Fads vs. Trends

Fads are furious and short lived. You need to quickly position your product offering to where a fad currently is. Throw all your short term resources at it. Coming up with extensions will keep the fad going, but it will inevitably die out soon. Then you must look for the next fad.

Trends are slow to build and long lasting. You need to position your offering to where you believe a trend will be. Build your expertise and long term strategy to meet a trend. Extensions are not as necessary and can take on a life of their own. Once you lock into a trend, focus on keeping a competitive advantage.


Love fads. Love trends more.

Context matters.

The Wife and I were looking for apartments to rent in London last week. We must have met around 6 real estate agents and seen many more properties. One of the noticeable aspects of the sales process was how important context was to the types of questions asked by the agents.

Only 1 out of the 6 agents asked us how many houses we had seen earlier. When you think about it, the answer to that question determines a lot. If it was the first house we were seeing, it would take something exceptional for us to say yes. If it's the 20th house, we have a lot of reference points to compare the property to. Obtaining this background allowed the agent to customize how she was showing us the properties. Incidentally, we ended up picking a house she showed.

Companies that sell their products online should operate in a very similar way, and the process is faster as well. If I were purchasing shoes, I should be shown related products that match my interest. Depending on where I am in the purchase process, I would be interested in exploring other options, or quickly hone in to the exact product. Either way, the site should be ready to accomodate my needs and consider the context. I feel that most sites do a inadequate job of determining this. Amazon does it well. If you have a business where you are selling products online, how well do you take care of context?

You Only Get One Shot.

Eminem rapped in 8 Mile, "If you had one shot, one opportunity, would you capture it? Or just let it slip?".  Social media works in a somewhat similar albeit less dramatic fashion. Do things right, and your business could have millions of followers that grow at a steady pace. However, make a mistake and most of those fans might leave and never come back.

One of the biggest mistakes is poor content. If you have loyal customers that are willing to track you down, follow you on Twitter or like your Facebook page, then at a minimum you need to keep them there. It doesn't take much. Brands like Barclays quickly realized the price of not having great content and then losing the attention of millions of fans. Don't make that mistake. You have an audience, so go out and wow them.