Marketing is all about staying ahead of your competitors and keeping up with trends, so you can best meet clients’ needs. That’s especially true online, where everything changes at such a rapid pace.

Knowing this, you might be anxious to stay on top of all the changing trends in marketing. But how do you know what those trends are? Where do you go to find out about them before they’re already old news?

In this post, we’ll talk about some of the best methods for how to keep up with marketing trends. Just keep reading, and sign up for our emails to stay in the know on all things digital marketing!

Set up alerts

It’s great to keep up with emerging trends in marketing, but it’s unlikely that your entire job is devoted to that. You have other tasks to take care of, which means you don’t have time to spend your whole day seeking out new trends.

That’s why it can be a good idea to set up alerts to notify you of new trends and publications.

1. Google Trends

Google Trends is a great way to see what people are searching for on Google. You can look at certain keywords to see patterns related to where and when they’ve been most searched, and set alerts to be notified of updates.

2. Google Alerts

Similar to Google Trends, Google Alerts will send you notifications when interesting new content appears for certain keywords. Plug in the keywords you want to track, and you’ll get alerts about new search results.

3. Twitter hashtags

While not strictly what we might call alerts, Twitter hashtags can serve a similar function to something like Google Trends. Since they provide an organic way for users to categorize content, you can simply look up a certain hashtag to see all the newest information on a topic.

Read industry news and publications

Automatic alerts are nice, but sometimes you still have to go do a little searching yourself. But you don’t want to spend all day wasting your time on sites that aren’t of value to you. So where should you look for the best information on marketing trends?

One of the most reliable spots to find that information is in various online marketing publications.

4. Industry news

Depending on what your company does, different trends may come up that apply specifically to your industry. For that reason, it’s a good idea to keep up with industry news that directly relates to your business’s products or services.

5. Subscriptions

Sometimes you can stumble across a great article purely by accident. And since you only found it by chance, you leave thinking, in the words of Shakespeare, “I shall not look upon his like again.”

But there’s an easy way to make sure you see more content like that — just subscribe to the publication! Then you’ll get updates on all the helpful articles they put out.

6. WebFX blog

Speaking of stumbling across great articles, you’re already on a hub for the latest digital marketing news right now! The WebFX blog is dedicated to putting out fresh content about all types of changing trends in marketing, from search engine optimization (SEO) to social media.

You can get the latest updates from us by subscribing to our email list!

Engage with multimedia

Not all the informational content on the web comes in the form of website pages or blog posts. You have a few different options for exploring the newest emerging trends in marketing in other content formats.

7. Courses

When it comes to learning, sometimes it’s best to go old-school. Or, in this case, to go to school. You can find plenty of marketing courses out there to teach you how to improve your marketing strategy.

8. Books

Short blog posts and articles not cutting it for you? Maybe you want to try something heavier. Check out some books written on the subject of digital marketing that may be able to give you some insight.

9. Videos

Not all content has to be read. Just by heading over to YouTube and searching for “digital marketing trends” or something similar, you can find no shortage of informational videos on the subject.

10. Podcasts

If you don’t want to spend more time staring at a screen than you have to, you can opt for podcasts instead. Today there are podcasts on nearly subject, and with a little research, you can undoubtedly find one on marketing that you like.

Check out what other companies are doing

Something to keep in mind is that you’re not the only one looking at how to keep up with marketing trends. Other businesses are doing the same thing, and it’s to your benefit to keep an eye on what they’re doing.

11. Competitors

It’s always a good idea to keep a close watch on your direct competitors so you make sure they don’t get ahead of you. Take a look at some of the marketing content they’re putting out to see what’s working for them and what isn’t.

You can also use platforms like CompetitorSpyFX to keep watch on how you compare to your top five competitors in areas like keywords and organic traffic.

12. Big brands

It’s not just your competitors you can learn from. You can also benefit from observing large, successful brands, whether in your industry or out of it. Usually, for a business to get that big, it has to have a good marketing campaign, so it can’t hurt to emulate it.

13. Conferences

You don’t have to pick up on all the changing trends in marketing just from hopping around the Internet. If you attend conferences or industry talks, you can sometimes hear other marketing leaders openly disclose information about the latest trends they’re using.

Look to your business

Believe it or not, you don’t always have to run to outside sources for information on emerging trends in marketing. You can learn a surprising amount just from looking at your own business!

14. Teammates

If you’re lucky, you’re not the only one at your company trying to learn how to keep up with marketing trends. By collaborating with your teammates, you can compile the information you find individually and learn from each other that way.

15. Customer feedback

Sometimes the biggest experts on your products or services are your customers. Through reviews and customer surveys, you can gather information on what is or isn’t working in your marketing, and what you could do better.

16. Thought leadership

Not only do you not always have to seek help outside your business, you don’t always have to seek it outside yourself. After all, every marketing trend originates somewhere, so see if you can create a few of your own. Be the trendsetter!

Get help with your digital marketing from WebFX

Hopefully, you now know how to keep up with marketing trends. But if you still feel like you could use some help straightening out your digital marketing campaign, don’t worry.

Whether you need help with your SEO, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media, or web design, our team of over 200 experts can work with you to bring in tons of qualified leads.

Just give us a call at 888-601-5359 or contact us online to get started today!