As a small business looking to establish your business, you can be wondering why following market trends is important for small businesses . This is because it has now become an important action to take to stay on top of the competition. Having an online presence has now more than ever become a part of building your brand awareness and growth.
As a small business, coming up with a strategic marketing plan is very important. Staying up to date on the latest trends and coming up with ways to increase your brand awareness and follow your ROI should be a part of your digital marketing strategy to stay relevant in your niche.
Having an updated data and information and adjusting marketing tactics accordingly shows that your business can be trusted to provide current services.
WHAT ARE MARKET TRENDS?
Market trend is the study of current market and consumer behaviour. Simply put, it is the current behaviour pattern of consumers over a period of time. The time period of a market trend usually determines if it falls into one of three categories; secular, primary or a secondary trend.
Secular Trends
This are trends that usually last for a very long time (from 5 years). In other words, these are trends that are expected to remain steady for a very long time. It is usually made up of primary trends that are all similar and lasts for short periods of time. It is usually not affected by short term trends. For example, Google Alphabet (GOOGL) and Netflix both technological giants have been considered by experts as secular. This is because short term market trends have little to no impact on them over the years.
According to CNBC, David Kostin, Goldman’s Chief U.S strategist had this to report on them, “Secular growth stocks [or] companies with the fastest expected growth offer value relative to history,”. He decided this based on companies that increased their sales growth by 10% within the last three years and have a strong tendency to grow more.
Primary Trends
This are trends that usually last within one to four years. It can be either a:
Bull Market (this is a rise in the market value of a steady economy) or a
Bear Market (a market that exists in an economy on the decline with its stock values dropping). According to an analysis of MorningStar Inc by Wikipedia says, “stock market data from 1926 to 2014 found that a typical bull market lasted 8.5 years with an average cumulative total return of 458%, while annualized gains for bull markets range from 14.9% to 34.1%.”.
Secondary Trends
These are changes in primary trends over a short period of time (within a few weeks or months). For example, in the fashion industry, which has rapid changing trends.
HOW TO IDENTIFY MARKET TRENDS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Market trends are affected by consumer behaviors and habits. Following these steps will enable you to be able to identify current trends. You can get more information on market research here
Get Up to Date Reports on Research and Trends in Your Niche
Reading research and current reports conducted by experts in your field can help with understanding what the industry is about. You can also know where it is heading and which steps to take to increase your brand awareness. It also helps you to identify stable trends where you can focus your marketing campaigns on.
Conduct a Research on Your Customers
Get to know your customers. Their habits, their behaviour patterns, what they are currently researching for. Sites such as Facebook helps boost your ad campaigns by targeting audience that find your services relevant through demographs.
Make Use of Digital Analytics to Evaluate Market Trends
With the world changing, different tools can be used to analyse market trends today. Finding the best one that works for you and optimizing its use can help to refocus your marketing campaign efforts. Some of these tools are:
Social Media Analysis Tools
Marketers are now adopting the use of social media platforms in the industry to get a huge audience base today. Social channel such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other related platforms are used to collect data on trending topics, customer habits and behaviors. This can help you know your customers and get an idea of their perception of your brand.
Check out our post on how small businesses can leverage on social media as a marketing tool. Also, using google trends can help in getting a general overview of what has been trending in your niche over-time. Using keywords everywhere helps you to get an idea of certain keywords consumers search for relating to your field.
AI Analysis Trend Tools
AI analysis trend tools like Synthesio Social Intelligence Suite to convert social media trends like conversations and social web searches to useful information. You can use this to direct your marketing campaigns. It helps in saving time by processing a large data base of social trends. This enables you not to search for information manually.
Digital sites like Buzzsumo generate insights on trend data based on social contents and web contents. It also keeps track of your performance and identify influencers in your field.
Keep Track of Your Competitors
You can also observe your competitors. Notice how customers review your competitors and how they run their social media. Taking note of how they go about their marketing campaigns can help you to get a perception of how your brand compares to them. It will also help you know how you can go about setting up your campaigns to stay ahead.
Attend Events and Conference Related To Your Niche
Attend events that concerns brands in your niche. This can help you to get expert views and ideas on what is trending in your niche. It is also an opportunity for networking and getting relevant insights from your colleagues.
IMPORTANCE OF MARKET TRENDS
Here is why it is important to Follow market trends for your small businesses.
Helps in identifying Marketing Campaign Improvements
Using market trend analysis can help you to recognize new ways in which you can improve your marketing campaigns. This will satisfy your customers and improve user experience.
Identifies Consumer Needs
By conducting research and trend analytics, you can identify what consumers are talking about and how you can re brand your services to cater to their needs.
Increases Brand Awareness and Reach
Through AI analysis trend tools, you can gather a huge data base on current market trends and insights. Through this, you can retarget your marketing campaigns to increase your company growth.
Identifying how to utilize the various marketing trends analytics tools can ease the pressure of your marketing campaigns. Giving a clear insight to what direction you can take as a small business.