As a leader, encourage your team to pursue projects that are not core to their job responsibilities.

Also, cultivate your own side project that you are passionate about and bring those ideas to the team.

4. Share everything you can

Google believes that collaboration is essential to innovation success. They encourage their employees to share their ideas. They make their processes open to all users.

For example, Google created the Android platform with an open mindset. This approach was intended to encourage developers outside of Google. The goal was to have them develop apps for Android devices.

Google also asked its users how they would market its voice search app. Children sent in clever videos about the product.

In today’s hyperconnected world, it’s powerful to share information internally and externally. To develop better ideas, more people need to understand them and help grow them.

What does this mean for marketers?

Encourage sharing among your team and be the department that values sharing. Lead your company’s culture by showing how much you care about sharing information with other teams.

5. Think big, start small

At the heart of Google’s innovation is its thinking. They understand that innovation only happens when you want to improve by 10x.

Google believes you should improve something by 10 times, not 10%. Google’s innovation principle is about thinking big and starting small.

Google is working on significant technological advances. These include using balloons to deliver Internet access to remote parts of the world. They are also building self-driving cars.

The 10x thinking makes you think and re-think your ideas. This type of thinking helps you approach and reimagine your ideas.

“I now have a very simple metric I use: are you working on something that can change the world? Yes or no? The answer for 99.99999 percent of people is ‘no.’ I think we need to be training people on how to change the world.

Obviously, technologies are the way to do that. That’s what we’ve seen in the past; that’s what has driven all the change.”

 Larry Page, co-founder of Google

What does this mean for marketers?

Reimagine your ideas by thinking really big and starting small. Produce content that is 10 times better than the best search result.

Encourage big thinking, not incremental. Start more small pilot projects that have big ideas behind them.

6. Fail and learn

Fail fast, fail often, and fail forward. Google understands the power of experimentation. Once a product fails to reach its potential at Google, it is killed.

Google looks at failure as a badge of honor. Google knows that the only way they are going to be innovative is by failing with pride.

To be a successful marketer, you need to fail and take action.

The best companies reinvent themselves and disrupt themselves before their competitors do. Failing and learning are fundamental to success.

What does this mean for marketers?

The best marketers encourage failure and don’t stigmatize it. When you don’t fail enough, you are not trying hard enough and learning enough.

The only actual failure comes when you give up, don’t try again, and don’t learn from your failures.

7. Use data, not opinions

The most successful companies today are data-driven. They measure as much as they can.

These types of companies use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and algorithms. They analyze and make decisions on data, not opinions. Data beats opinions.

Google makes data a big part of its decision-making. They take a data-driven approach to better understanding human interactions.

For example, they organize an annual employee survey in which 90% of their global employees join.

What does this mean for marketers?

Every company has unique insights, and this can lead to continuous improvement and innovation.

Ideas and data together can make the difference between a company being ultra-successful or going extinct.

8. Adopt an abundance, not scarcity mindset

Many companies worry about their resources and take a scarcity mindset. This mindset sees the world as finite.

Most people in the corporate world have been conditioned toward this mindset. This scarcity mentality keeps your company from achieving its audacious goals.

The most successful technology companies, like Apple, Amazon, and Google, have an abundance mindset. If you (the customer) win, the company will succeed.

For example, Amazon launched Amazon Web Services (AWS) to expand its cloud computing capabilities. Then, it realized it could help Netflix and Capital One earn revenue.

Now, the more people that use AWS, the lower Amazon’s costs are.

What does this mean for marketers?

Think abundance, not scarcity.

Don’t think about your small budget. Consider how this project can drive revenue for your business. This way, you have more money to work on other projects.

9. Have a strong sense of purpose

Does your company have a purpose? A purpose will make sure each person’s story helps tell the broader company’s story.

A strong sense of purpose helps your company overcome challenges, stay focused, and attract and keep the best talent.

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information.

“Everyone at Google has a strong sense of mission and purpose. We believe the work we do has an impact on millions of people in a positive way.”

Gopi Kallayil, Chief Evangelist and Brand Marketing, Google

What does this mean for marketers?

A strong sense of purpose is suitable for your marketing and your company’s success. Good things happen when employees have a sense of purpose that aligns with the company’s.

Encourage your team and company overall to have a purpose.

Bringing it all together

Marketers can learn a lot from Google’s innovation principles. Focus on the user, not the competition.

Ideas can come from anywhere. Start side projects. Share everything you can, think big, start small, and fail and learn.

Use data, not opinions; adopt an abundance, not scarcity, mindset; and have a strong sense of purpose.

A framework akin to what Google has established with its innovation principles can help you find your next big idea. It can also help you create a culture of innovation at your company.

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