15 Ways Agency Leaders Can Decide Whether To Adopt A Marketing Trend

 

 

As marketing trends tend to come and go, with little indication of how long they’ll stay popular, it can be challenging to decide which ones to adopt and which to ignore. Making this decision requires careful evaluation of the impact that leveraging a trend may have on your target audience, business goals and budget, as well as the trend’s potential longevity.

Below, 15 members of Forbes Agency Council explore some key things to think about when deciding whether or not a brand should adopt a particular marketing trend. By considering these factors, companies can determine if a trend is worth pursuing and, if so, how to integrate it into their existing marketing strategy.

1. Determine Whether It’s A Good Fit For Your Brand

Often, choosing to adopt or ignore a marketing trend comes down to whether or not it makes sense for your brand. This has to do with your brand personality, voice, target audience, values and so on. Marketing trends come and go, similar to how fashion trends are always coming and going, so don’t be afraid to take a step back from the next big marketing trend if it doesn’t fit your brand. - Gavin Baker, Baker Marketing Laboratory

2. See If It Makes Sense For Your Offering

Marketing trends will always come and go, but advertisers need to think critically and decide whether each trend actually makes sense to adopt for their product or offering. It won’t always be one-size-fits-all, and sometimes adopting a trend that is not in line with your brand image or values can do more harm than good. Customers and clients appreciate authenticity and congruence. - Rohaan Khan, Orange Trail

3. Consider The Trend’s Potential Longevity

Will following the trend have larger impacts on your business? Or is it something that will simply help in the short term? Depending on your vision, you can pick and choose which trends can help you accomplish your long-term and short-term goals. - Hannah Trivette, NUVEW Web Solutions

4. Think About Whether It Benefits Your Clients

Ultimately, it comes down to whether or not it benefits our clients. If a trend works for some other brand out there, there’s a chance it could help at least one of the clients in our portfolio. If it presents as a real opportunity, we’ll test it on a limited basis to start. Data will decide whether we dive all the way in. We won’t chase trendiness at the expense of the established practices that got us here. - Tellef Lundevall, Accelerated Digital Media

5. Do Your Research And Ask People You Trust

I typically do research and ask myself and my trusted colleagues the following questions: “Are friends and family doing it? If so, how are they taking advantage of the trend, and how old are they?” I also look to see if any of my clients’ brands and/or executives are doing it. Furthermore, I see if the influencers and/or reporters I follow in the space are participating in the trend favorably. - Rachel Winer, ROKK Solutions

6. Look At The Potential ROI

To decide whether to adopt or ignore a particular social media marketing trend, research the trend’s effectiveness and potential ROI. Consider whether it aligns with your brand and audience, and see if it fits within your budget and resources. A pilot test can also be useful to evaluate results before committing. - Zohaib Patoli, Lead Origin

7. Follow The Consumer

We follow the consumer. For client briefs, we prioritize the trends based on their target audiences. When it comes to investing in our own capabilities, we look for the trends that will have a commercialization runway. The “hourglass economy”—robust spending in the top and bottom tiers of the economy, but pullback in the middle—is an important filter for us right now. - Ray Lansigan, Publicis Groupe

8. Check The Alignment With Your Mission And Brand Voice

It’s important to stay up to date on current trends, but not all trends should be adopted. Understanding whether or not the trend aligns with the brand’s overall mission and voice is the first step. Additionally, consider the resources at hand: Is there enough money, bandwidth and so forth available? - JP Johl, AdTribute

9. Look For Trends That Help Build Relationships

Marketing trends come and go. I tend to adopt trends that build relationships, because to me, all successful marketing builds relationships. Therefore, if a new trend or tool can help build relationships deeper, faster or more broadly, I will bring it to my team to evaluate. - Dave Oury, Medical Leverage

10. Consider Short- And Long-Term Business Impacts

Consider both the short-term and long-term impact of the trend on your business. Will it be a passing fad, or is it likely to have a lasting impact? By evaluating the relevance, cost-benefit and impact of a marketing trend, you can make informed decisions about whether to adopt or ignore it and ensure that your marketing efforts are aligned with your overall business strategy. - Seth Winterer, Digital Logic

11. Let Your Brand Persona Guide You

Your brand persona should guide this decision. If your brand were a person, would they join this conversation? And if so, how would they show up in a distinctive way? If those answers are clear to your team, testing it out is a great investment. You could be building long-lasting brand awareness! - Mae Karwowski, Obviously

12. Explore The Intent And Limitations Of The Trend

Look at the intent and limitations of the trending services and platforms. If the services or platforms fill a soon-to-be-urgent need for your agency—or more importantly, for your clients—adopt it. If you look at it and see it as a nice-to-have but not a need-to-have, delay the adoption of it. If you review and find that it works against your agency or client goals, ignore it. - Justin Buckley, ATTN Agency

13. Distinguish Between Marketing Trends And Cultural Trends

It’s important to distinguish between a marketing trend and a cultural trend that might have marketing-adjacent potential. If a trend isn’t relevant to your audience, then it’s not going to be a successful pursuit. Spend time in the customer journey and identify where opportunities to create greater influence exist—they might be, in fact, chances to deploy a tactic or leverage a trend. – David Racine, Punch PR

14. Evaluate Several Factors That May Impact Your Brand

Adopting or ignoring a marketing trend depends on certain factors: relevance to your brand and audience, evidence of effectiveness, cost, timing and uniqueness. Evaluate these before deciding whether the marketing trend aligns with business goals and is well-informed. When “doing it for the ‘gram” was the hype, for example, we decided that for critical demographics, engaging them on Facebook and LinkedIn made sense. - Frank Rojas, Qode Media Inc.

15. Consider How Your Users Interact With Your Brand

Think about your customers and your users and how they interact with your brand. Trends are great, but just because one is the new “shiny object” doesn’t mean the people who support a client’s brand will engage with it. Look at the data and see what your target audience is doing with this trend. If the engagement is low, wait it out and review it again next quarter. - Paul E. Benninghove, Tattoo Projects

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This article is written by Forbes and originally published here.

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