Melanie
Welcome to the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast for all decision makers and action takers. Take it away, Esther.
Esther
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast. Today, we're talking about keeping up with the Joneses, or trends. So trends are very important. Trends are trending, obviously. But is it important to keep up with them constantly? That's the question for today.
Melanie
I don't think it's necessary to keep up with these things all the time. I think having an eyeball on it, because one of the last things you want to do, especially as marketers, is be behind the trend. You don't want to be adopting stuff far later than your competitors, because you're managing the expectations of your customers all the time, and they expect us to be ahead of things. Now, just because we're probably going to be ahead of them, doesn't mean we shouldn't try and stay on trend with everybody else who's in the same sector. It could even become one of our USPs if we want to identify that way. So give us an example of what you mean today, Esther, because this is your baby today, isn't it?
Esther
Well, at the time of recording, one of the top trends online is my Gen Z, Gen Z, whatever way you want to pronounce it, intern, wrote the script for me. So you have these people walking through older people, I mean, even older than Melanie and I, I mean, we're talking we're old. So older than Melanie and I... People older than Melanie and I, business owners in their maybe late 50s early '60s or even later. I don't want to put ages on all of them, but some of them are definitely pushing retirement. But they're using words and phrases that they don't know what they're saying. They don't understand what it means. Yes, it's funny. Yes, the algorithm loves it. But are Gen Zs actually going to buy your product or use your service just because you speak in their language? Are they in the market for buying designer blinds and spending a night in a Victorian bed and breakfast? I mean, these are the ones that I've seen that have stuck out, and they're very well done. They're very funny. But I understand the lingo because I have teenage sons who use the lingo. My peers who have older or younger children do not understand it, and we're probably the ones at the minute with the most buying power. So if your audience is really around our age, is there a need for you to be appealing to the younger generations?
Melanie
I think you've just answered your own query.
Esther
Okay, and a podcast.
Melanie
Because they're not targeting the older people, and they're not targeting the younger people. They're targeting you, Esther.
Esther
But it annoys me.
Melanie
Well, that's the point. It makes it memorable.
Esther
I won't buy from them because it annoys me.
Melanie
It makes it memorable, and it doesn't annoy everyone who's like you. No. But what it's doing is it's targeting people who understand raising teenagers right now. This is the lingo that they're dealing with and how ridiculous it sounds. It's gently friendly, mocking the teen speak and understanding the problem that the parents are going through, trying to navigate conversations with these weirdos.
Esther
Slay.
Melanie
Total slay. It could be that they're actually targeting you, Esther, and not your mom.
Esther
Oh, no, my mom's not even in, she wouldn't have a baldy as she puts it. She wouldn't have the foggiest idea of what is going on, let alone what they're talking about or what they're even trying to sell. But There's other trends that are the, of course we're marketers because blah, blah, blah, saying things. I never understood if that one was ironic, sarcastic, true things. I mean, what do you include in the, of course we're marketers, we drink 10 cups of coffee a day. Is that exaggerating? Is it sarcastic? Like I said, that for one, I never understood because all the different ones seem to take it in a different angle.
Melanie
Yeah, no, I do remember that trend, actually. And I did see the relevance in it to the point where it was helping people understand maybe a day in the life of the marketer and opening a window to what we're like potentially outside of our professional life. I do think some trends can be over extended slightly. I think they can go on too long, and especially if you're adopting it maybe even a couple of months later, it can look a bit outdated. This is the downside to trends. They're so short-lived.
Esther
But people People do feel like they need to keep up with them. They do feel the, Oh, this new shiny thing to jump on. And I'm not just talking trends on social media. I'm talking the trend of having no website or the trend of having a brand new website every year. There's all these different trends that maybe you see from one influencer that they're saying this one thing and another one's saying the complete opposite. So who do you follow? This is the confusing thing for our audience as well. Obviously, you follow us because we have all the right information. But apart from us, who else do they get their information from?
Melanie
I think that's why it's so good to have so many different sources, because not everybody's the same. Some people prefer the comedian marketers, others prefer entertainment, others prefer info. I think there is a place and a space for every type of marketer and even every type of trend. When it doesn't appeal to us, it doesn't mean it doesn't appeal to others. There will be other trends that will appeal to us. It's just trying to understand, are we using the right ones to target our audiences with? We've seen all of these trends, and I can pretty much vouch for myself and Esther here. We've never done any of them because it wouldn't suit-.
Esther
You've danced. You have danced on TikTok. I remember that one.
Melanie
That was a while ago.
Esther
Go and find it. Go and find it, guys. It's there.
Melanie
You're a bugger for telling people about that.
Esther
Watch your views spike.
Melanie
But there is the opportunity to be and do all of these things. But if it doesn't suit your brand personality or your persona, your owner or even your customers, then it really is terribly inappropriate to do. God, that was really English, wasn't it? Terribly.
Esther
Terribly. Terribly British. But you could also be a trendsetter.
Melanie
Yeah, why not?
Esther
Start your own. All of these things start somewhere. Somebody had an idea in some back room somewhere to do these things. So why not start your own? It may not have the same virality, virality, viralness. It sounded weird otherwise. It might not reach viral status, but it might. You might influence other people to take on a new trend. Because we obviously don't see all of them. Because we can't be online 24/7, even though people do think, that's all we do.
Melanie
They expect us to be.
Esther
That's all we do is sit on TikTok and Facebook all day. But you can think about what your audience needs and what they need to hear from you and how they need to hear it from you and start your own trends. Be a trendsetter rather than a trend-follower.
Melanie
I do think It is important that every now and then we do something slightly different. It doesn't have to be every single week or every month, heck, even every quarter. But I do think it's important to shake things up every now and then because our audience gets a little complacent when they see the the same messaging, the same imaging, the same videos.
Esther
But if you're doing the same as your competitor, then how are you going to be standing out?
Melanie
Yeah, it depends on the trend, though, doesn't it?
Esther
It does. But if all of your competitors jump on the same trend, then it loses that lust of fun feature.
Melanie
Yeah, definitely. So it really is down to your brand persona. And I like the fact that this particular podcast, as we said before, is for decision makers and action takers. So if you're one of those, I would love for you to be a trendsetter. And if you are a tag us and we'll follow along.
Esther
We'll help your trend get viral by sharing it with others.
Melanie
Yeah.
Esther
No, but I'm not just talking about TikTok trends and video trends and things. There's a lot of people these days saying, oh, prompts for AI, that's so 2023. Now it's, and we're going, Okay, but some people didn't adopt AI in 2023. They maybe even haven't adopted it in 2024. They're only thinking about adopting it in 2025. So by the time they actually adopt it, it may be a totally different beast and prompts will still be a thing. But saying that, SEO is dead, now you have to optimize your website for AI. If 100% of people aren't using AI to search for stuff, then you don't have to jump on that bandwagon just yet either. That's what I'm saying, too. Just take a breath, take a step back and evaluate where your customers are, how they're finding you. Is it still working? Yes, perfect. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep an eye on the other stuff. But don't just automatically throw everything out the window and go, no, SEO is dead. Let's move on to this other thing because you could potentially damage your business.
Melanie
Yeah, I've got to agree with that. I think we can try and do too much for our business at the end of the day. I think it's important that we pay more attention to what our customers are actually consuming, what they're reacting to and responding to. And as long as that's still working, you don't need to shake things up too much. I do think it's important to stay on top of trends, and I do think it's important to, if you can, be a leader and put yourself out there as a thought leader and adopt things as early as you can, physically and affordably. But at least I know that they're there. I don't think you need to transform your whole business, however.
Esther
No. You need to be aware that these trends are there and that these things are happening. I mean, voice search has been around for a long time, as long as she who shall not be named, M-A-L-E-X-A, etc. S-I-R-I. All of these things have been around for years. Voice Search has been the thing. But now optimizing your website for voice search is relatively new, even though these things have been around. And yes, I know, don't come at me, AI has been around for years and years and years, but people using and adopting AI in their everyday work and life is relatively new. So just take a breath. You'll be fine. And if not, come to us. We know what to do. We do. We will help you. Melanie and I will help you navigate your way through sea of unknown and new things and trends and everything that you can possibly need.
Melanie
Unless it's find my iPhone, which I'm still trying to get my head around.
Esther
Okay, iPhones have only been around for 15 years, that's okay.
Melanie
Okay, guys. Well, we hope you found today useful. It's important that you come away with some really good takeaways from every single week. And if you've got any area that we haven't covered yet that you'd like to learn more about, we probably either know somebody who knows it better than we do or we haven't actually mentioned we know it yet. So do let us know and we can cover it for you. And we'll be back next week with another podcast. Have a great week.
Esther
Bye.
Melanie
Bye.
Esther
You don't know how to find my iphone.. My goodness.
Melanie
Is this a bad time to mention I'm a tech journalist?
