20 Tips For Predicting Consumer Trends And Staying Ahead Of
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The ability to anticipate future trends is essential for businesses to remain competitive and meet evolving consumer needs. This type of insight can be achieved in many ways, from analyzing industry data and social media insights to engaging directly with consumers through surveys and online feedback.
Taking a proactive approach like this can help you uncover customer preferences and pain points, which in turn allows you to make informed decisions about your offerings. To that end, 20 Forbes Communications Council members share key strategies for predicting future trends and staying on top of what matters most to your customers.
1. Listening To Your Audience
To stay ahead of trends, listen to your audience through surveys and feedback to spot shifts early. Use social listening to observe real-time conversations and discover what consumers are discussing, enjoying or avoiding. Combine these insights with an analysis of customer behaviors to reveal gaps and new opportunities. This method gives you a proactive edge to adapt and anticipate market changes. – Paige Musto, UserTesting
2. Hiring Outside Typical Marketing Backgrounds
I work with SaaS partners that use predictive analytics, and my sociology degree helps me confidently understand and interpret their data. Hiring outside typical marketing degrees can be an intelligent move—professionals with social sciences and data analysis backgrounds bring valuable insights to modern marketing. – Annie Austin, Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory
3. Closely Monitoring Real-Time Consumer Behavior
We closely monitor real-time consumer behavior—especially on social media, search engines and reviews. These insights give us an immediate sense of shifting interests and emerging needs. It’s effective because it’s data-driven, not speculative. By tracking what consumers are talking about, searching for and engaging with, we can spot trends early and respond before they peak. – Janita Pannu, OPIIA Inc.
4. Blending Trendspotting With Storytelling
I blend trendspotting with storytelling—watching emerging cultural narratives, not just data. What are people dreaming about? Talking about? This approach reveals emotional undercurrents driving behaviors. It’s effective because trends aren’t just stats; they’re human desires waiting to be tapped into. – Astrid Pocklington, HYPERVSN
5. Reading Science Fiction
I stay current with science fiction—and keep an open mind and a curious outlook. So much of what we have today was born in sci-fi long ago: AI, virtual worlds, smart homes, video calling and wearables like smartwatches, just to name a few. If you want a preview of where AI and technology are headed, look to where imagination has already taken us. – Alex Goryachev, Alex Goryachev
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6. Leveraging Data Reserves
We leverage our deep data reserves to forecast emerging trends. By analyzing five-year historical data in conjunction with current data, we are able to identify shifts in consumer preferences and market trends early. – Krystle Craycraft, Jewelers Mutual Group
7. Building Word Clouds Using AI
Use AI to build word clouds from reviews and forums. Doing so can highlight emerging consumer trends quickly and accurately. – Stephen Spratley, Marketing Armor
8. Monitoring Social Media
We all know that platforms that are popular with younger generations often signal what’s coming next, giving us an early glimpse at shifting preferences. One strategy is to monitor social media data in real time to identify which themes and interests are gaining traction now. Staying up to date on what consumers are talking about today can help you predict what trends will be big tomorrow. – Scott Morris, Sprout Social
9. Researching Emerging Strategies
It begins with a simple time commitment to research emerging strategies. If you don’t thoroughly research new trends, you’ll be behind when they reach their full impact. GEO is a great example. Articles, webcasts and lots of testing have delivered insights that will expand our content strategy. When you notice a trend, immediately block time at least weekly to build your expertise on the topic. – Esther Bonardi, Yardi Systems
10. Collecting Direct Feedback
To anticipate future trends, I focus on listening to our customers through real-time data and direct feedback. Regular “voice of the customer” sessions with insights from support, sales and product teams give us a 360-degree view of evolving needs. Pairing this with data on consumer behavior and tech trends lets us adapt quickly, aligning strategies with market shifts to stay relevant and ahead. – Trish Nettleship, NCR Voyix
11. Monitoring Online Forums
Stay ahead of the game by analyzing and monitoring social media platforms and various forums to identify trends, popular topics and shifts in consumer behaviors in real time. It’s effective because social media provides immediate insights into people’s interactions and interests, and viral content helps to identify trends. – Khalid Al Awar, Dubai Sports Council
12. Consuming Industry Thought Leadership
Consuming thought leadership content in your industry is a great way to predict and stay on top of trends. This kind of content can be found at industry conferences, in noted publications and on leading podcasts that cover topics in your functional area. – Kerry-Ann Betton Stimpson, JMMB Group
13. Augmenting Research With Predictive Analytics
As a communications practitioner who authors trends pieces for executives, I leverage customer-centric research from analysts and augment it with predictive analytics. Most often, a combination of factors—seen and unseen—helps predict a future trend effectively. Analyzing market pulse via multiple channels and sources gives a good understanding of future customer motivations. – Seema Sehgal Kalra, The Right Thing Marketing Communications
14. Joining Professional Groups
Marketing and comms professionals all have areas of expertise—mine is the edtech space. In 2024, I joined a group of creative professionals across industries to explore culture and the future, one monthly topic at a time. The speakers, events and conversations challenge my ideas and help me bring new ones from the larger world back to my own organization. – John Jorgenson, Cambium Learning Group
15. Looking Outside Your Industry
With a tumultuous 2025 outlook and consumer landscape, I review consumer trends, trendspotting and insights from analysts outside our industries to find growth opportunities. With fashion as a cultural bellwether, McKinsey-Business of Fashion’s report offers key consumer themes and ideas, but you can find relevant analysts elsewhere. – Toby Wong, Toby Wong Consulting
16. Researching Content And Engagement Across Platforms
Beyond managing social media content and analytics, encourage your team to routinely research content and consumer engagement across relevant platforms. This proactive social listening exercise helps them identify and respond to emerging trends quickly. This exercise upskills your employees and strengthens your brand’s ability to stay connected, adaptable and relevant in an ever-changing market. – Victoria Zelefsky, Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation
17. Evaluating Your Benchmarks
When we set a goal, we have measurable benchmarks to understand how much progress we’ve made toward achieving it. If these benchmarks outperform our expectations, it’s a good indication that not only will we accomplish the goal, but also that this is a campaign, strategy or direction we should focus on in the future. – Melissa Kandel, little word studio
18. Looking To ‘Big Tech’
As a marketing advisor to high-growth B2B tech companies, I’ve found that following strategic moves by “Big Tech” is an effective source of emerging trends. These brands have the resources, commitment and patience to invest in the future. I rely on earnings reports, pinpointing areas of increased investment and why. I also track acquisitions to see which tech they are opting to buy versus build. – Rekha Thomas, Path Forward Marketing LLC
19. Setting SMART Goals
We set SMART goals and report our progress monthly. Measuring progress is a way of listening to your consumer through their actions. Are they staying on the page long enough? Did they complete the form we wanted? This helps us see if the consumers are engaging with our tactics and enables us to pivot when the research dictates. – Kimberly Osborne, Old Dominion University
20. Hosting Customer Feedback Calls
I hold monthly customer feedback calls where I connect with both existing and prospective customers in a qualitative interview. I dig into what they see in the market, what they think of our solution as well as competitive alternatives, and get a feel of any shifts in attitudes, perceptions or beliefs. This helps me truly get in tune with the market and hear what’s going on directly from them. – Roshni Wijayasinha, Prosh Marketing
