We’re all familiar with macro trends. Today, they range from sustainability to machine learning to urbanization. And although you may think of them as related to specific industries, we marketers need to pay attention to them no matter what type of business we’re promoting.
Let’s take the macro trend of wellness, for example.
Over the years, the concept of wellness has expanded beyond physical health and fitness. Today, wellness is often more closely associated with behavioral health and emotional well-being. We all know how behaviors and emotions can influence brand preferences and purchasing decisions. Any brand, from food & beverage to fashion to automotive, needs to be conscious about how its position in the marketplace aligns with a world driven by personal wellness.
How macro trend goals are achieved and the strategies used to achieve them vary by the individual. But because macro trends intersect with so many aspects of life, they lean into communities. Macro trends from climate change to digitalization are largely fueled and shaped by communities. Every brand you can imagine needs to be aware of these trends and communities so it may properly evolve in response to them.
Across the universe of social platforms and media, communities have turned macro trends into evergreen topics. In the case of wellness, you could say it’s become a large part of pop culture, infiltrating everyday life as consumers find ways to reprioritize themselves and their needs. As a result, people everywhere are now looking for brands to reprioritize in similar ways.
Consumer trust has shifted significantly across all industries in recent years as brands prioritized performance on Wall Street over a customer-centric mission. The emphasis on profit has led to consumers searching for meaningful relationships with brands that appear to support their personal aspirations.
Commonality matters, and consumers want a relationship with brands that share their values, beliefs and goals. And that relationship must be viewed as authentic in order to be trustworthy. Just look at how communities have called brands out for “greenwashing” when it comes to their position on sustainability.
Of course, these days, judging a brand’s authenticity can be tricky. The wealth of misinformation easily accessible to consumers makes it difficult to sift through what is accurate and right for them as an individual. This has posed an opportunity for brands to cut through and establish a position aligned with macro trends that aim far deeper than providing a product or service.
Consumers view brands through the lens of their personalized goals, and macro-level trends that impact those goals are influencing consumer behavior.
So, whether it’s about wellness, saving the planet, social justice or the pros and cons of AI, brands need to show up authentically and honestly in order to gain trust and build equity with consumers.
Yes, understanding one’s audience on a micro level is important. No detail is too small or irrelevant. As marketers, we often find ourselves delving deeply into demographic and psychographic data to inform our messaging and media channels. But it’s become evident that understanding consumers on a macro level is key to learning what motivates them and, perhaps more importantly, key to understanding how to avoid being ignored or unfriended.
So, how exactly can brand marketers help their brand adapt to macro trends?
Begin by promoting content that aligns with consumer needs and the overarching brand strategy. This may involve rolling out a new messaging platform and activating new channels like CRM. Strongly consider priority audience refreshes. Re-evaluate the audience journey and re-examine what they’re thinking, feeling and doing. Most of all, remember that in today’s marketing world, macro environmental and consumer trends have crossed over to be relevant to everybody. Be aware that brands that disassociate from what is happening around them risk watching their priority audience slip away.