Stop Chasing Trends. Build A Strategy That Outlasts Them.

The marketing world is obsessed with what's next.

There's a pattern I've watched repeat itself across twenty years of working with organizations. A new trend emerges. Everyone panics. Resources get redirected. Results disappoint. Repeat.

I’m not out of touch. I spend more time than I'd like to admit reading about what's happening in marketing. New platforms. Emerging formats. Shifting algorithms. The next thing everyone says you absolutely have to be doing right now.

I don't believe in chasing trends. I never have.

The Trend Trap

Here's how it usually goes.

A new platform explodes. A handful of brands do something clever on it and get global attention. The trade publications write about it. The LinkedIn thought leaders declare it the future of marketing. And suddenly every organization feels the pressure to pivot, jump in and figure out their strategy for this new thing.

So they do. They pour time, energy and budget into something they don't fully understand, chasing an audience that may or may not be theirs, on a platform that may or may not still matter in eighteen months.

Meanwhile their core audience, the people who actually buy, give, volunteer or show up, are still exactly where they've always been. Waiting for a message that actually matters.

I've watched smart organizations make this mistake over and over again. Good people, real budgets, true intentions. Distracted by the shiny thing when the fundamentals needed attention.

Everyone Was Chasing. We Were Building.

I spent 13 years as Director of Digital Marketing at one of Canada's most recognized national sport organizations. National organization. Passionate community. Real history.

And for most of that time, somewhere in the background, the noise was constant. Try this platform. Pivot to that format. Everyone else is doing it. So should we.

At that time, the digital landscape was starting to shift rapidly. New platforms were emerging constantly. The pressure to be everywhere, try everything and follow every trend was real and relentless.

We could have chased all of it. Most of the time, we didn't.

Instead we made a deliberate decision to understand our audience deeply. Who they were, where they actually spent their time, what they cared about, and built a strategy around serving them better. We invested in the platforms and formats that reached them. We ignored a lot of the noise.

The result wasn't flashy. But it was durable. Donor contributions grew significantly. Volunteer participation grew. Community engagement deepened in ways that lasted.

Not because we were the first to try something new. Because we were relentlessly focused on something old. Knowing our audience and giving them something that mattered to them.

The Difference Between Tactics and Strategy

Trends are tactics. Sometimes useful ones. Occasionally powerful ones. But tactics nonetheless.

Strategy is the thing that decides which tactics are worth your time and which ones aren't.

Without a clear strategy every shiny new trend looks like an opportunity. With one, most of them look like distractions. And the few that are truly relevant to your audience become obvious immediately.

The organizations that consistently outperform their peers aren't the ones who moved fastest on the latest trend. They're the ones who understood their audience better than anyone else, built a clear and consistent brand narrative and made smart decisions about where and how to show up.

That's not the most exciting advice. I know. But it's true. And it works.

Trends Have A Shelf Life. Your Audience Doesn't.

Think about the platforms and formats that were declared the future of marketing in the last decade alone.

Some of them are still thriving, sure. Some of them are yesterday’s news. A few are somewhere in between: still technically alive but nobody's quite sure why.

The organizations that bet everything on those trends and built their entire marketing around them had to scramble and rebuild every time the landscape shifted. The ones that used them thoughtfully as part of a broader strategy just adapted and kept going.

Your audience has been with you through all of it. The same donors who gave in 2020 are still giving today. The same customers who chose you three years ago are still choosing you. They didn't change nearly as much as the platforms did.

Build your strategy around them. Use trends when they serve that strategy. Ignore them when they don't.

The Question Worth Asking

Before your organization jumps on the next trend, and there will always be a next trend, ask one honest question.

Does this really help us reach our audience better, communicate our message more clearly or move us toward our organizational goals?

If the answer is yes, explore it. If the answer is maybe, slow down. If the answer is we feel like we should because everyone else is doing it, walk away.

Because everyone else doing it is exactly why it won't make you stand out.

Building Something That Lasts. Something Yours.

The most valuable marketing asset any organization can build isn't a following on the latest platform. It's a reputation, a clear voice and a community that trusts you.

Those things take time. They require consistency. They demand that you resist the temptation to reinvent yourself every time the marketing world discovers something new.

They also outlast every trend that comes and goes.

Stop chasing what's next. Build something that works. Then protect it like it matters.

Because it does.

Marty Henwood is a Fractional CMO and Strategic Marketing Consultant working with sport organizations, enterprises and not-for-profits across North America. If your organization is ready to build a strategy that outlasts the noise, let's talk.