I go to bed worried that I’m missing out on the important trends that affect my business and that my competitors are gaining ground. I can see the details of my day-to-day business clearly but beyond that I’m feeling like I have a hard time separating the important stuff from the information fire hose and don’t always have a good sense of the trends shaping my industry.
Ivan: This is a typical case of “head-in-the-sand myopia.” This condition doesn’t have just one pill. You need an integrated medication program to solve this nearsightedness. I would recommend putting you on this program:
- Monday: www.trendwatching.com – scans the globe for emerging consumer trends;
- Tuesday: www.trendhunter.com the most updated, largest collection of cutting-edge ideas;
- Wednesday: www.marketingcharts.com – daily charts highlighting timely trends;
- Thursday: www.sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog – insightful blog posts about emerging trends before you’re likely to see them on the trends websites;
- Friday: www.whereispuck.com – this is my own homegrown remedy: and
- Saturday: www.springwise.com – your daily fix of entrepreneurial ideas. If you have a bigger budget, Research.ly is a powerful tool that enables you to simultaneously track a variety of key social media to “find the conversations and influencers that matter to your business,” all from the convenience of an easy-to-use dashboard.
Cyri: The good news is that the medication is mostly free and you can soon be sleeping at night knowing that you can stay on top of important trends without Googling away into the night. I would also recommend you add a bit of Google Alerts to your medication program. Once you are aware of some of the trends from your weekly medication above, just go to www.google.com/alerts and enter the keywords for the trends you want to be updated on. This way, the trend info comes to you instead of you having to remember to take your daily web-surfing medication.
Google Trends is another popular tool that is simple to use (www.google.com/trends). Just type in the keyword you want to track and you can see a chart showing the trending of that topic over time, how many searches have been done during different quarters and years. It’s a great way to see the global pulse of a particular topic and to see if a trend on the upswing or in decline.
Ivan: Don’t worry if you have “head-in-the-sand” myopia. Being aware of your condition is the main thing.
Cyri: Use mobile devices to your advantage by signing up to the Twitter feeds of people in your industry that you feel are the leaders and influencers. When you do have a few spare moments to kill, pull out your smartphone and scan through the incoming tweets. If you do this for even five minutes a day, you will soon find your anxiety levels going down as you feel like you have a clearer view of the big picture.
Ivan: It’s easy to spend your whole day keeping track of all the trends and then have no time left over to do your most important work. I recommend you block off 15 to 30 minutes a day for your intelligence gathering.
Cyri: Make sure you don’t rely on presentations from the latest web and social media gurus to stay on top of trends and guide your strategy. They are mainly focused on what’s popular now … like your company getting a better Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter presence. Just because something is new to you and speakers position themselves as experts doesn’t mean you’re getting any real insight. You’re probably better off taking our recommended weekly medication if you want to be on top of what’s really happening.
Cost: Free for all the tools mentioned except for research.ly, which sells for $99 to $9,999 per year!
Ivan: The generic name is really just marketing research – the same old-fashioned research principles apply but with some new tactics and tools. It’s just easier now with the web and mobile devices.
Cyri: I always recommend you track the trends in your industry personally, but if that’s just not feasible, a good alternative is to have someone on staff do that and make sure you regularly meet with him or her or have a quick call to get updated.
Ivan: Most people try these tools and are amazed by the results but, after a few weeks, they forget to take their medication and they soon end up back where they started. That’s one of the good things about Google Alerts: the competitive intelligence updates are automatically emailed to you at your desired frequency so you don’t even need to remember to pop your info pills.
Cyri: It’s good to keep close tabs on what’s happening in your industry but make sure you don’t try to just copy what other people are doing. You need your own vision. Sometimes, you may even want to intentionally stay “out of the loop” so you don’t end up just following the crowd instead of being an innovator going against the crowd.
Ivan: ***
Cyri: **
Cyri Jones (24posts.com) teaches entrepreneurship, project management and information technology at BCIT and Capilano University and is the co-founder of ZedPress.com. Ivan Surjanovic (bizpharmacy.com) is a marketing faculty at Capilano University and CEO of iPower Lab.
