Applied Trends into Marketing to Generate

Innovation

by Miguel De Sousa

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Fact:People Evolve, so as Their Needs and Desires!

http://www.buzzle.com

Why is it important to apply the knowledgethat Trends gives us into Marketing?

Let’s start from the beg

inning...

Trends are a social science that help us understand mentality changes in

the consumer’s behaviour, thus enabling us to monitor it and eventu-ally perceive possible changes in the future.

Marketing is as defined by AMA “the activity, set of institutions, and proc-esses for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large”.

So, by using Applied Trends into Marketing we will be able to establish a viable route to innovative solutions for our consumers.

Why is this im

portant?

Brands can no longer think that they are the best in the world, and they do not need to change.

They no longer can think that the consumer needs them, that they can keep him in an aquarium and feed him what they think it’s right for him!

http://www.fubiz.com

Our consumers are spoiled, they demand re-spect, valuable offers and does not want to be inter-rupted by brands that they did not request.

http://www.fubiz.com

Our consumers do not get surprised easily anymore…

they know everythingthey know everything… and brands need to address this new real-

ity and offer experiences that go beyond the consumer’s ex-pectations, otherwise they will be just another fish in the sea

http://www.fubiz.com

Therefore, brand managers, market-ers, innovation directors are respon-sible to ensure the creation of a brand strategy that is based on a

constant process of inno-vation always focusing the real needs and desires of their consumers.

They need to show their consumers that they are evolving with them.

They understand them and they are willing to change for them,

as positive change for the future.

http://www.fubiz.com

As Erik Qualman explains in his book “Socialnomics”, now consumers work together for a common goal: to get what they want no matters what. Otherwise, if brands do not attend these new needs, consumers will talk bad about them in Social Media, thus creating negative buzz, thus damaging the brand’s reputation.

Furthermore, Social Media will point out, sooner or later, the Furthermore, Social Media will point out, sooner or later, the

company’s flaws, and it is crucial how fast and in which ways the company will address these flaws, to show to its consumers that the company is willing to change for better. Thus transferring the power from the brand to its consumers, and enhancing the idea of living in a Social Economy!

It is no longer viable for marketers, advertisers and brand managers to segment their targets only solely relying on numbers… after all, we are talking about people, and people are not numbers! We can no longer just say that my target is between the age of 25-35, class A or B, and let’s say that it belongs to the group of Nerds, or Executives or Surfers.

The reality is The reality is complex and easy: Currently every single person has different personalities that play a role in their lives’ (personal, professional, hobbies, et al). Today, we can say that an executive, between the age of 25-35 is in fact also a surfer and likes to paint as well.

We are no longer talking about just numbers (that’s an outdate marketing perspective), we are talking about behaviours (Trends + Marketing). So, in order to complement those numbers that marketers like to analyse and get to some conclusions, they also need to understand and make part the equation:• Who are the consumers?• What are they looking for?• How do they interact between themselves?•• Where are they going?

By taking these questions into the equation, we will be able analyse the reality of our product or service, and:• Understand what these new behaviours mean?

• What Drivers are involved?

• And what impact does it have in my sector?

And this is why, it is important to start the process always with the consumer

(this process is also known as Design Thinking). Ask him what does he need and what are his desires, and listen to what he is saying verbally andnon-verbally ways.

Subsequently, we need to analyse what the insights he gave us andelaborate a plan for our brand, which can takes to two different actions:

• React – improve our product, service, customer service, stores, et al, accord-ingly with the consumer’s feedback

• Pro-Act (Product/Service) – or create a new product/service that will attend to the new consumers needs that he is yet aware that he actually needs it.

When this phase is complete, we need to go back to the beginning and keep listen-

ing to what our consumers are saying – this is a cyclic process and if we stop we will not be able to keep up with our consumers’ evolution!

So, today brands need to be right next to their consumers before trying to sell them something. They have to build their trust, be with them, become their best friend, and when the time comes and those consumers need something, that is the right time for your brand to offer them your best product/service!

This is why, from my point of view, the role of a marketer, brand manager, This is why, from my point of view, the role of a marketer, brand manager, innovation director, whatever you can yourself, needs an update, and merge

the old marketers characteristics with the new characteristics, that only Trends enable the brand to go further and prosper.

Marketrender

Brands can no longer advertise that they are the best and their product or service as a thousand features, blah blah blah…

Consumers are completely tired of this bullshit nonsense, and want the

real thing!

Stop saying you do – like Nike say it “Just do It” and stop talking about it. Because, if your brand has the need to say that it is very good, than maybe it is not… otherwise you would not have the need to keep saying it over and over

again… Just prove to your consumers that you are good and they will talk in your name!

RememberYour consumers are the ambassadors of your brand! So show them that you are Your consumers are the ambassadors of your brand! So show them that you are worth it be proving you are good!

Consumers are aware of the reality. They have finally figure it out that, they will not be able to achieve a perfect life that was always

promised to them since the beginning, specially from brands.

http://www.fubiz.com

They know that life is notperfect, like the Barbie world...

http://www.fubiz.com

...and is in fact greyer, colder and darker, but they know that it is possible to

achieve happiness and live life to the fullest!

Here, the brand’s role is crucial to help the consumers to achieve their dreams.

http://www.fubiz.com

So, how can I use the Applied Trends into Marketing to Generate Innovation?

TheObservation phase

2TheLab Phase TheGet to Work Phase

TheSelf-Assessment Phase

3

4

1We can divide it in

phases4

TheObservation phase 1is based on the monitoring, prospection and insight generation from Trends, and aims to gather relevant information about our consumers to has potential to generate innovation

TheLab phase is based on the Innovation Trap and the Innovation Factory, aiming to the validation of the insights that were retrieve from the analysis of the trends, understanding if it makes sense and if it meaningful in order to validate or not its application in the company’s product/service, to be able to elaborate a plan for its implementation

2

1 2

TheGet to Work Phase is based on the implementation of the innovation previously planned, and the evaluation of the process.

3

31 2

TheSelf-Assessment Phase is based on the evaluation of the entire process, and fully understand the previous phases, what went wrong and why, in order to become process within this process.

4

4

31 2

After this final phase, we return to thebeginning since this is also a cyclic process.

It is necessary to understand that these are just phases of how the process goes, and therefore each company needs to be capable to successfully integrate it in

their strategy, in order to establish a cyclic process that aims to continuously create innovation, thus satisfying its consumers.

So, it is important to bare in mind the size of the company, the mental-ity of the workers within that company, within other factors, that need to be explain in detail, to understand how to successfully implement such strategy.

Thank you for your time!

by Miguel De Sousa