In marketing, it’s a lot less expensive to follow a trend than to create one. If you are creating a trend, you are most likely having to spend a lot of your marketing budget just educating people on your product and if you still manage to get time with them you may be able to sell them. On the other hand, when they know what the product is and it’s a rising trend, you are way ahead of the game from an ROI standpoint.

The best trend spotters out there find something that a lot of people are getting unusually exited about, identify it, name it, and capitalize on it.

The five tips on how to spot the latest trends…

I really like this article from www.trendwatching.com about the 5 trend watching tips. Below is a summary of the highlights.

#1 Know why you are tracking trends

#2 Have a point of view

#3 Weave your web of resources

#4 Fine tune your trend frameword

#5 Embed and apply

The most valuable part of the article is their definition of a trend:

A manifestation of something that has unlocked or newly serviced an existing (and hardly ever changing) consumer need, desire, want, or value.

Their definition is so well put and is a great basis for any benefit oriented approach to marketing.