4 Trends Worth Watching

Ways to market to a socially savvy consumer

Social media is giving the marketing industry a whole new level of insight into customer behavior. To that end, J.D. Power and Associates recently investigated social networking sites, poring through millions of conversations from 2010. Here are four trends the company discovered that could help your business better market to today's socially savvy consumer:

1. Be accessible. With the incredible amount of technology available today, the modern consumer has more access to information on brands and people than at any other time. And with the advent of smartphones and other mobile devices, this access will only increase. To help your business stay relevant, provide online information to consumers that can be easily read on mobile devices.
2. Remain an essential product. It's clear that, for whatever reason, customers are cutting back on excessive purchases. Simplified lifestyles are a current trend, but consumers will keep buying if they consider your product or service an essential part of their lifestyle. Kraft Foods, for example, has responded to this consumer shift by repositioning itself as a "meal solutions" company. Kraft offers innovative ways for customers to incorporate its products into their lives. The company even designed mobile phone applications that allow customers to share Kraft recipes and meals with each other.
3. Don't skimp on quality. Just because consumers are tightening their belts doesn't mean they want to give up on quality products. Brands that offer a quality service or product at a competitive price have the edge with consumers.
4. Rethink your customers. A recent development in customer profiling is the evolution of traditional life stages: people are getting married later, having children later, living with their parents later, and redefining what "retirement" means. Businesses should think twice about how to classify and target customers. A good company to look at is Nintendo and its release of the Wii, an interactive, family-centered gaming system. The Wii is targeted at a market that just a few years ago wouldn't have considered purchasing video games. But by listening and paying attention to what its new "target" segments were looking for, Nintendo created an innovative product that people love.