Behold, the power of Google Trends

The New Year is upon us and, guess what, gyms and fitness center are packed with people fulfilling their 2023 resolutions. You know it’s coming…this annual uptick in sales for gym memberships, weight-loss products, and fitness apparel.

If fitness seasonality is so obvious, what else can we learn about business from past consumer demand?

Google Trends remains one of the simplest and easiest tools to assess historical patterns related to your company’s customers. Head over, punch in any product or service, and Google will show you patterns of search volume by week. Did you know that “jelly bean” searches spike each Easter? OK, obvious. But we bet you didn’t know “cupcakes” have a similar pattern, rising first around Valentine’s Day followed by a bigger surge right next to the Easter Bunny. Cupcake searches in fact outpace jelly bean searches by a 7:1 ratio, and beat “chocolate bunny” on Easter by a 10:1 factor! — meaning if you plan to launch a confectionary business, you’ll be best off cooking tiny cakes in the early spring.

Google publishes many free or low-cost resources to guide marketers, including its “Think with Google” consumer insights reports, which discuss trends in shopping, demographics and pop culture; tips on management techniques and creativity; and even ad pre-testing, in which rough cuts of video spots are assessed second-by-second and noted for best practices in driving consumer response.

We’re not saying Google is altruistic: All these tips can lead marketers to better ad performance inside YouTube, Google search or Google’s vast digital display network, and Google sure doesn’t mind if marketers spend money there. But that’s OK, better advertising is a win-win for everybody.

So next time you need some quick marketing research, don’t forget to search Google … for Google.