Planning ahead? 8 business trends to expect for 2019

Planning ahead

Even as the holidays take up much of their brainpower, business owners are looking into next year’s market predictions to inform their 2019 budgets.

“The world is changing fast,” advises Racheal Muriithi on MSN.com. “It’s becoming difficult to differentiate yourself and scale in the ever-changing business world. For you to maintain trust, you need to plan ahead.”

Here are some general trends predicted by analysts that may affect your budget strategy.

  • More marketing personalization. No longer will you get the attention of jaded and time-starved consumers if you persist with over-generalized marketing tactics. Whenever possible, you need to segment customers, call them by name and attract them with content and messaging designed to appeal to their specific wants and needs. Fortunately, automated tools can help you gather data and automate that messaging.
  • More use of AI in marketing. The technology is slated to become more commonplace for functions such as lead generation, finding clients and drilling down into consumer preferences and behaviors.
  • Expanded social media advertising. Real-time messaging on social media will go beyond just photos and updates, and companies that have underutilized Facebook will buy ads there, perhaps causing price hikes.
  • Faster payments via mobile. Traditional banking models are diminishing as consumers simply pay using their phones. If your business doesn’t have that capability, it needs to get on board.
  • Need for speed. Fast and highly efficient ecommerce functions are creating an expectation for faster business services in general. Find ways to streamline your company’s customer-facing processes to jibe with their short attention spans.
  • Demand for cybersecurity. Methodology for the protection of online information will keep evolving to thwart sophisticated criminals. Try to maintain the most effective protection you can.
  • Growth of the sharing economy (or shareconomy). This economic model allows for peer-to-peer business solutions such as Uber that are managed through online platforms. Expect the evolution of new businesses that optimize the advantages of such arrangements.
  • More working from home. New technology tools will evolve to enable employees to work off-site, including wireless tools that enable work virtually anywhere and communication tools that update automatically.

Ask Dial800 specialists how to fine-tune your 2019 marketing plans to meet the world’s rapidly changing business trends.

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