Guide to Tracking Business Trends

Ask Uncle Sam

If there's one thing the government is good at, it's churning out information – much of which you can use to pinpoint social, economic and business trends.

I recommend: Every year the U.S. Bureau of the Census conducts nearly 100 surveys that supplement the decennial census. State Economic Development Agencies include information on local business trends; for example, New Hampshire's Department of Economic Development Web site has a "Forecast of Summer Visitor Season" that discusses what tourists do in the state. The Census Bureau's AmericanFactFinder Web site offers the American Community Survey -- an ongoing survey that provides data about your community every year. To find more publicly available federal information sources, check out the Government Information Locator Service.

Go back to the futurists

Futurists are professionals who predict trends in various areas. Many of them have Web sites, newsletters, and books full of emerging trends they're tracking.

I recommend: The Web site of futurist Jim Carroll has free tips, a blog and articles, as well as books for sale. The excellent American Demographics Magazine specializes in trend forecasts; its Web site (shared by parent Advertising Age) sports full-length versions of magazine articles and an RSS feed that you can subscribe to. On Iconoculture's Web site, sign up for Iconowatch, the organization's weekly e-newsletter about consumer trends.

Keep up on industry news

No matter what your business, there are trade magazines for your industry -- and your target market's industry, if you sell business-to-business products and services. Trades offer business profiles, industry news, and trends that affect their readers. Own a pizza joint? Try Pizza Today. Run a print shop? Modern Reprographics is for you. Target Marketing is the preferred read of marketing professionals. Trade magazines are sometimes offered gratis to people in their target industry because they're supported by advertisers.

I recommend: Find trade publications by industry at Eudora.Tradepub.com.

Follow the business news

Business news magazines, business Web sites, and newspapers dedicated to business topics abound. Scan through these to read about business trends.

I recommend: Read magazines like Forbes, BusinessWeek, and Fast Company. Subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, either online or in dead-tree form. Hoovers offers access to news collected from 3,000 newspaper, press release, and industry journal sources; they also offer a 7-day free trial of their service.

Track press releases

Press releases give you the news before it hits -- well, the news. New products, research studies, and business start-ups are typically announced to the media through press releases. And you don't have to be a member of the press to get your hands on releases – just know the sites where the press goes to find them.

I recommend: PRWeb is a service that distributes press releases to the media, and you can also check out the latest releases by category on their site. Businesswire lets you access news by industry.