Marketing teams operate in an environment shaped by constant change. Platforms evolve quickly, and new ideas move from fringe discussion to accepted practice in a matter of months. Keeping up requires more than scanning headlines or saving the occasional report.
So, we checked in with the guests across Season Three of The Undiscovered Metric and asked how they stay on top of marketing trends. Check out the Season Three review below or read on to find out what they said.
Look beyond your category
Several guests stressed the importance of drawing inspiration from outside familiar industry boundaries. Laura Erdem sees this as particularly relevant for B2B teams. “Agencies that are working with B2Cs are seeing trends that B2Bs are not seeing,” she explains. Exposure to different customer expectations and creative approaches often highlights shifts that take longer to surface in B2B environments.
Sarah Mansfield echoed the value of this wider lens, pointing to the importance of stepping back for context. “There’s a lot out there in the broader marketplace,” she says. Her advice is concise: “Go broad, go wide, be curious.” For senior marketers, broad perspective helps anchor day-to-day decisions and keeps trend-spotting from becoming an echo chamber.
Sources and creators mentioned in this context
• B2C agency work and cross-industry marketing examples
• Trade press and general marketing news: Campaign and AdAge
Follow the signal trail
LinkedIn came up repeatedly as the starting point for trend awareness. Simme Volkers describes it as his first port of call, particularly in SEO. “I have to be honest, I think LinkedIn is my first source you can get really up to speed on the latest trends and how Google is evolving,” he says, adding, “the whole SEO community is watching Google right now.”
Madalina Teodorescu uses it in a similar way to keep up with what other practitioners are discussing. “Usually use LinkedIn to kind of read what other people in the industry are saying,” she explains. She adds, “I follow Refine Labs members for demand generation.”
David von Hilchen also framed trend tracking as a blend of social and peer insight, calling out specific creators he trusts. “There are some individuals on LinkedIn I follow,” he says. “Very reliable with good insights. One is Ben Dutter. He has great insights, especially on the topic of incrementality.”
Several guests also highlighted the value of paying attention to emerging conversations before they become widely accepted. Vincent Spruyt looks for that edge in places like Reddit and X, explaining that “those are the places where I can find insights and discussions that are not per se mainstream or widely known and accepted yet.”
Barry Labov describes a similar approach, combining tech and communities as part of his scanning process. “I will use AI,” he says, “I’ll peruse LinkedIn, a number of different groups that I am part of.”
Sources and creators mentioned in this section
• Platforms and communities: LinkedIn, Reddit, X, AI search
• Creator voices: Chris Walker (Refine Labs), Ben Dutter (Power Digital)
Fall down the rabbit hole when it matters
Broad scanning helps identify change, and depth becomes important once a topic proves relevant. Amar Vyas pointed to a set of publications he returns to for deeper reading. “Whether it’s big publications like WARC who do these fantastic papers or Adage, Harvard Business Review, The Verge, Wired,” he says, “there’s so many great publications out there that I tend to tap into.”
Jonathan Sweeney also described a need to go beyond general marketing coverage, particularly in more technical areas. “Especially in the marketing data space, there isn’t as much general information out there,” he explains, adding that “the nuts and bolts backend piece, it’s very much an underrepresented area.” To get closer to how things work in practice, he often reads practitioner-led writing: “A lot of information I get comes from blog articles on Medium.”
David von Hilchen described a more formal approach when he needs to research a market. “If I want to do my research, obviously, I use the regular tools like Satista and eMarketer to learn more about the markets,” he explains.
Sources and creators mentioned in this section:
• Publications: WARC, AdAge, Harvard Business Review, The Verge, Wired
• Practitioner writing: Medium
Learn through people and communities
Many guests emphasised learning as an ongoing practice shaped by regular exchange with peers, teams, and communities. Amar Vyas framed conversation as a core part of keeping up with change. “The most powerful way to keep up to date is just talking to people,” he explains, “keeping in touch with marketeers, creatives, technologists and really understanding what the different challenges are out there.”
That peer learning also plays out inside organizations. David von Hilchen described how much he learns from the people around him. “Where I draw the most inspiration from is the people around me,” he says. “It’s my team. We have a culture of sharing. I get a lot of news about the industry that is most relevant to me from my team.”
Diana Gonzalez pointed to structured communities designed for senior practitioners. “I’m also a member of Pavilion,” she says, describing it as “very strategic, very holistic, and very hands on,” and adding that it’s “especially for director level and above.” She also called out another resource she values: “I love Go To Market Partners. They have a lot of really great content.”
Several guests also mentioned podcasts and events as part of their learning system. Madalina Teodorescu described her mix of channels: “it’s the usual, you know, LinkedIn, Spotify and YouTube,” and when it comes to podcasts, “one that I love is Marketing Snacks… Measure School is another one that I enjoy.” David von Hilchen also shared a go-to listen: “a friend of mine, Daniel Deistler, who has his own marketing podcast called Marketing Pioneers,” adding, “and then obviously Adverity has a great podcast too.”
Simme Volkers highlighted how in-person exchange accelerates learning. “We organize a lot of events as well,” he says, explaining that they “invite a lot of SEO specialists from other markets, this way you get the latest information first.” Sarah Mansfield also pointed to the value of bringing in multiple viewpoints through real-world exposure, encouraging marketers to “seek out different points of view, different perspectives, attend conferences, listen to podcasts like this.”
Sources and creators mentioned in this section:
• Communities: Pavilion, Go-To-Market Partners
• Podcasts: The Undiscovered Metric, Marketing Pioneers, Marketing Snacks, Measure School
• Platforms: Spotify, YouTube
• Learning formats: conferences and in-person events, peer exchange, internal team sharing
Final thoughts
Across these answers, a clear approach emerges. Marketing leaders build a mix of sources that support fast awareness, deeper understanding, and ongoing perspective. They stay close to peers, keep an eye on emerging discussions, and develop a shortlist of trusted places to go deeper when something starts to matter. That system makes it easier to keep up with change while staying selective about attention.
