By Rieva Lesonsky
As a small business owner, you may not think of yourself as a trend-watcher. Truth be told, spotting trends is a key ability small business owners must possess. Whether you’re starting a new business or growing your existing one, you need to know what products and services are hot (and becoming more so), what kinds of customers have money to spend and what industries are growing…or declining. Tracking trends can keep you on top of all of these things.
Try these 6 tips to boost your trend-spotting skills.
- Keep up with industry news. The first step to trend-watching is keeping on top of your industry news. Read the major trade publications and websites; sign up to get e-mail newsletters or RSS feeds on topics of interest.
- Stay in the loop. Join industry-related social networking groups, whether on Facebook, LinkedIn or more industry-specific sites. By regularly chatting about what others in your industry are doing, you’ll stay on top of trends.
- Think like your target market. Next step: Expand beyond your industry to learn to think like your target customers do. If you market to moms, read mommy blogs and parenting magazines. Find out what magazines, websites, social networks, TV shows and radio stations your customers are into, and learn from them.
- Think outside the office. You can read, e-mail and tweet all you want, but there’s no substitute for getting out in the real world. Make it a point to regularly go where your target customers hang out, whether that’s a downtown business area, a local mall or a hip restaurant row. Sit and observe; listen in if you can. Take note of what types of products, fashions, gadgets and foods you see.
- Think city. Let’s face it – most trends don’t start in Des Moines; they start in big urban areas. Pay attention to what’s going on in New York City, Los Angeles and Miami. Also think further afield. Tokyo, Paris, London and other key cities abroad are places to watch for new ideas. It’s easier than ever to find out what’s going on worldwide by regularly checking global websites.
- Mix it up. No matter what your business or industry, it’s important to introduce an element of freshness into your thinking. Check out hip, edgy or youth-oriented websites and magazines from time to time. Even if you sell office copier products to corporate purchasing agents, you just might get a smart idea on how to redesign your company’s website or repackage your products from reading a surfer magazine.
Image by Flickr user Dan Quieroz (Creative Commons)
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