Small business is shifting – are you ready?

Posted on February 10, 2015 in Marketing, Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing Services, Social Media Management, Social Media Marketing Services, Uncategorized

z150The future trends of small business look to be shifting and shifting quickly. Many of these new changes and trends may have already made their way into your business. Others you will have to prepare for. Make no mistake about it, 2015 is going to look rather different than previous years and the successful out there will readily respond and adapt.

  •  The move toward a more outsourced and part time workforce has begun to assert itself. Small business is learning to adapt and make a profit with fewer resources. This means, at least in the short term, that there will be less hiring, fewer full time employees on staffs and more outsourcing to independent contractors.
  • Because of this more mobile trend, small business owners will be seeing less of their workforce as many will begin working from remote locations. This will make it more challenging to build and sustain relationships and create a successful company culture.
  • To meet this challenge, small businesses will have more meetings where people must attend be it vendors, suppliers or employees. Also, email will become even more prominent than it is. The younger workforce has fewer people skills and will therefore cringe at the possibility of having to interact on the phone.
  • The huge risk of the Bring Your Own Device to work trend will be phased out. More businesses will be issuing their key employees their own company tablets and cell phones. Small business is going to spend the money on these devices in exchange for lowering their security risks.
  • Customer service will make or break companies in the near future. Especially those companies that can’t compete on price. It’s now all about the relationship. You must bring them into your family and add the personal touch all of the time. If you don’t they will leave you for your rival who does.
  • Advertising and marketing strategies will soon shift to more of a PPC model. There is simply too much out there for people to deal with, especially within their social media feeds. In addition, small business will be moving toward the peer lending platforms and away from going to banks for loans or start up capital.

Small business has begun a paradigm shift that will affect the near future of the marketplace as well as profit margins and how small business does business. Are you ready?

– Written by Kevin Sawyer