Innovation has always made the world go around, but it seems like the internet has created a digital infrastructure where new trends come and go quicker than ever before. From a business perspective, this can be alarming. By the time you tap into one trend, a new one is already developing. How can you possibly stay up-to-date on rapidly evolving marketing trends in a manner that's cost-effective for your business? You need a plan.
5 Strategies for Tracking Trends
It would be nice if all new marketing trends flowed from the same waterspout, but it's never that convenient. You've got some trends dripping from a spout over here and other trends wildly spraying from a fire hydrant over there. Before you know it, you're standing in a few inches of water and don't know where any of it came from or what to do with it.
While there's not a whole lot you can do about the speed at which new marketing trends come and go, you can develop a strategy for identifying and leveraging as many new trends as possible in a timely manner. Here's where you should start:
1. Treat yourself like a student. Remember when you were a student and your only purpose was to study the material you were presented with so that you could pass quizzes and exams? You have many more responsibilities now, but there's some value in treating yourself like a student.
“Take on education as if it's your spring training and you want to go all the way to the World Series,” millionaire entrepreneur Timothy Sykes says. “Educating yourself will ensure that you will be able to attain the success that you crave. And, you will be more effective at the work that you pursue.”
2. Follow and engage in forums. It's one thing to sit around and read trade publications or blog posts, but there isn't much value in this alone. If you want to interact with other people and discuss ideas, an online message board or forum is a great way to stretch yourself.
Find an online community in your marketing niche and start reading posts. After you get a feel for how the community works, sign up and introduce yourself. Once you make a name for yourself, you'll find that these message boards not only keep you up-to-date on trends, but they also serve as networking tools.
3. Create Google Alerts. By now, you realize just how challenging it is to sift through the millions of URLs on the internet in order to find exactly what you're looking for. Even with sophisticated search engines, there's always stuff you're missing out on.
How do you stay up-to-+date on topics that interest you? Create a Google Alert. A Google Alert lets you keep an eye on specific keywords and topics that are posted online. Any time a new piece of content comes through with one of your selected keywords, you get a special notification. This makes it perfect for staying current with specific marketing trends.
The post How to Stay on Top of the Latest Marketing Trends appeared first on AllBusiness.com
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