As 2012 unfolds and small-business owners continue to face an anemic economy, knowing the trends that will reshape how you do business can give you a critical edge. Here are some small-business trends for 2012 and beyond:
• Segmentation picks up steam. As marketing dollars remain tight, and more small businesses move to digital, mobile, social media and other methods, targeting specific customer “segments” becomes both easier and more compelling. Small businesses should analyze existing customers as well as target markets to identify as precisely as possible those that are most profitable.
• More and more mobile: Ownership and usage of smartphones and other mobile devices is skyrocketing, and research firms have been stunned by how fast some small businesses have moved to tap into mobile commerce. Widespread adoption of mobile technology has occurred more rapidly than for any technology of the last 100 years, including radio, television and the Internet. Bottom line: Your business must be visible on mobile. Mobile searches on Google have quadrupled in the last two years alone. And despite tremendous growth, the upside remains huge.
• A co-marketing comeback: In years past, businesses with complementary products and services often teamed up to market themselves – a movie theater and restaurant, for example. In a slow-growth, value-seeking market, such partnerships can help businesses squeeze more out of their marketing dollars while delivering value-added service to customers.
• Geo-targeting gets real. Search engines and social media sites have been rushing to offer new and better ways for customers to find products and services on a geographically specific basis. As local businesses start taking greater advantage of those new tools, creating local marketing campaigns online will take off.
• Ideas as capital. In a slow-growth economy, innovation and great ideas will be your most valuable asset. In 2012 small companies will use more Web-based computing and other low-cost, readily available technologies to execute faster. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking great ideas only come from brilliant people. Game-changing ideas are already out there just waiting to be spotted and made your own.
• Global goes local. After years of outsourcing, manufacturing and sourcing of services is shifting back toward local again. Rising cost of transport will force larger customers to buy locally and a new generation of low cost automated manufacturing equipment is making small businesses competitive again. •
Daniel Kehrer can be reached at
editor@bizbest.com
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