Marketing Pendulums: Why the Only Trend to Chase is Staying True to Your Brand

If there’s one thing marketers love, it’s a shiny new object. Today, it’s longer TikTok videos outperforming their bite-sized predecessors. Tomorrow, LinkedIn posts humming along in deafening noise. However, trends have a funny way of swinging like a pendulum — what’s “in” today becomes passé tomorrow. And in this dizzying back-and-forth, the real question is: Are we building brands worth following or just chasing trends for the sake of it?

Take LinkedIn as Exhibit A. Once the bastion of professional insight, it feels like it’s become Starbucks during pumpkin spice latte season — overwhelmingly everywhere. Between the recycled “here’s my three-step entrepreneurial success story” and emblazoned inspirational quotes, standing out on LinkedIn has become comedic. Noise eclipses clarity. So where do you go if you still want to spark a connection?

Enter the revivalists: email and direct mail. Yes, the classic duo that many left for dead has found its way back into the spotlight — and not just because of 90s nostalgia (looking at you, Gen Z Y2K obsession). These channels continue to show their enduring power when used strategically. Emails, when personalized, can stand out amidst inbox clutter. According to GetResponse, personalized emails reached a high of 44.30 percent open rates in 2024, outperforming the average email open rate across industries of 39.64 percent. And welcome emails? An impressive 83.63 percent average open rate, proving that relevance and timing are everything.

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Direct mail, meanwhile, wins big when it comes to commanding physical attention, boasting open rates between 80 percent to 90 percent due to its tactile appeal and rarity in a world dominated by digital noise. When’s the last time you left a postcard unopened compared to yet another generic marketing email?

But here’s the kicker: audience behavior doesn’t always follow the trends we expect. Case in point? TikTok, the birthplace of hyper-short, snackable videos, is now delivering better results with — wait for it — longer content. According to Buffer, videos over a minute rack up 43.2 percent more reach and nearly double the watch time compared to those fleeting clips we thought younger audiences craved. The takeaway? Hot trends often evolve, but the core lesson doesn’t change. It’s never just about following the pack. It’s about understanding your audience and what resonates for your brand.

What these examples illustrate is simple: chasing marketing’s pendulum swings might generate momentary FOMO-driven buzz, but the real edge (and longevity) comes from knowing what makes sense for your brand. Are most of your customers actually spending significant energy on TikTok? If not, why chase the longer-video strategy? Similarly, is direct mail truly the best path to connect with your tech-savvy B2B buyer? Maybe, maybe not.

The moral of the marketing pendulum goes like this: Successful marketing isn’t about pouncing on every trend; it’s about discerning when to ride the swing and when to stay still. Experiment thoughtfully. Measure deeply. Above all, keep your brand’s ethos as your pendulum’s center, not the flashes around it. If you do, you’ll stand out without needing the “flavor of the week.”

Because let’s face it — today’s TikTok could be tomorrow’s Myspace. But staying true to your brand? That never goes out of style.

Cali Maxwell DaRe is communications director for Elegant Disruption, a provider of fractional and flexible strategy and communications consulting for marketing services and technology leaders.