Why Are Marketing Trends Important?

Marketing trends move quickly and relentlessly. Some are flashes in the pan, but others signal shifts in consumer behavior that are here to stay.

These are the important digital marketing trends not to miss, or risk becoming irrelevant to your target audience.

Rich with opportunities for growth and innovation, new marketing trends keep a brand fresh and thriving. But, we’ll all agree that the rapid flux of change can be a real stone in our shoe. Just when you think you’ve caught up, everything’s changed again.

Here, we talk through the importance of trends in marketing strategy and the many, many reasons why staying in tune should be top of your to-dos. After all, in today’s ever-changing world, it isn’t just a tactic, but a lifeline for your brand. 

To lighten the load, we’ve weaved in some great ways that Similarweb can make keeping on top of marketing trends feel like a walk in the park 🌳

Why is staying on top of trends in marketing important?

Break boundaries

When you’re truly at the forefront of marketing trends, you’re not just keeping up with competitors, you’re setting the pace.

Your brand could become the benchmark that sets a new industry standard and helps shape the future narrative.

Let’s use Glossier as an example. The beauty brand leveraged the growing power of social media and community-driven marketing to break the boundaries of the traditional beauty industry.

Instead of relying on celebrity endorsements and print media, Glossier owned user-generated content and used it to build a community around their products, transforming their customers into an army of brand ambassadors.

Glossier’s community-centric approach has made them an industry leader and set a precedent that many have since tried to emulate.

Who said breaking boundaries couldn’t be fun? With new technologies popping up around us, the digital landscape is boiling over with opportunities to delight customers with AI-powered tools and super cool interactive experiences, like augmented and virtual reality.

Check out our guide on experiential marketing to spice up your marketing strategy by incorporating some of the most exciting new marketing trends today.

Make better decisions

Consumer behaviors, preferences and demands are in constant flux in today’s ecosystem.

So, being actively aware of these evolving trends gives you a pretty good understanding of your target audience. This naturally leads to better decision making, not just for you as a marketer, but across your entire organization.

At the core of decision-making is data. It’s how you learn what’s trending at any given moment.

Marketing trends – plus the data to back it up – lead to super strategic, data-driven decisions that will keep you far ahead in the game.

One of the best things about the digital age is that it’s positively brimming with data. But having access to vast amounts of it can create challenges of quality vs quantity.

This is especially true of marketing, where the quality of your strategies directly reflect the quality of the data it’s based on.

That’s why you need the best data you can get your hands on to form the basis of every tactical decision. You also need the tools to help you distinguish between what’s noise and what is genuinely rich and insightful.

This is where Similarweb comes in 👋 offering the most accurate and freshest data on the market right now.

With real-time, real-user data based on the last 28 days, you’re not just reacting to what happened in the last few months, but right now – allowing you to be agile and informed with your decision making.

Here you can see the freshness of Similarweb’s data in play. The platform has picked up some of the hottest trends in late September – including breaking news surrounding the Russell Brand and Lauren Boebert controversies. 

Identify threats and opportunities

Staying on top of marketing trends helps you spot both threats and opportunities for your business earlier on, so you can pivot and adjust your strategies in response.

Threats

Staying alert helps you identify emerging threats to your business before they develop into significant problems.

For example, take the huge shift in consumer sentiment towards sustainability in recent years. Brands who failed to pivot and raise the bar have been left open to serious customer backlash, negative press and lost market share.

Threats can also happen on a smaller scale. There could be a new competitor on the scene that threatens to steal some of your market share or traffic, or even an established competitor gaining momentum.

Similarweb can help signal threats from competitors big or small, new or established, with our Competitive Tracker.

With this comprehensive tool, you can keep tabs on up to 25 competitors to gather information on their changing traffic sources, engagement metrics, channel mix and much more.

How does this help?

1) If a competitor starts gaining momentum in an area where you’ve been historically stronger, use these early warnings to re-strategize

2) If they start bidding on your high-traffic keywords as part of their PPC strategy, you’ll be able to pivot quickly and protect your traffic

Opportunities

On the flip side, staying on top of marketing trends shines a light on opportunities emerging in your industry.

This could be spotting a gap in the market for a new product or feature, or discovering a channel or platform that is rising in popularity with your target audience. Being the first to meet your audience where they’re headed next can really solidify you as an industry leader, as well as earn you a ton of customer advocacy.

Use Similarweb’s set of keyword research tools to dive deep into what’s currently trending in your industry.

How does this help?

1) See which new keywords competitors are targeting in their SEO and PPC strategies and uncover emerging search trends that you are yet to tap into

With our Competitive Tracker, you’ll get updates on emerging topics or areas of interest that are gaining traction for your competitors so you too can capitalize on the trend. 

2) When a competitor starts getting traction from a new traffic source or performing well on a particular channel, you’ll know about it early

3) Look into what your competitors aren’t doing. Use Similarweb’s Keyword Gap tool to see where they’re not focusing their efforts and make a list of gaps that you can fill

As we can see here, Similarweb’s Keyword Gap tool gives you a look into the keyword overlap with your closest competitors, so you can uncover missed keyword opportunities, generate new innovative content ideas, and understand your shared audience interests better.

Keep your brand fresh

In a hyper-competitive world, your brand isn’t just what you sell, it’s what you stand for. And consumers have become accustomed to brands catering to their changing wants and needs.

So, businesses that allow themselves to become outdated in the eyes of their customers will quickly lose traction, no matter the quality of their product or service.

Staying in tune with marketing trends, which reflect the very latest industry developments, consumer preferences and technological advancements, is one of your best weapons against brand stagnation.

Stay relevant

Your target audience is much more likely to engage with your brand if it reflects current societal values and speaks the “language” of the moment.

Whether it’s focusing on diversity in your campaigns, incorporating more immersive experiences or growing your presence on TikTok, these small shifts keep your brand relevant and relatable over time.

Keep innovating

Brands that don’t innovate simply get left behind. Marketing trends often signal the arrival of new technologies or methodologies that are the key to breathing new life into your brand image.

For instance, the quick rise in popularity of augmented and virtual reality (VR) has encouraged many businesses to develop super innovative and unique customer experiences that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.

As we discussed earlier, being an early adopter of marketing trends positions your brand as a forward-thinking, innovative leader rather than a mere follower.

Social proof

Building a reputation for early innovation can begin a cycle of increased consumer trust and business success. It serves as social proof that your brand is competent, innovative, and worth paying attention to. They’ll be eagerly anticipating what you come up with next 👀

Boost revenue and growth

Keeping up with marketing trends goes beyond staying relevant and keeping the customer happy. It can lead to new ways of maximizing productivity, driving sustainable growth and skyrocketing ROI for your business.

Adapting faster

By embracing the new marketing trends, you can quickly tailor strategies to meet the changing demand, giving you a competitive edge – which leads to more traffic, more conversions and more sales 🤑

Quick adaptation means you’re not left behind and can leverage the benefits of the latest marketing innovations to your full advantage.

For example, trends like automation and artificial intelligence have been transformative for businesses in terms of streamlining processes, boosting productivity and creating cost-effective ways to reach customers more directly.

Better spend decisions

With a good understanding of where to focus your efforts when consumer behavior changes, you’ll allocate your budgets more efficiently and focus on channels that drive more ROI. Optimized spending means that your precious resources are channeled into the most impactful areas possible, so you get maximum output and profitability.

To conclude

So, why are trends important in marketing? Because understanding marketing trends is what guides brands through the complex maze of changing consumer behaviors, industry shifts and technological advancements. To their advantage.

What business wouldn’t want to outpace competitors, keep their brand image fresh, stay relevant customers and even break the boundaries of their industry?

Most importantly, we now understand that data is at the heart of staying on top of marketing trends. And this is where Similarweb really shines, with its high quality, real-time data that helps you sift through the noise to extract the richest and most insightful data of the moment.

FAQs

Why are marketing trends important?

The importance of marketing trends can’t be understated, as they represent evolving consumer needs, preferences, and behaviors, helping businesses stay relevant, innovative, and responsive to market changes, so they can maintain competitiveness and market share.

How do marketing trends help businesses stay competitive?

Marketing trends enable businesses to stay competitive by providing insights to adapt to and meet changing consumer needs and preferences, thereby allowing them to remain relevant, innovative, and appealing to their target audiences.

How do marketing trends improve business’ strategy?

Marketing trends enhance business strategies by offering insights into evolving consumer needs and emerging technologies, allowing them to make data-driven decisions, optimize their approaches, and adapt efficiently to market changes.

How do marketing trends help businesses identify threats and opportunities?

By monitoring marketing trends, businesses can swiftly identify and respond to emerging threats and opportunities, such as changing consumer sentiments and market demands, ensuring sustained growth and relevance.

How does Similarweb help businesses monitor new marketing trends?

Similarweb provides real-time, accurate data and tools, like the Competitive Tracker, allowing businesses to gain insights into emerging trends and competitor strategies, aiding informed decision-making and enabling prompt adaptation to market changes.