Jumping on the latest cultural trends can be a good way to make some quick money or earn some fast fame. However, steering your ship off course to try to take advantage of passing trends isn’t always the best long-term decision.
It often happens that businesses try to profit from what’s trending just to end up wasting time and resources in the end. Below, eight members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their arguments for why it’s actually better to stay the course with your business and let the trends pass you by.
Young Entrepreneur Council members offer insights into why you shouldn’t chase trends.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Trends Cost Additional Time, Money And Resources
Ask yourself if you can really afford the time, money and other resources you need to make this new trend work for you. Usually, looking at the figures brings people back to cold reality again. When you go off plan and tackle a new trend, you have a learning period and need to create new content and buy new tools. Trends fade away by nature. In many cases, you would have made more money from just sticking to a good plan than spending even more resources on a fad with questionable outcomes. Look at the bottom line. If you can justify the expense and the deviation it’ll take from your original marketing strategy, go for it. If not, just hunker down and stick to your original strategy. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
2. You Risk Losing Loyal Customers To Inconsistency
The biggest argument for staying the steady course is that you’ll keep your customers loyal. We see it all the time in the music or movie industry: An upcoming star stands out by rejecting trends and having their own unique voice only to turn around and embrace the very things they stood against. As a result, fans and customers leave in droves. When you stay away from fads and trends that oppose your business’s values and model, you show customers that you’re consistent. This creates a loyal following and community that will support your business. – Blair Williams, MemberPress
3. You Risk Damaging Your Image And Brand Messaging
Hopping on the latest trend bandwagon can be a bad look for your brand long term. It’s important to consider the impact of your company’s image when supporting or endorsing new fads that might lose favor quickly. At the same time, doing so may demonstrate a lack of consistency in your brand messaging. To build a brand that’s memorable, stick to the fundamentals of your business and stay focused on your core mission. – Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep Mattress
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4. You Can Fall Into A Cycle Of Constant Adaptation
It is normal for companies to adapt to changes in technology or market shifts and pivot as required to stay relevant. However, trends that are, by definition, short-term phenomena are not the secret to long-term business success. It may be tempting to cash in on some gimmicks that appear to be lucrative at the moment, but the moment the trend passes you will have to adapt to yet another trend. Businesses cannot constantly invest in reorienting themselves, as this requires a lot of resources and possibly even different skill sets within the workforce. This means that, long term, adapting to different trends may end up costing you more than you make. It is far better to build your business on market gaps or needs that are “evergreen,” and which will remain mostly unaffected by passing trends. – Maria Thimothy, OneIMS
5. You Lose Traction On Important Business Goals
Most of the time, business success is a long-term game. Yes, it’s possible to catch lightning in a bottle by jumping on a trend, but, more often than not, chasing trends causes businesses to lose focus. As a result, budgets and people are spread too thin, and the resources needed to maintain and build the business based on its original mission or focus are severely limited. Inevitably, the core business takes a hit. If the trend doesn’t pan out or if it’s not a huge success, then the business has lost time and money as well as traction in its core focus. It’s hard to recoup that lost traction and win back market share. In other words, don’t undo everything you’ve worked for so far by chasing a trend you have no control over. – Jonathan Prichard, MattressInsider.com
6. Your Business Will No Longer Be Timeless
Trends tend to date you, and you want your business to be timeless. For instance, Beanie Babies were a hot trend once. Everyone started selling them. Then, one day, they vanished. The trend ended. Now, all those sellers who had leftover Beanie Babies were stuck with them. They were also stuck with all their online branding and advertising that focused on this one product. It’s important to find a niche, but the niche should be one that can change with the times and not focus on a trend. It will cost you more to change out all your ads, your social media and your branding to replace a trend than it will to just maintain a steady course in the first place. Plus, hopping from trend to trend makes a business look chaotic and desperate. – Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
7. You May Detract From Your Authenticity
Trends come and go, but your story and authenticity are what will stand the test of time. The way you make people feel from the moment they encounter your brand to the final step in the checkout process is what they will remember. The friendly, patient employee who helps them solve a problem is what they will remember. The team behind their purchase who dedicate their time, attention and passion to the end product or service is what they will remember. The unique packaging that took extra care and thought is what they will remember. The time and care you put into your brand are what matter more than any trend that might come your way. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
8. You Risk Building Something That’s Unsustainable
Ensuring your offering has a long-term demand and is evergreen is really the only way to build a sustainable business. Instead of developing and launching a trendy product or service based on the latest social media trends, look to see what’s relevant and will be in demand for years to come. This will also ensure your offerings are foundational and can be purchased for decades instead of months. – Kristin Kimberly Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
