Predictions for Business and Marketing in 2014

Photo Credit: SmallBizTrends

We have compiled some predictions for 2014 from different respected sites about online business. Business trends were compiled from PRWeb, SmallBizTrends.com, and American Express.

Business & Marketing Trends to Watch for 2014

1. Niche Social Media Sites: You can reach customers by separating yourself from the sea of other businesses competing for attention on larger sites like Facebook and Twitter. Instead, try to connect with customers on Snapchat and Vine.
2. Visual Social Media Sites: Along the same lines of the niche social sites trend is the visual social media sites. They will continue to grow in popularity, so if you are not on at least some of the following sites, you should start: Snapchat, Vine, Pinterest, Instagram, and Pinterest.
3. Location-Based Targeting: Think small with local marketing. Target customers based on their location with specific regional or local offers.
4. Mobile or Bust: More than 1 billion people in the world own a smartphone! Most of those people do not let their phones leave their side. This trend will continue growing, so work on mobile targeting to your customers right to that device attached to their hips!
5. Online Video: Videos have always been an excellent way to communicate with customers and clients. It is still growing in popularity and becoming easier for any size business to produce good quality, innovative, and eye catching videos with the potential to go viral.
6. Mobile Commerce: Look for more ways to receive payments as they become more readily available and technology allows them to be more secure. Explore ways to offer more possibilities for convenient payment options.
7. Augmented Reality Applications: Google Glass is just the beginning of this trend. It can apply to retailers by allowing users to “try on” or investigate products in more detail. Eventually, as augmented reality becomes more mainstream, advertising opportunities will be the new, cutting edge way to market.
8. Online Reviews: Online reviews from customers are already an integral part of business’ marketing plan in this social word of mouth world we have. Look for this trend to continue to grow as technology makes it easier for businesses to get reviews online.
9. 3D Printing: Over the next year, this new technology will continue to increase. The cost for 3D printers is decreasing, making it possible for businesses to buy them and create their own products to sell.
10. Email Marketing: Rumours that email marketing is dead are highly over rated. Email marketing works if business take the time to engage customers and do it right. However, the trend of social replacing email will continue. It is OK to reduce the size of your email list if your customers do not wish to engage with your company in that way.