Article 14 : Here's How You Can Spot Lucrative Trends!

Being first to market is a great advantage - if you can pull it off. Some of the advantages of being first are that:

• You can command a good price
  


• The new product is associated with your brand and anyone else who come up with the same product will be a copycat and will be measured against you.
  


• Your brand becomes more valuable as it is perceived to be innovative
  


• You get to acquire new customers into your brand, who may be interested in your other products or product lines
  


• You get to strengthen your relationship with existing customers

To reach this coveted position, you need to pay attention to trends that may affect your consumer's tastes and preferences. This is actually very tricky, and there's no formula to doing it. Trends can come from anywhere - fashion, music... even politics and religion. You just need to keep your eyes open and make that leap when designing your soap products.

To help you spot trends, here are some places where you can look for them:

• Fashion - what are people wearing? What are the forecast of fashion designers? What are the latest products launched by design houses - whether clothes, shoes, jewelry, or scents? What are the brands that are doing well? By evaluating these, you'll get a sense of what people are into now and going to like in the next few years.
  
 
• Architecture - Go to furniture stores, browse design magazines and see what designs are appealing to consumers right now.
  


• Music - Who are the up and coming artists and what kind of music do they play? Are there genres that are gaining popularity that weren't as widely accepted before?
  


• Environmental Issues - Are people concerned about the changing climate? What are the issues that concern animal rights and environmental protection?
  


• Travel - Where are people going? What are the popular destinations now and why are they popular? What attitudes or features are promoted together with these destinations?
  


• Political Issues - How do people feel about their future? Are they secure, optimistic? Or is the general mood cautious?
  


• Competition - What are your competitor's best selling products? The brands that sell the most - what kind of values do they project? Is this something you feel confident that you can do better?

Trends can help a lot when planning what kind of message you want to send out when you sell your soap products. Are people going to want something practical or kitschy? Something that's simple and elegant, or something retro and fancy?  

Of course, there are a lot of trends operating all at the same time. How do you prioritize which one to apply to your product? That will depend on your target market. Whatever trend is dominant or important in the market that you are after, that's the trend that you need to give the highest priority to.

In our next lesson, we will talk about how to identify and define your target market.

Talk to you soon,

P. S.

I’ve talked about the book “The Super Soap Making Book” quite a bit. Here’s a little background information on the author, Sandy Simmons:

Sandy Simmons is a soap enthusiast. She started out as a soap maker, making soap in her home to share with family and friends. Over time, by word of mouth, her soap business started taking off.

She's a stay-at-home mom and a soap entrepreneur at the same time. She shares her knowledge of soap making methods and soap business set up and management in her book, "The Super Soap Making Book".

Read more about her work here:

The Super Soap Making Book:
A Beginner’s Guide To Soap Making

To learn more !

NOTE: Picture (s) and content are original and should not be used without permission of the author - Christophe Leroy - aka cleroy61, Copyright 2013, All rights reserved.

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