Knowing your industry is essential to stand out from the crowd, identify trends and opportunities and to collaborate with others in your industry. Knowing the culture of your industry will help you to attract the right team and the right customers.
This contributor explores the concept of ‘business culture’ in more detail.
What’s changing in your Industry?
It’s easy to think of businesses and the markets they serve as fairly consistent entities, curating a two-part relationship that feeds into and helps sustain one another. However, that’s not always the case. Often, the actual culture around experiencing, enjoying and researching into the market you serve is an important element of your business, and understanding that could be vital.
For example, any restaurant that hopes to remain relevant (or even achieve a coveted Michelin star), will need to know what’s going on in the world of gastronomy, what top restaurants in its field are doing, and how food critics are thinking about and discussing culinary arts. We can copy and paste this kind of cultural assessment onto many other industries too, from the video game market to the world of farming and so on.
So, as a brand hoping to contribute something new and important, it’s essential to understand the real culture of your industry. But what does that involve, and how can you actualize that into your brand? In this post, we’ll discuss all of that and more:
Heading To Events
It’s healthy to head to trade and industry events for your particular niche. This not only helps you get a clear eye on what local businesses are doing to compete, but you’ll be able to talk to the general audience interested in that field too. This can yield some interesting insights, particularly if you try and plan a few surveys and can network with other companies. On top of that, you’re seen to be part of the culture, as engaging is the best thing you can do to learn.
Reading Appropriate Journals
There’s nothing better than reading highly qualified, experienced, learned material that helps expand your knowledge about a particular topic. For instance, learning about Californian Wines, its history as well as the current market can be tremendously inspiring, helping to feed that fire of passion that caused you to launch a business in this field to begin with. Fostering a real culture of learning and interest within your firm can only be healthy, by encouraging your staff to move forward and engage with the topic at hand. In the long run, this can make a huge difference.
Engaging In A Wider Conversation
The culture of your industry is not complete without your contribution. It can be worth sharing your thoughts, showcasing what your firm does, and being an advocate for everything you bring to the table, and the wider table itself. For instance, you might be active on Twitter sharing insights into the new of your industry, or even discuss challenges your business has had in the past, and how you overcame them. You might just share your excitement about upcoming events or products, and celebrate other brands too in order to network and add positivity. Being part of the conversation weaves you into the fabric, and makes you relevant.
With this advice, you’re sure to understand and be part of the culture of your industry. Over time, this can not only keep you relevant, but interested, and contributive.