What's your secret for staying informed on consumer behavior trends?

I somewhat disagree. A lot of these blogs and newsletters have many variables and aspects based on which they are written. Not necessarily they would be able to provide what you are actually looking for. In order to get closer to your consumer, you will need to get your hands dirty by analysing data, doing surveys and interviewing prospect personas. Otherwise you are just shooting an arrow in thin air.

As marketeers, we are quite intuitive of what is right and what is happening. However, it is very important to validate these thoughts with real responses in the form of surveys and interviews. When taking surveys, having about minimum 150 responses is a good number to take out insights. However, before you send out a survey, ensure you set the end objective clearly otherwise once the responses come in and you sit to try to take out insights, you'd realise you made a mistake in some question or the other. Also, take at least 30 interviews to further go deeper into these insights. That's what I do!

Just go out and speak to people! It might sound over-simplied, but this is the only thing we're missing today. They need not be consumers or your ideal customers. That's okay! Simply understanding how other humans think, what are their belief systems are, what interests them, what demotivates them, what makes them happy, what makes them sad. Everything. Simply observing human behaviour without a marketing lens or agenda opens up so many doors to connect with them. That is exactly the reason creators are able to create a better connection with their audience than most brands can only dream of. Industry reports, POVs, listening tools, etc. are important but will usually show you what you're looking for, not necessarily what you need.

Absolutely, why not utilise the years of experience of someone. They have a set of ready steps that can be easily followed and integrated in our lives. Whenever I face any dilemma, I interact with a lot of seniors and peers to understand their point of view. That really helps me get perspective.

I’m always looking for ways to keep my marketing user experience focused on what is relevant and timely. So one of the things I do regularly is read Twitter and engage with people on Twitter to find out more about opinions that they have or advice that they’re providing. Then I do research into those topics to see what the experts are saying because I to balance between what’s happening in the culture and what’s actually technically accurate. This helps me find in my marketing so that it appears fresh, relevant, and engaging.

We can actively seek out and use a variety of information sources. Some of them are: ?? Follow key thought leaders and influencers, keep up with industry periodicals, attend conferences and webinars, and conduct market research. ?? We can utilise social media channels and technologies to track conversations and sentiments. ??Also, we can analyse data frequently and adjust your plans as necessary. We could use multifaceted strategy that would help us understand customer behaviour better and keep up with the ever changing market environment.