Marketers are trying to wrap the new trends in the industry in a packaging that does not seem like advertising: native advertising, social media marketing, content marketing, branded journalism etc.
Why? Because today’s advertising world is faster and stronger. Because many ads are just as ugly as the drawings of a schizophrenic who drank 2 liters of Coke and 3 shots of ristretto. If Don Draper would live in today’s world, he’d crack in just a few minutes.
The poison of the industry that gets to variate from one point to another, from one house to another, from one influencer to another and can destroy campaigns and business is the”trend“.
Maybe you’ll search the term “trend” on this blog and you will find posts about “today’s trend” or “follow the trend” or “the trend of the day”. And I’d be a hypocrite who does not deserve to get their hands on a keyboard, but he who is without sin can cast the first stone! We’ve all used the word “trend” and waited for visitors to end up on our blogs, read our ideas and our articles so that we could then take advantage of the moment and later announce another trend that attracts different eyes.
And who’s to blame? The one writing about the trend or the one reading about the trend? The one who dictates the trend or the one who follows the trend?
Even if the “trend” is a broad and beautiful term, it does not care about your business. It attracts glances and sometimes even customers. It can be a good bait for the client in the agency’s hook. But it all depends on how it’s used, in what context and with what purpose.
My alarm signal relates, however, for those who follow the trend!
Whether we are talking about marketers just waiting to catch another wave to “ride” like a surfer or about small business managers waiting to catch another slice of this pie.
The “trend” does not care about your business strategy. It sounds good and it looks pretty NOW. Just like Katy Perry or Taylor Swit’s tracks. These are tracks that were at a maximum high at one point in the summer, but died with the first falling leaf (ohhh … so melancholic).
So these trends born in an instant today will just as well die tomorrow
“The trend” differs from one context to another, from one platform to another, from one culture to another and from one mindset to another. See the theory of Twitter in USA vs the theory of Twitter in Romania (whether it dies, lives … it’s all the same). While in Romania there’s talk about Content Marketing only at conferences and on a few blogs, in France, England and Germany it’s all heading to the next level- brands looking to hire journalists to work in the content marketing department.
Trends differ from one context to another!
It’s not my intention to influence you to stop following the trends. I just want you to realize two important things:
- The strategy (be it marketing or business) is more important than any kind of trend;
- Never forget about the context you’re a part of.
Photo Shutterstock
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