9. • A trend is the general tendency or direction in which
something’s going to move, develop or change.
• It’s defined by a shift in mentality or behavior that then
influences a significant number of people
10. • ‘TRENDS’ last much longer and have a much
greater impact on society
‘FASHIONS’ or ‘FADS’
• increase dramatically followed by an almost
immediate decline
FASHION/FADS vs. TRENDS
11. Why is it important to spot a trend?
• plan more effectively for the future
• introduce more successful initiatives to your
business
• by focusing on what will happen next, you can
make more informed decisions in less time,
saving a lot of energy and money in the long
run.
12. Step 1: Know your objectives
• Firstly, you shouldn’t dive into spotting
trends before you know why you’re spotting
them and what you want to achieve.
For example, are you looking to find an idea that
will make you money, or that will encourage
your existing target audience to spend more
with you? Who are you targeting? Establish your
goals and chosen industry before you move
forward.
14. a. The Innovators
These are your quirky, open minded and
extravert people who innovate new ideas, try
new things, take big risks and generally don’t
care about what people think. Only 2.5% of
people are innovators, so you may not even
know one personally. If you do, it’s
recommended that you get to know them, find
out what they do, where they go and generally
feed off of their thoughts and habits.
15. b. Early Adopters
They’re considered to be a ‘go to’ person for
new information and early trends. They take the
trends early on and encourage others to join in
by reducing their fears. Often have disposable
income/more free time to invest in trends at
their early stages.
16. c. Early Majority
Take their time to asses products and new
trends before they take them on – need to know
that they won’t be considered strange. Willing
to embrace new trends as long as they
understand how it will fit in with their lives
17. d. Late Majority
Adopt in reaction to peer pressure, emerging
norms, or economic necessity. Any uncertainty
and fears must be resolved before they adopt
the trend.
18. e. Laggards
Traditional, make decisions based on past
experiences. Often economically unable to take
risks on new ideas. Into specific hobbies – could
potentially be the innovator of a particular
concept or industry.
19. Step 3: Look & Observe
Once you have a clearer
picture of who you
should be talking to,
and where you should
be hanging out, what
you should be reading
and watching – DO IT.
Immerse yourself in
information from your
chosen areas, research
as much as you can
HANDY RESEARCH TOOLS
• Google News
• Kickstarter – a great
website showcasing the
latest products, inventions
and trends.
• Newspapers, magazines &
blogs
• Email Newsletters &
Facebook Pages
• Market research, surveys
and polls
• Everyday observations
20. Step 4: Connect the Dots
Once you’ve
collated information
and the latest news
from your chosen
area, you can start
to group articles
together, assess and
find connections
between the
elements.
TOOLS FOR BOOKMARKING
• Evernote – A great tool that lets you assign
photos, docs, scans, notes etc for future
reference.
• Pinterest – A great content sharing service
that allows members to “pin” images,
videos and other objects to their pinboard
for future reference.
• Delicious – An online social bookmarks
manager that lets you save, organise and
discover interesting links on the web.
• Freemind – great free tool for creating
mindmaps
• Old fashioned pen & paper, sticky notes &
white boards
21. Step 5: Assess & Test
• Once you have connected the dots between
your findings and found re-occurring themes
and connections, you can then assess the
potential trends to see how they are doing in
the current landscape, and make potential
predictions for the trends future.
• You can use GOOGLE TRENDS or GOOGLE
KEYWORDS
24. Then ask yourself the following:
• What are the needs that the trend satisfies (is
it a trend or fad)?
• How many people won’t be able to or be
interested in taking advantage of the trend?
• What will affect the speed of the trend?
• Where is the trend now – who’s currently
using it on the innovation curve?
