{"id":12312,"date":"2018-12-10T06:37:05","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T05:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/?p=12312"},"modified":"2018-12-09T23:20:44","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T22:20:44","slug":"important-trends-predictions-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/important-trends-predictions-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Important Small Business Trends and Predictions for 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most important questions<\/a> every business asks themselves is \u201c<\/span>what are the new and the most important trends and how can we capitalize on them<\/span><\/i>\u201d? And while many companies are trying to jump on the bandwagon of the latest, newest, and the flashiest innovation, it\u2019s a bit more complicated than that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, some of the trends will have a direct impact on your business, regardless of your niche. And of course, some of the trends might become the industry staple while others fade away.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the main takeaway here is <\/span>how<\/span><\/i> you adapt them and if you\u2019ll be successful in its execution. It\u2019s <\/span>how<\/span><\/i> you\u2019re going to effectively capitalize on the trend that matters, not <\/span>what<\/span><\/i> trend you\u2019re going to capitalize. <\/span><\/p>\n

With that said, each year we see new technologies come out and the current ones get smarter. This will continue to happen every year, and the trend will only pick up the pace.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, as we approach 2019, here are a few key trends you might want to keep an eye out for and implement in your business if you want to get ahead of your competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBlockchain Technology Applications for SME [Expert Roundup]<\/span><\/a>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBlockchain technology applications can revolutionize entire industries Experts share their knowledge of blockchain applications.<\/span>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tREAD MORE<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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1. Customer-centric marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Being customer-centric in general, even outside your marketing strategy is a great way to connect with your audience and establish <\/span>social proof<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Personalized marketing has been the hot and trendy approach for some time now but if you <\/span>really <\/span><\/i>want to get ahead of your competition, you need to truly embrace the customer-centric mindset. <\/span><\/p>\n

How do you do this, you ask?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Ideally, through data and customer understanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have the data to back up your decisions and you can really tap into your customers\u2019 minds – you know you’re on the right track. This is how you can get ahead most of your competitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Why-Personalization-Matters-In-Marketing\"
The more you know your customers – the better.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But if that\u2019s not the case and you\u2019re not sure where to begin, think of the entire journey your customers take from start to finish with your product your service.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is something called <\/span>customer experience<\/span><\/a> (CX). <\/span><\/p>\n

CX includes things like how you care for your customers, how you respond to their needs and how you assist them through each touch point they have with your company.<\/span><\/p>\n

How they interact with your service team, your website, and your brand, in general, is a great indicator as to how well you\u2019re doing in CX. And to add to that, their <\/span>buyer\u2019s journey<\/span><\/a> should be as smooth as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience and 73% of buyers point to CX as an important factor when making a purchase (<\/span>Source<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

This, combined with a solid user-experience foundation (another important \u00a0<\/span>trend<\/span><\/a> for 2019), means that if you want to attract <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> retain your customers – you should really zoom in on their experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you thought you knew your customer down to a tee – think again.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the day, if you want to deliver an excellent customer experience, you have to know them better than ever. This often means creating detailed customer profiles that can help you understand their behaviors at every touch point with your business.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Chatbots<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Automation<\/span><\/a>, in general, is a great practice every business should be taking advantage of. There are many different fields that you can automate through <\/span>tools<\/span><\/a>, and the same can be said for your social media.<\/span><\/p>\n

One important trend when it comes to automating your social media comes in the form of messenger chatbots.<\/span><\/p>\n

With chatbots, your whole social media strategy and how you interact with your customers can be transformed into a real-time instant and automated communication tool.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did you know that there are already more than 300,000 Facebook <\/strong><\/span>Messenger Chatbots<\/a><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s more than 300,000 businesses taking advantage of a simple automation tool that improves direct communication with customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Messenger-Chatbots\"
Chatbots are a great way to keep your customers engaged with your brand.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chatbots have a lot of <\/span>potential<\/span><\/a> because they can be custom tailored to specific keywords and experiences. For example, you can have the bot act as a landing page, lead generator, or even use it to accept orders. You just automate it and let it run while you work on other things. <\/span><\/p>\n

Customers will then be able to fully go through the <\/span>buyer\u2019s journey<\/span><\/a> and<\/span><\/i> make a transaction without your involvement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, they\u2019re not going to completely replace your <\/span>social media<\/span><\/a> team, but if done well, chatbots can make your customer support services a whole lot easier. <\/span><\/p>\n

Social media never sleeps.<\/b><\/p>\n

Though you\u2019ll still have to chime in here and there to deliver a\u00a0personal reply, chatbots can take over interacting with your customers for the most part.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2019, the extent to which we\u2019ll see chatbots on social media will definitely increase. And so should their effectiveness. Chatbots are capable of more than just answering a question based on a keyword. <\/span><\/p>\n

From providing weather reports to making an actual purchase, bots can get personal and take over the frontline even when you\u2019re sleeping.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t3 Reasons Messenger Chatbots Are a Powerful Tool in Marketing<\/span><\/a>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDid you know that there are now more than 300,000 Messenger chatbots on Facebook? Here's how a Messenger Chatbots can help you as part of your social media.<\/span>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tREAD MORE<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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3. Voice search<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This is something you may not have seen coming but voice search marketing has been slowly been becoming more and more popular. And\u00a0this can change the way we do searches altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n

By 2020, 50% of all searches are expected to be voice searches<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

Voice search technology has been continuously improving and as a result, voices searches have increased in popularity as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Voice search is popular because of its ease of use, speed, and convenience. Above all though, it\u2019s hands-free. <\/span><\/p>\n

Meaning, people use it on the go (when driving a car, for example) and it\u2019s safer than typing as well. Because people talk faster than they type, a voice search is going to be more convenient nine times out of ten.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what implications does this raise for the search engine that we\u2019re so used to?<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparing for voice searches is going to require a different approach. The way we talk is different from the way we type as well. <\/span><\/p>\n

The next time you\u2019re <\/span>optimizing<\/span><\/a> your website for voice searches, focus on the way you phrase your content and text.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, when optimizing for Google\u2019s featured snippets (preview on Google), write it in a way that \u201creads better\u201d out loud. <\/span><\/p>\n

Focus on how it <\/span>sounds<\/span><\/i> when spoken, rather than focusing on the dry style of writing.<\/span><\/p>\n

While many customers still use them only to make shopping lists or listen to music, it\u2019s only a matter of time until the advertising shift happens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smart speakers like Alexa and Google Home are also on the rise.<\/p>\n

39 million Americans use smart speakers. 65% of them say they wouldn\u2019t want to go back to life without their voice-controlled assistant.<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

So, what\u2019s the <\/span>takeaway <\/b>here?<\/span><\/p>\n

The future of search engine marketing is likely to become more responsive and authentic. If you want to get ahead of the competition, consider producing more audio content (to gain more brand awareness). And as we embrace new forms of media platforms, don’t forget that ads are likely to come soon too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Summing up<\/b><\/h2>\n

All in all, expect to see a shift in the tech and the way we do business. Marketing is one of the many fields that are likely to go through a complete change. With that said, if you\u2019re not sure where to begin, start with gaining a deeper understanding of your customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

2019 and the future are very likely to be customer oriented, filled with personalization, automation, and new tech. Again, knowing who you\u2019re dealing with can put you miles ahead of your competitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen closely. Make sure your interaction with them is as smooth as possible, and that your website is optimized as well. From there on, you have to focus on marketing and growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once you start meeting your customers halfway through their journey, expect to see an increase in your conversions as well!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most important questions every business asks themselves is \u201cwhat are the new and the most important trends and how can we capitalize on them\u201d? And while many companies are trying to jump on the bandwagon of the latest, newest, and the flashiest innovation, it\u2019s a bit more complicated than that. Yes, some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":12313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[345],"tags":[629,103,146,563,69,325,51,628,58,62,398],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Key-Small-Business-Trend-Predictions-2019.png?fit=1380%2C580&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5m6q6-3cA","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12312"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12322,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12312\/revisions\/12322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invoiceberry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}