Are you aware of the latest emerging business trends?
Wondering what your business should be doing in 2019?
If you’re trying to improve your own business, it’s crucial to keep up with emerging business trends. You should always keep your eyes open for ways that the business landscape may change over time. Knowing the trends can help you anticipate business opportunities as well as potential pitfalls.
Below we’ll take a look at the 6 emerging business trends you need to be aware of if you want to remain on the path to success.
1. Customer Experience Improvements Due to AI
While it may seem a bit ironic, artificial intelligence is proving to help businesses create more meaningful connections with customers. AI is leading the way when it comes to improving the customer experience.
AI can take on many types of tasks that humans typically do. Yet, it’s especially becoming popular for businesses to improve customer service.
While the wider use of chatbots on websites and on social media is part of this, there’s more to it than that. AI is helping businesses to learn more about customers. They do this by keeping track of their preferences, spotting trends, and anticipating future needs. AI helps businesses understand their audience more clearly, both as a whole and as individuals.
AI can work in many ways depending on the nature of a business and what their product is. It has become a great tool for helping improve customer happiness and loyalty. AI is helping businesses meet their customer’s needs better than ever before.
2. Wider Adoption of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies
Blockchain technology, along with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is also making waves in business.
Some businesses have started to accept blockchain and other cryptocurrencies for business transactions. This is having an impact on businesses. It is helping them stand out from competitors and allows them to offer more secure payment options for their tech-savvy clientele.
More importantly is the adoption of blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is the technology that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are based on.
Blockchain offers businesses a very secure way to authenticate transactions of all kinds in a way that can’t be tampered with. The technology helps protect important transactions and information from interference from outside forces. The technology is sure to spread to more industries and businesses, for many more applications and uses in the coming months and years.
3. Influencer Marketing
One trend that is becoming increasingly common is using social media, along with influencer marketing, to reach new customers.
Influencer marketing is when a particular business teams up with an influential individual to help promote a product or service. The influencer will promote the business’ product to their own audience, helping the business to reach a new crowd.
While celebrity endorsements have been around for quite a while, the definition of what a celebrity is is expanding. In the age of Instagram stars and Youtube personalities, more options are opening up for businesses than ever before to team up with an influencer.
These marketing tactics are gaining ground more than ever, and this is because influencer marketing can create more trust in potential customers than a traditional advertisement can. Expect to see more of this type of influencer marketing in 2019 as more businesses start to adopt the technique.
4. Live Streaming Video Content
While video content has been growing in popularity for quite some time, live streaming has become a growing trend.
Businesses are beginning to embrace the use of live streaming on social media channels. They’re using it to connect with customers and market products in an engaging, down-to-earth way.
Marketing these days has to be personable to be the most effective and live streaming gives businesses a way to do it. Many customers today would much rather watch a video, especially a live-streamed one than to read through a blog post. When using live video streaming businesses can explain how a product works or educate customers helping them build a deeper ongoing connection with their audience.
5. Improved Personal Data Security
With many companies experiencing data breaches and with cybersecurity becoming a greater concern. Additionally, big businesses such as Facebook have come under fire for their handling of personal data in recent months. Because of these things and others, businesses are looking for ways to ensure the protection of personal information and data that they have.
There is now more awareness than ever about the use of personal data by businesses, both by customers and by the businesses themselves. Because of this, businesses large and small are trying harder to protect personal data and handle it in an ethical way.
Small businesses who want to survive the long haul will need to make sure they have a good plan set up to ensure the security of personal data that they handle and use during business operations.
6. Higher Pay
Unemployment rates have fallen to their lowest rates in years. This means that employers may have to change some things if they want to keep their best employees around.
As a result of lower unemployment rates, pay rates are expected to grow in many industries. This is especially true for health care and physical therapy jobs. It’s also likely for those in the engineering and drone technology fields as well.
Not every business will raise employee salaries. However, smart businesses will have to find a way to make employees happier in their positions. Aside from higher pay, businesses may compensate employees in the form of greater flexibility, extra benefits, or more time off.
You can expect these changes in wages to have an impact on the businesses as well as consumers in the coming months.
Staying On Top of Emerging Business Trends
If you’re looking for ways to take your business to the next level, it’s important to pay attention to emerging business trends. Consider the above trends carefully so you can make sure that you can help your business keep thriving in your industry.
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