6 important small business trends for 2017

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6 Important Small Business Trends for 2017


With the arrival of some new technologies, the year 2016 had been a promising one for small business owners and entrepreneurs. As a small business owner you should have the knack to leverage the latest technologies and trends to grow your business and stay relevant.

Keeping yourself updated about the latest technological trends is just a start and this article might get you started to think about it. Here are some of the latest trends which are ruling the roost in 2017 and we expect the trend to continue in 2018 as well.


6 Important Small Business Trends for 2017


1. Advancement in Mobile Marketing

The latest figure from comScore Mobile Metrix shows that the total browsing time is much higher on smart phones in US & UK.

In a mobile world, building your business’ presence on mobile web has become more important than ever before. Having a strong search visibility in mobile search results (of search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc) should obviously be a core component of your mobile marketing strategy.

Having a mobile-friendly website is no more an option, further the mobile-first approach has been fueled by Google’s mobile friendly update (Mobilegeddon) and its upcoming separate mobile index. (Read why Responsive Web Design is the best solution to tackle the possible effects of Google’s upcoming mobile index )


1. Advancement in Mobile Marketing

continued….

http://searchengineland.com/library/google/google-mobile-friendly-update

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/11/mobile-first-indexing.html

http://www.technousa.com/blog/google-separate-mobile-index-responsive-web-design

If your website is not mobile-friendly and lacks mobile search presence, it’s high time you accelerated to catch up with your competitors who might be way ahead by now.Getting a mobile app built will also be a great addition to your mobile marketing strategy for sure – but make this move only based on clearly defined objectives and after taking your overall business scenario into account.

This year the focus will be on speed and efficiency to provide a hassle free & integrated mobile experience.

Takeaway: Mobile marketing, if planned and executed well, can really help you to sustain and scale up your business. Mobile marketing, apart from the traditional promotional methods, also offers a range of mobile-focused promotional options that enable precise targeting including push notifications, app marketing, targeted mobile network ads, SMS and social/messaging apps marketing and more.


http://www.technousa.com/services/custom-mobile-application-development-services-company


2. EMV / Card Readers

“Europay, MasterCard & Visa” are now global standard for credit card and debit card payments. The migration to EMV payment standards is virtually guaranteed to safeguard small businesses and their customers against fraud over the coming years.

Mobile payment services, including Apple Pay, Samsung pay & Android Pay, are becoming more common & widely understood by both consumers & small businesses that take in-store payments.


continued….

EMV / Card Readers

According to the statistics, there is a gradual increase in mobile payments from 2015 to 2019.

Also EMV supports numerous mobile transaction types & can operate in offline mode, making it ideal for transactions in businesses in a variety of different environment & circumstances.

Takeaway: If your business still accepts face-to-face transactions without EMV, you are facing some serious financial risk and also the risk of losing the credibility of your customers. Switching to EVM payments will eliminate present card fraud caused by lost, stolen and counterfeit card.


3. Chatbots


Chatbots


Artificial intelligence has been changing the business/commerce landscape and small businesses ought to be prepared to leverage the opportunities and face the challenges thrown by AI in the coming years.

The implications of Artificial Intelligence are intense and it will surely help small businesses to evolve and gain a competitive edge and stay relevant to its customers as brand engagement will be re-imagined in coming years. One of the latest examples of Artificial Intelligence’s growing role in Business world is Chatbots.

continued….


Chatbot is a computer program designed to stimulate conversation with human users over the internet. These bots enhance customer experience by being available at all times. Some of its highlighted plus points:

It offers conversational commerce (a term coined by Chris Messina) that is purchasing an item within the context of a conversation with chatbots.Implementing custom AI chatbots to interact with customers, answer queries and process payments.

Takeaway: AI chatbots is just a beginning but it’s already impacting the way small businesses interact with their customers. Small businesses owners have the opportunity to take advantage of large data sets and build predictive models by using their existing data. This can help in determining the best way to grow their business and adjust accordingly. Read our article ‘A Comprehensive Guide to Conversational Interface’ to know more

http://www.technousa.com/blog/a-comprehensive-guide-to-conversational-interface-ci-part-1

4. Visual Content Marketing



For small business owners it is not possible to spend a lot of money on advertising. So what should they do to make their business noticeable by their potential customers? - Content Marketing (CM)

Nowadays a number of small businesses are writing content that people want to see and read, thereby embracing content marketing to increase their exposure online. Content Marketing majorly focuses on communicating with the customer & distributing information with a motive of engaging and reaching out to a target audience in order to attain brand awareness. The number of small business owners adopting and leveraging content marketing for business growth has increased rapidly in the recent times.

Visual Content Marketing

continued….


According to Xerox and KissMetrics, articles that contain visual content are 80% likelier to be read and adding relevant images to content can increase views by as much as 94%.

Takeaway: With so many emerging business trends, CM with visual content is the one that will stay there in the long run because nothing can beat a great content. Use CM along with SEO tactics to attract more visitors to your site.

5. Social Selling (SS)



Social Selling is relatively a new concept in the field of digital marketing.

Social Selling is the act of salespeople using social media to interact directly with prospects and provide value to them. When it comes to social selling, media networks play a key role in interacting with potential buyers to build revenue driving relationships.

Social Selling (SS)

continued….


Some of the interesting benefits of social selling:

• Reduces the sales cycle: One can shorten the entire sales cycle and achieve more success.• Generates new Revenue opportunity: Helps businesses meet & exceed revenue and sales goals.• Helps maintain online reputation: one of the greatest advantages Social selling provides is the management one’s business image & credibility online.• Better customer relationship: SS helps you in creating better customer relationship.• Keeps your customer coming back for more.

Takeaway: Social selling is still a new concept in the business world which is under utilized by most of the B2B companies today. Give your business an unfair advantage against your competitors by capitalizing on Social selling & explore the benefits and success it can bring to your business.

6. Video



According to Cisco, by 2017 video will account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic.

In recent years content marketing has become mostly visual & interactive –lately video has become most favorite form of content consumed by online users, this trend is likely to stay here . Creating videos nowadays does not involve any out of budget scenario rather they can be created on smart phones and tablets.

Small businesses use videos to quickly communicate relevant information to their customers and it also helps to boost user engagement. Platforms like Periscope, Snapchat, Facebook Live etc have opened up new opportunities for small business owners to promote their businesses through videos.

Video

continued….


Takeaway: Video marketing has become less expensive than ever before and great videos product great results.


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Date post:	23-Jan-2018
Category:	Small Business & Entrepreneurship
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6 important small business trends for 2017

Small Business & Entrepreneurship