Incredible Business Trends That Will Shape 2018

Time estimates that about 400,000 small businesses start up annually, creating about 40-60% of all new jobs in the US alone. The New Year is a time to reflect on the biggest trends shaping the corporate world.

As a business leader, you want to make sure that you are ahead of the game-ready for any new technology or change in demand that will affect your business. While jumping on the latest trends can be exciting, you need to separate the short-term fads from the disruptive trends.

Here are some awesome business trends that will shape 2018.

Expansion of On-Demand in Business to Business

On-demand consumer businesses like Taskrabbit, Uber, and Airbnb have inspired the current trend. This trend is expected to grow with more companies launching in 2018. Business News Daily asserts that websites in pro areas like on-demand marketing and law consulting can work efficiently with a few employees on board. Inc.com lists ezCater, Getable, and Shyp as some models of current on-demand B2B firms.

Diverse Targeted Industries

A market with a robust growth ability is expected to grow in 2018. The drone industry is expected to grow to $13 billion by 2022. This is an 8.7% percent increase from 2016. You could also have an opportunity for drone repair and replacements. Companies like Expertdrones and Deviceeer are some of the players in the drone repair business.

As the baby boomers age and retire, many find home care attractive as opposed to senior living communities or nursing homes. With little startup expense, you can start a non-medical home care enterprise. If you would rather launch a curative home care, you’ll need licensing fees. Zion Research anticipates the home care market to grow to $391.4 billion by 2021.

Non-Tech Folks Launching Tech Businesses

Gone are the days when you would have to have coding or web-design skills to succeed in launching a tech business. Tools like Bubble and Zapier can help build complex apps without you having to hire employees to code. New businesses are also expected to leverage technologies such as cloud-enabled SaaS, video, big data, Artificial intelligence, and customer relationship management apps to keep pace.

Rise of Crowdfunding

In 2018, crowdfunding will continue to be an important resource for entrepreneurs. Upcoming crowdfunding platforms allow business people to validate and fund a new service or product while growing the customer base.

IoT Technology Will Mature

2017 was the wow phase and 2018 is expected to be the time businesses find out ways to effectively and securely bring Internet of Things to their corporations. Other questions like how to optimize decisions and analytics based on the IoT data and how to handle high speed data ingest will also be addressed in 2018.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing in 2018 will go beyond content marketing, social media advertising, and SEO. Some of the digital marketing trends to expect include AR in marketing, inclusion of customer engagement strategies, marketing automation, and machine learning.

Rise of E-Commerce

Etsy, eBay, and Amazon have changed the way we shop online. Customers can shop from the comfort of their home, workplace, and anywhere when they are on the go. Cloud-based solutions like Shopify are making it easy for businesses to get on the e-commerce wagon and increase their sales online compared to their previous years. An increase in companies using cloud-based solutions to increase their sales will be experienced in 2018.

Integration of Sales and Content Marketing

Top organizations are integrating their sales and content marketing as buyers continue to do more online research. The point is to ensure that the customer finds your content when they are searching for strategies to implement and challenges to solve. 2018 will see company’s sales professionals effectively use content in the sales process.

Rise of Video

More companies are switching from traditional content to video. A study conducted by Forbes found out that 80% people are watching more online video than they were last year. Video is expected to disrupt the marketing industry come 2018.

These are some of the emerging trends to watch out for. However, do not lose the bigger picture which is good people, sales, and cash. Having your foundation right will help you move your business forward.

Robert Cordray

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About the Author - Robert Cordray is a former business consultant and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience and a wide variety of knowledge in multiple areas of the industry. He currently resides in the Southern California area and spends his time helping consumers and business owners alike try to be successful. When he’s not reading or writing, he’s most likely with his beautiful wife and three children.