Trends & Marketing: How to Find Trends Before Your Competitors Do

Current trends can be a slippery fish to catch. As soon as you come across one, it might go out of date or another company might be using it to their advantage. Suddenly, you aren’t on the cutting edge and you’re just following along. Trends are beneficial to hop onto, but they are most beneficial when you are early in finding them. Using trends for your company’s benefit works best when you’re on the frontline of the trends. Using trends first means you need to know how to find trends before your competitors do.

How to Find Trends Before Your Competitors Do

You should be alert and active as you keep on the lookout for trends. Keep your trend-finding-antenna up as you read, watch, and talk to people.

Consuming information is the main ways to find trends. There’s many different ways to keep up with your industry and marketing—both digitally and in face-to-face connections:

• Follow experts in your industry on social media
• Read industry and marketing blogs
• Speak to your customers
• Research trend reports
• Utilize your network

Follow experts in your industry on social media.

Seeing what influencers and major companies in your field are saying and doing is key. These companies and people influence the flow of your field. One way to follow them is on LinkedIn, because it is a good resource for information from specific people in marking and in your industry. Following hashtags on Twitter will also keep you up to date (with second-by-second updates) on topics that apply to your company.

Read industry and marketing blogs

Blog content is kept up to date and includes insights about all aspects of industries and marketing. This is because blog posts can bring you a new perspective on topics that you hadn’t thought about before. Fresh perspectives are integral when discovering new trends. Incorporating both social media and blog reading into your daily routine keeps you informed and thinking about trends. Daily information gathering allows you to be in touch with trends, because you’ll have your finger on the pulse of your industry.

Speak your customers

Ask the right questions from your customers and you’ll get the right answers. Customers have insight into what they see coming in the future—both insight into their own needs and the insight into how they consume information in your industry. Trends affect both the customers and your company, so it makes sense to discuss with your customers. Gathering their feedback allows for personalized information into current trends.

Research trend reports

Industry research and trend reports are a no-brainer way to find trends. In your search to find trends before your competitors—you’ll need to keep current in your reading and research into trend reports. Searching for trends in real time can also be done on Google Trends for specific and current search engine information.

Utilize your network

Be intentional with your connections in the industry. Pay attention to what’s going on in your circles but don’t just assume every occurrence is a trend. Using your entire network to find trends means that you’ll have a balanced source of information sources to draw from. Gathering information from various sources is a key aspect of credible research. When you have a strong basis of information that leans towards a common theme—you have a trend to pay attention to.

You’re welcome to get in touch with us at RedMoxy at redmoxy.com/contact to discuss marketing strategies!