How can you effectively research emerging trends and technologies?

1 Define your research objectives and scope

Before you dive into the vast pool of information sources, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to learn and why. What are the specific questions you want to answer, the hypotheses you want to test, or the gaps you want to fill? How will the research results inform your product strategy, positioning, messaging, or launch? How broad or narrow is your focus area, and what are the key criteria or indicators you will use to evaluate the trends and technologies? Having a well-defined research objective and scope will help you prioritize and filter the most relevant information for your product marketing goals.

2 Use a variety of research methods and sources

To gain a comprehensive and balanced view of the emerging trends and technologies, you need to use a variety of research methods and sources. Secondary research can help you identify macro trends, the market size and growth, the competitive landscape, and customer needs. Primary research can validate or challenge your assumptions, understand the pain points of customers, and test product concepts or messages. Environmental scanning can spot opportunities and threats, emerging needs and demands, and shifts in customer behavior. Competitive intelligence can benchmark product performance, identify your unique value proposition, and anticipate or respond to competitive moves. All of these research methods are essential for getting a full picture of the market.

3 Use tools and platforms to automate and organize your research

To save time and effort, you can use various tools and platforms to automate and organize your research process. For example, set up alerts and subscribe to newsletters from sources like Google Alerts, Feedly, or Medium to get notified of updates related to your research topics. Additionally, follow and engage with influencers on social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, or Reddit to gain insights about the trends and technologies you are researching. Data visualization and analysis tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or Google Data Studio can help you interpret and communicate your research findings. Lastly, project management and collaboration tools like Trello, Asana, or Notion can be used to create tasks, track progress, and share documents or notes with your team or stakeholders.

4 Evaluate and synthesize your research results

Once you have collected and organized your research data, it’s important to evaluate and synthesize your research results. This requires you to check the validity and reliability of your data sources, methods, and findings, as well as identify the key themes, patterns, or insights that emerge from your data. Additionally, you should draw conclusions and recommendations based on your data in order to answer research questions, test hypotheses, or fill gaps. With these tips and tools, you can effectively research and analyze the emerging trends and technologies that can impact your product marketing success, allowing you to stay ahead of the curve and deliver value to customers and your business.

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?