Every marketer wants to be on top of cultural trends, but most brands get it wrong. Here’s what I’ve learned from the media world on how to spot them.
I’ve been a journalist for almost 15 years, writing for Gen Z readers at Teen Vogue and taste-conscious, in-the-know readers at New York Magazine. These intentional, selective audiences are deliberate about where they give their attention. You can’t throw a half-baked story at them — they can smell desperation and clickbait. It’s taught me the delicate balance of finding a story that’s credible, interesting, and ahead of the curve.
In marketing, that’s the same as finding the trend before it’s obvious. The brands that get it right aren’t lucky. They chase trends the same way a good journalist chases a story: making sure it has legs before they commit.
- Follow the data, but question it first: A spike in search volume is a tip, not a story. Like any good tip, the first thing you do is interrogate it. Where did this come from? Who’s driving it? What’s the cultural tension underneath? The interpretation is where the real story lives, and it’s the layer most teams skip entirely.
- Never stop at one source: In journalism, you corroborate everything, not because you don’t trust your sources, but because each additional one strengthens what you’re reporting and deepens your understanding of it. The nuances reveal themselves the more you dig. The same logic applies to trends. If you’re only seeing a trend in one place, keep looking.
- Find your angle: Every good outlet brings a specific point of view to a story, one that’s shaped by who they are, who their audience is, and what only they can bring to the reporting. The same applies to brands entering a cultural conversation. Generic participation gets scrolled past. A clear, specific angle — one that feels true to who you are and relevant to the people you’re talking to — is what makes you worth paying attention to.
- Know what’s *not* your story. Attention is hard to come by. But just because something is a Tier 1 moment or “everyone’s doing it” doesn’t mean your brand should, too. The same goes for platforms. Lena Dunham’s recent press for her book Famesick leaned heavily on Substack, and it worked because it made sense for her: a specific, loyal, literary-leaning audience that already lives there. Audiences can tell when brands are showing up authentically and when they’re chasing relevance in the wrong places.
Finding the right trend is all about interpretation. If you want a team of experts, say hello.