Businesses are here to cater to the market and try to swerve it in their direction. That much is sometimes successful, for example, when you imagine buying some fries, do you imagine them on a plate? Or do you picture them in a McDonalds bag or carton? That is a triumph of marketing and brand familiarity on their part, showing that if you’re diligent enough, you can certainly shape a market, or elements of it, in your image.
However, if the market flows like an ocean, you may find that large waves can also seemingly come out of nowhere. For some businesses (which we may picture as fishing boats in this metaphor), it’s enough to completely change their orientation. Think of how many smartphone manufacturers began scrambling to support apps after the iPhone was released.
When trends come (the waves) it’s easy to feel like you should go with them. But how can you define appropriate opportunities, gauge their length, and consider your own position in relation to them? In this post, we hope some advice can help you achieve all that and more:
Calculate The Investment Or Pivot Needs
There’s an opportunity cost with any proactive decision you make (choosing one direction means not following another), so calculating the investment potential of that is important. You can decide whether the trend aligns with your long-term vision or if it’s more of a short-term gain, and ask yourself if you have the infrastructure to support this pivot, or if it would require significant changes. For example, when social media marketing first exploded, many businesses felt the need to jump in, even if their target audience wasn’t really there at the time being. This will help you determine if you should be an early adopter or wait until the trend cements itself. For instance, TikTok has been around for a while, but in 2024 many companies joined it for the first time.
Develop A Clear Action Plan
A trend might come quickly, but your plans for it don’t have to. You need a clear action plan, and one that starts with understanding the scope of what you’re trying to achieve. Take time to define those objectives: Are you looking to fully integrate this trend into your business model, or is this more of a temporary adjustment? Maybe you’re just well-positioned to assist with tenders or orders, such as how many manufacturing firms helped governments produce Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic. This way, you’ll avoid falling into a trend without thinking of the principles.
Think About Integration Into Your Business Competency
Don’t pursue every trend, because any trend you do follow should complement or enhance what your business already does well. For instance, if your business thrives on delivering high-quality customer service, adopting a trend that disconnects you from direct customer interaction might do more harm than good, no matter how popular it is. Alternatively, a dental studio might decide to integrate new Omnichroma Flow products to ensure treatments offer better yield and match consumer demand.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily deal with trends and fashionable trends in your industry.