What's your media industry trend-tracking strategy?

1 Monitor the market

One of the first steps in tracking media industry trends is to monitor the market regularly and systematically. You can use various sources of information, such as industry reports, newsletters, podcasts, blogs, webinars, events, and social media, to get insights into the latest developments, challenges, and opportunities in your niche. You can also subscribe to relevant trade publications, newsletters, and databases that provide data and analysis on media consumption, spending, and performance. For example, you can use eMarketer, Statista, or Nielsen to access market research and statistics on different media sectors and regions.

2 Analyze the trends

Once you have collected enough information, you need to analyze the trends and identify the ones that are relevant and impactful for your media sales goals. You can use various frameworks and tools to help you organize and evaluate the information, such as SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, Porter's five forces, or trend maps. These methods can help you assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the current and future media landscape, as well as the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors that influence it. You can also use tools like Google Trends, BuzzSumo, or AnswerThePublic to discover the most popular and emerging topics, keywords, and questions in your niche.

4 Adapt your strategy

The final step in tracking media industry trends is to adapt your strategy accordingly. You need to align your media sales objectives, tactics, and metrics with the current and future trends and opportunities in your niche. You also need to communicate your value proposition clearly and convincingly to your potential clients, showing them how your products or services can help them achieve their goals and solve their problems. You can use tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Mailchimp to manage your media sales pipeline, CRM, and email marketing campaigns. You can also use tools like Canva, PowerPoint, or Prezi to create engaging and professional presentations and proposals.

Tracking media industry trends is not a one-time task, but a continuous process that requires curiosity, creativity, and agility. By following these steps and using these tools, you can develop a media industry trend-tracking strategy that can help you stay on top of the changes and opportunities in your field, and grow your media sales career.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?