Sometimes inspiration can be hard to come by, but Google has provided us with some tips for innovation!

In a recent Fast Company article about Google’s Chief Social Evangelist Gopi Kallayil, a few great tips for innovation were shared that marketers, business owners and, frankly, anyone can appreciate. Of the nine excellent principles shared, the following three were the most resonant.

Focus on the User

Perhaps the most important question you can ask yourself when creating something – whether it is a service or an app – is, “Will people use this?”

Too many people are driven by the potential for wealth that they lose focus of the importance of the idea. A ‘million dollar idea’ only exists if there are people out there willing to use your product. Focus on the end user and what they want and need, and the rest will fall into place.

Let Employees Innovate

Let’s say you are building an app. You’re seeing some traction and getting downloads and you think you have it all figured out. What we often forget is that we are sitting on a goldmine of potential and never breaking ground!

Google provides their employees with what they refer to as ’20 percent time’. For those of you not familiar with this concept, it is time that employees can take using company resources to work on passion projects and try to bring them to fruition. You never know what brilliant ideas the people sitting all around might come up with. Give them a chance to find out.

Fail Well

Playing it safe might be the right call from time to time, but if you have never failed, you have never dared yourself to try something innovative. And if you have failed, you have earned something very valuable.

The idea at Google is that if you are going to fail (and yes, you will fail every now and again) learn from your failure. If a project is not doing what it is supposed to do, scrap it. But maintain what works and build from there. Who knows, you might find that a small feature of a larger failed project becomes your next big project. It is all about pushing yourself and letting yourself and your brand take chances.

These are just three of the great lessons we can take from this session. Have a look at the full article here.

What are some of your tips for inspiration? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!