It is often easy to forget to keep track of what is happening out there in the markets you are serving. You have targets to reach, spreadsheets to finish, worries over complacent distributors, etc.
It is often easy to forget to keep track of what is happening out there in the markets you are serving. You have targets to reach, spreadsheets to finish, worries over complacent distributors, etc.
You cannot visit all your markets every month but when serving any markets and channels you must have an idea on the “scene” before you seriously start using resources and develop your plan.
The good news is that there are now so many ways you can keep on top of what is really happening out there, so you can now practice what I call “Google and Go” researching and keeping basic knowledge up to date on what is happening and “trending”
Here are some home basic and free tools that are available 24/7:
- Google alert, https://www.google.co.uk/alerts where you can input key words for your industry and even follow what your competitors are doing. You simply set up the alert and the time-consuming search from one site to another is done for you in form of email summary alerts.
- Many times you need to fine-tune the electronic search but a great basic screening at no cost and very limited initial time used
- Search on Twitter in an instant https://twitter.com/search-home with or without an account – A great snapshot for what is trending right now
- Of course, Facebook can also be used to look up and search for companies, so lots more than just following “old class-mates”
- Not forgetting what is trending on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/feed/trending
We are not all web search experts but the above can certainly help you have basic information at no cost at hand when speaking with your markets, partners, sharpening and aligning your offering to match market needs.
Best of all it can be done before your phone calls or your plane lands.
Another good place to know and explore is, of course, Google digital garage. Boost your digital knowledge where they offer free courses on everything from search to social media we all have to know whether we like it or not, we need to follow global trends ourselves.