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How to spot local trends using Google’s hidden tool

Can I see local fashion trends using Google’s Keyword Planner?

That’s what I am wondering this week.

Let’s imagine that I own a clothing business in Tanzania, and I wanted to know if there is a growing demand for a specific fabric style in a neighbouring country, such as Kenya. One way I could get the answer is by relying on trend forecasters, market research or online articles about fashion in Kenya.

But what if I wanted to know that answer for 20 African countries? What if I needed up-to-date figures that I can compare, instead of one person’s subjective opinion?

So I played around with Google’s Keyword Planner, which is actually Continue Reading…

How well do you know your brand?

LEGO advert from 1981

I’ve sat down with first-time entrepreneurs in Cape Town, young creatives in Johannesburg as well as colleagues in a global non-profit. When I ask them to describe their brand, their response is usually a string of positive words like this:

“It’s innovative”
“It’s friendly, for everyone”
“It’s cool”
“It’s trustworthy”
“It says quality”
“It’s brave”

The problem with this is that one brand can’t be everything. You might Continue Reading…

Accra’s lighthouse to a fort

Accra is a seaside city where the prime property on the shore isn’t occupied by expensive hotels and restaurants but by the shanty towns of fishermen.

I was in Accra in August, happy to finally see Continue Reading…

Analytics doesn’t know you’re cool

Cool Wayfarers Google analytics graph

You may not be aware of this, but every time you visit a website, the owner knows about it. They know what city you’re in, what web browser you’re using and how many seconds you spent on each page. They don’t know your name though, so don’t worry. They see this visitor data using web analytics tools such as Google Analytics or Webtrends. If it’s a big website, every thousand visits from someone like you mean they can charge advertisers more. The job performance of the person running the site is also probably measured by how many people visit the site.

There is one thing they don’t know about you when they look at the web stats. They don’t know if Continue Reading…

impending boom – by Rossouw Nel