We’re busy this month helping a lot of businesses both large and small with their 2015 marketing efforts. With one month left in 2014, it’s time to start thinking about maximizing your budget and increasing your company’s revenue. I’ve listed eight trends that I believe can benefit small businesses significantly in the coming year.
1. Twitter and Facebook “Buy” buttons. Finally, you can attach Twitter and Facebook to real revenue metrics! This past year both social media platforms rolled out “buy” buttons that appear alongside status updates and tweets. Buy buttons allow visitors to buy directly on your Facebook page without leaving the network. A great feature for sure that will give small businesses peace of mind their marketing dollars are being spent efficiently on Social Media platforms.
2. Publishing content on LinkedIn. We’ve been experimenting and learning more with LinkedIn’s publishing platform. It’s intuitive and provides an avenue to spread your knowledge and promote your business at the same time. With all the ads on the web, LinkedIn provides a place where you can educate and brand at the same time without the bombardment of ads.
3. Millennials are the new market to target. They comprise 27% of the US population and are starting to make money! Every time you’re thinking about your marketing plan just remember the 27% of the population that is easy to reach via online platforms, millennials.
4. Use more imagery with Social Media. Captivating imagery is becoming a must in the cluttered landscape of social platforms. It’s more captivating and pleasing to the eye and minds when posts are of authentic images rather than just regular text.
5. On the image note, Instagram. 200 million users links with all social platforms (the main ones) and is cool to use. Small businesses who utilize this properly and consistently will have a huge advantage when advertising on social media.
6. Usability and design for a website cannot be overlooked. Too many people are online now for small businesses to ignore their website. Websites need to clean, easy to navigate, and be easy for visitors to get information quickly. Small businesses kill their brand and their businesses when these three simple factors are not taken into consideration when building a website.
7. Minority Purchasing Power is on the rise. For small businesses, failing to hit these growing buying groups will result in missing out on new revenue. Currently over 50% of Major American cities have non-white populations. Also according to the most recent U.S. Census, Hispanics make up 17 percent of the U.S. population have purchasing power that exceeds $1 trillion. That figure is expected to grow by 2017.
8. Stay out of contracts. Keep your marketing dollars fluid! Consistency is still key but having at least 60% of marketing budget fluid can allow you to hit new mediums and keep your marketing fresh. Also with the increase of new mediums within different segments (example Pandora on the Radio side) it’s vital to have fluidity to expand your reach.
