How to Use Trends for Business Growth

Businesses not combining TikTok + SEO are leaving $70,000/month on the table. Here's why: Social Signal Building TikTok is the perfect tool to drive SEO-friendly user behavior such as increased traffic volume, time on page, and brand engagement. What to Do: Strategically Link Content: For e-commerce: Use your bio to link to SEO-optimized product or landing pages. Example: “Shop the Top 5 trending gadgets for under $50” links to a curated collection page. For B2B: Link to lead magnets like webinars or whitepapers. Example: “Want our TikTok strategy guide? Download the free PDF in our bio!” Call-to-Actions: Include CTAs in TikTok captions: “Learn more about [Topic]! Link in bio.” Brand Search Generation Branded searches indicate trust and build domain authority in Google’s eyes. TikTok helps trigger these searches. How to Do It: Showcase Applications: For e-commerce: Tutorials like “How I styled 3 outfits using [Brand Name] jeans.” For B2B: Case studies like “How [Client Name] saved 20 hours using [Your SaaS].” Drive Viral Campaigns with Keywords: Use captions and overlays like: E-commerce: “Before using [Product Name] vs. 30 days later.” B2B: “Why [Your SaaS] outperforms the competition in 2025.” Embed TikToks in Blog Content: Blog Example: “How [Product Name] Went Viral on TikTok” with a detailed breakdown. Use Google Search Console or a tool like SEO Stuff to monitor branded search growth. Trend Analysis TikTok trends reveal emerging search opportunities before they peak on Google. How to Leverage TikTok Trends: Analyze Comments: Use FAQs from comments to generate SEO ideas. Example: Comments like “Does this ship internationally?” inspire content such as “How to Buy [Product Name] Globally.” Research Hashtags: Trending hashtags like hashtag #WinterFashion2025 can translate to blog posts like “Top Winter Fashion Trends in 2025.” Turn TikToks into Blog Posts: Repurpose content: A TikTok on “5 productivity tools for small businesses” becomes a blog post optimized for “Best productivity tools for 2025.” Tools to Validate Keywords: Use SEO Stuff to find keywords with: Low competition High CPC (commercial intent) Link Building Viral TikToks = newsworthy backlinks. Pitch blogs or embed TikToks in guest posts. Engagement Metrics TikTok content can generate backlinks when it’s newsworthy or insightful. How to Build Links: Create Shareable Content: For e-commerce: “Top 5 TikTok gadgets for under $50.” For B2B: “3 TikTok trends disrupting [Your Industry] in 2025.” Pitch to Blogs and Journals: Example: After a viral TikTok, pitch blogs: “TikTok Reveals Trends in [Niche].” Embed TikTok in Guest Posts: Include links to TikTok-driven landing pages. Track earned backlinks with SEO Stuff. TikTok Integration Embedding TikToks on your site can boost dwell time and improve SEO rankings. Where to Embed TikToks: Product Pages: Embed product demos. Blog Posts: Add TikToks as supporting visuals.

As seasons cycle, so do your ad budgets for shifts in consumer behavior. Whether you’re in retail, hospitality, or SaaS, understanding these patterns is crucial for optimizing ad spend. One of our clients faced painfully low sales in April-May. Panic. But here's what we found: these months are historically low according to Google Trends. This context reassured us that June would bounce back hard – and it did. Here’s how to leverage Google Trends for data-driven decisions and maximize marketing ROI: 1. Use Google Trends: Track search term popularity over time to predict consumer behavior and identify peak seasons for your products or services. Make informed decisions about ad spend and strike when the iron is hot. 2. Seasonal Insights: Business SaaS: Increase ad budget in January and early Q2 when businesses invest in new solutions. Summer Products: Ramp up ad spend in late April and peak in June. Holiday Travel & Hospitality: Start ad campaigns in March and maintain a high budget through July. Back-to-School Supplies: Begin campaigns in early July and intensify in August. 3. Make Data-Driven Decisions: - Identify keywords: Track relevant search terms. - Analyze trends: Identify peak seasons. - Plan your budget: Align ad spend with high-interest periods. - Monitor continuously: Adjust strategies in real-time. Seeing these clear patterns is powerful. Use Google Trends to ensure you’re investing when potential customers are most likely to convert. 

I was bitten hard by the Retail Bug a long time ago. In 2025, I have developed some kind of infection ? I've led retail at Disney and Claire's, consulted globally, and taught countless retail leaders. I've never seen this big of a shift or more challenging markeplace. How do Leaders keep up today?? Top 10 Trends + Reality Check: 1/ AI Isn't Just Hype—It's the New Profit Engine ↳ The winners are using AI for prediction, not just automation ↳ Brands with AI-driven supply chains are seeing 30-40% less waste and higher margins 2/ Sustainability = Survival ↳ 78% of Gen Z won't buy from brands without clear environmental metrics ↳ The most successful brands are making sustainability profitable, not just possible 3/ Social Commerce is the New Retail HQ ↳ TikTok and Instagram drive 45% of discovery for new brands ↳ The best content doesn't feel like selling - it feels like sharing 4/ Community-First Licensing Wins ↳ The era of "slap a logo on it" is dead ↳ Failed licensing deals down 40% when starting with community input 5/ Physical Retail = Content Studio 2.0 ↳ Stores that double as content studios see 3x social engagement ↳ Every store associate is now a content creator 6/ Supply Chain Transparency is the New Currency ↳ 65% of consumers check product origins before buying ↳ The most valuable supply chains are the most visible ones 7/ Cross-Border is the New Local ↳ 82% of growth brands now sell internationally ↳ Cultural relevance beats geographical presence every time 8/ Real Personalization Finally Delivers ↳ AI-driven personalization driving 40% higher customer lifetime value ↳ The best personalization feels invisible 9/ Community Crushes Campaigns ↳ Brands with active communities spend 60% less on acquisition ↳ Your best marketing team? Your customers 10/ Speed Wins (But Purpose Scales) ↳ Trend-to-shelf time cut from 6 months to 6 weeks ↳ The sweet spot: Fast execution + Clear purpose Real-World Success: Take Lush Cosmetics - they've doubled down on their packaging-free stores and saw a 35% increase in store visits. Look at Sephora's AI skin analysis tool that boosted customer satisfaction by 42% while reducing returns. The Bottom Line: The retail winners of tomorrow aren't just selling products—they're building movements with passionate communities, intelligent data, and authentic purpose. Your Turn: Which trend are you implementing in your business right now? What unexpected results have you seen? Share your experience in the comments.👇 ➕ Follow Jim Fielding for more insights on retail innovation and authentic leadership ♻️ Repost to your community

From my new Harvard Business Review article, here’s how to build one of the four capabilities that every innovative organization needs: Trend Sensing. It involves…potato chips. Companies frequently hop on trends, but many do so only once the trends are well into their lifecycle. That can be costly and risky — market values may already reflect discovery of the trend, and the trend may have peaked. Nestle, for instance, bought the lean diet company Jenny Craig in 2006 for approximately $600 million, after weight loss trends were already starting to move away from Jenny Craig’s focus on fat content due to new discoveries in nutrition science. Nestle then sold the business cheaply seven years later as it divested several under-performing brands. There are other failure modes for trend-sensing, too. Firms can discuss trends in abstract ways – like how the population is aging – without tying them to specific changes in customer needs, supplier capabilities, operational challenges, or competitive pressures. Alternatively, trend sensing may become a soapbox for opinionated individuals to make the industry their inkblot test, asserting big strategic implications from ambiguous signals, such as arguing that the growth of AI means that companies should bring more IT capabilities in-house. That can lead to expensive missteps as companies overpay for assets that may be on-trend but which lack other strengths such as competitive differentiation or favorable economics. Witness perhaps the most disastrous merger of all-time: Time Warner’s with AOL during the dot-com bubble. What to do instead? For a contrast, look at PepsiCo, the multinational food and beverage powerhouse. It held a “Do Us a Flavor” competition for Lay’s potato chips from 2012 - 2018, seeking ideas from consumers for its next flavor. It didn’t actually need new ideas — the company has plenty — but this was an excellent way to track what flavor interests were trending and where. (The first year’s winner: cheesy garlic bread). Ultimately the program ended in part due to its popularity —  going through up to 3.8 million entries a year required a tremendous amount of labor and management time. The contest boasted characteristics of effective trend-hunting programs: it surfaced trends in real-time, it was inexpensive, it produced specific implications, and it was objective. Whether you sponsor a contest, go prospecting at conferences for adjacent industries, talk to your most passionate users, or embrace other methods, these parameters guide effective searches for trends. (Have you used other methods to go trend hunting? Please add them in the comments!)

The Predictive Edge: How Forward-Looking Strategy Drives Growth A CEO I worked with recently made a striking admission: "We created a strategic plan based entirely on today's market conditions, not where things are heading." This common oversight explains why so many strategic plans become irrelevant before they're even fully implemented. Effective strategic planning isn't just about understanding your current business landscape – it's about predicting where that landscape is shifting. It's about developing foresight, not just insight. The most successful companies I coach don't just react to change; they anticipate it by: • Systematically analyzing emerging trends in their market and adjacent industries • Understanding the macro forces impacting their customers' businesses • Identifying the investments their clients are making today that signal tomorrow's priorities • Looking for early indicators of disruption that others might miss One technology company I advised noticed their customers were increasingly investing in data security. Rather than simply noting this trend, they explored what was driving it, discovering regulatory changes on the horizon that would impact their entire industry. This predictive insight allowed them to develop solutions ahead of their competitors and position themselves as thought leaders rather than followers. The most valuable strategic plans incorporate robust trend analysis and future-state predictions that inform today's decisions while preparing for tomorrow's realities. What trends are you tracking that might reshape your industry in the next 3-5 years? How are these predictions influencing your current strategic decisions?