What is a trend?
A market trend is anything that alters the market where your company operates. This could be something as far-reaching as artificial intelligence technology, as fickle as consumer preferences, or as industry-specific as new regulations. It’s almost certain there are multiple market trends affecting the businesses at the same time, right now.
By understanding the types of market trends, companies can distinguish what makes sense for their businesses. This focused analysis helps companies to adapt and stay competitive in any rapidly changing business environment.
How to Determine Market Trends One Should Focus On?
There are lots of trends that matter to different consumers at different times. But if your business tries to be everything to everyone, your message won’t speak to your ideal customer over all the others. Focusing on short-term market trends might be one way to make customers aware of you through social media or Google results, but it’s how you speak to long-term trends and show your values that will take them from casual readers to dedicated customers.
As you explore trends, it’s also important to be asking critical questions about how your values and service offerings align, fit in, or even run counter to the trends.
- Read Industry Publications: One way to hone in on market trends unique to your industry is to read the publications that are reporting on the current issues.
- Use Industry Trends Analytics: Digital analytics tools for consumer behavior insights can help you get the bigger picture on your market and how it relates to the greater economy.
- Observe Your Competitors: If all your competitors are doing something, does that mean you should do it? Maybe yes, or maybe no. But observing their marketing is a way to make more educated decisions.
But don’t forget, it’s not just about what your brand considers important. The whole reason for focusing on trends, to begin with, is to appeal better to your customers. Your trend analysis should also be paired with market research to inform your messaging strategy and content creation plan.
A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Trend analysis and Market Research.
One of the reasons why organizations or businesses want to conduct trend analysis is to understand and obtain greater insights on how the market is reacting, what are the primary preference of the consumers and what are strategies an organization would need to induce.
Mentioning below are three main types of market research:
- Exploratory Research: This approach is used to better define a problem and your organization’s opportunity to solve it. This research is usually conducted through in-depth customer interviews or discussions.
- Descriptive Research: This approach is used to determine if a product or service is a good fit for the market, or to judge the general attitudes of customers toward a service or product. In addition to interviews, surveys may also be used.
- Causal Research: This market research is used to test scenarios or determine cause-and-effect. This might be conducted through focus groups or A-B testing to see if changing one aspect of the pitch or marketing strategy changes the outcome with customers.
These market research tactics will help you understand what customers are looking for and what elements motivate them toward a buying decision. How do their questions change along with their needs? What solutions are they seeking? With these answers, you will be able to put current market trends in the context of your business and your market.
Fads vs Trends:
Any form of behavior that is intensely followed by a population for a short period of time. The behavior will rise relatively quickly and fall relatively quickly once the perception of novelty is gone.
Whereas;
A trend gets stronger over time and does stick around. Trends have identifiable and explainable rises that are driven by audience needs. They help solve a problem for people.
A trend gains power over time, because it’s not merely part of a moment, it’s a tool, a connector that will become more valuable as other people commit to engaging in it.” Seth Godin
The increasing use of social networks is a trend (that connects us) and the use of mobile devices (that allow us to look up information in real-time). These are things that have grown – and continue to grow – in market penetration. They solve problems and also represent new ways of life.
Trends evolving Market research surveys:
Gone are the days of boring, monotonous surveys where every marketing manager has to worry about whether enough answers will come back or not. Market research has evolved and offers more and more ways to collect data quickly and efficiently while ensuring an engaging user experience. In the coming year, market analyses will be dominated by technological progress and the continued switch to online channels.
According to Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence,
The global online survey market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 16% through 2026.
The trend of surveys being conducted over the internet has shifted dramatically in the last 10 years, driven by a dramatic rise in internet penetration and the relatively low cost of conducting web surveys in comparison with other methods.
Web surveys have several advantages over other modes of interview. They are convenient for respondents to take on their own time and at their own pace. The lack of an interviewer means web surveys suffer from less social desirability bias than interviewer-administered modes. And Web surveys also allow researchers to use a host of multimedia elements, such as having respondents view videos or listen to audio clips, which are not available to other survey modes.
Have you or your organization been using more online surveys? If so, why have you begun using them more frequently? And, are you likely to consider mypaidfeedback for your next online survey? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!