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Do you want more time to put towards the important stuff in your business? You know—the stuff that makes you feel good and makes you money?
If so, one thing you need to add to your stop doing list this second is chasing trends.
A few weeks ago, I asked my followers on Facebook if they have any topics they want me to cover. Liberty Montano asked if I’d cover trend chasing, so here we are.
Before I tell you why trend chasing can be a big ol’ waste of time, I want to talk about the creative entrepreneurs who SHOULD pay attention to trends.
You should pay attention to trends if your ideal customer cares deeply about trends. You should know all about your ideal customer by now, so you should know if your ideal customer is constantly chasing trends and buys mostly trendy items. If this is your ideal customer, your products will need to reflect it. This is the only time that I believe it will truly benefit your business to incorporate new trends into it regularly.
You should pay attention to trends that you’ll be able to sell over and over. For instance, if a huge color for fall is plum and you make jewelry, make some jewelry that incorporates the color plum. Even after that fall is over, you’ll still have customers who want to buy plum-colored jewelry.
Now, let’s cover the reasons to stop chasing trends.
1. You don’t want to confuse your customers with inconsistent branding.
Your brand is a big freaking deal. Eventually, you want your customers to recognize your brand instantly when they see new products featured on another blog, when they receive a package in the mail, and when they see your logo somewhere other than your website.
The most important part of your branding is your message—your why. Every product that you make needs to be a product of your why. If it isn’t, building a loyal customer base is going to be extremely difficult—if not, impossible. If you chase trends, it’s easy to get away from your why. If the trend is a part of your why, then it’ll be easy for you to incorporate it into your business. If not, leave it alone.
2. Most of your customers aren’t looking for trends when they buy handmade products.
If I know something is just a trend and won’t be around next season, I shop for it at Target. I’m going to find the least expensive version of that trend, because I know I’ll only be wearing it or using it a few times. I definitely won’t be searching Etsy to find a handmade version of it. And, I bet many of your customers feel the same way. When you buy a trendy item, do you buy an expensive version or an inexpensive version?
3. If you can’t produce it and make it available for purchase fast, you’re going to lose money.
You don’t want to spend lots of time and money in materials making trendy products unless you think you’re going to sell them while they’re still trendy. If you can’t turn around these products fast, you’ll be stuck with stock that you can’t move and you’ll have to give all your family members last season’s trends for Christmas gifts.
4. You lose uniqueness.
If you chase trends, you’re like everybody else who chases trends. You’ll soon find that you’re making products like lots of other people, and if you don’t have any way to differentiate yourself, you’ll have to compete on price. You never want to compete on price.
I hope this helps you get clearer on whether you should be incorporating trends into your business.