The economic conditions in which small businesses and startups exist are constantly changing. Since most companies of these categories are doing their best to survive almost on daily basis, they often need to come up with new solutions for each rising problem. The business environment in 2014 will also change.
Although it is expected that most economies will stabilize over the next one year, startups and small businesses should plan according to the following trends.
Outsourcing Social Media Analytics
Today, small business are spending a big part of their time on social media websites and marketing. However, the results are rarely satisfactory. In 2014, more and more small business owners will realize that outsourcing is a good strategy when it comes to social websites. The reason is that companies are already investing a lot of time into such activities. As you are well aware, time is money. Therefore, startups would prefer to outsource their social media marketing and invest in experts.
Less is More
Some small businesses would choose to focus less on social media and web marketing. A great number of startups continue to fail in their attempt to leverage social networks for the benefits of the business. It seems that in this case practice is not enough to make things perfect. Small business owners will start to find different alternatives to social media. For instance, they will rely more on consumer studies and will observe their competition more closely. In addition, they will return to older practices to personal networks and business conferences. In a nutshell, startups will turn to some well-known, but a bit forgotten practices.
Alternative methods of payment
Cash transactions will become less popular. The reason is that there are many other new payment methods which small business can use. Among them are, for example, electronic wallets such as PayPal. In addition, more and more retail stores are starting to adopt this technology making it an even more convenient payment method.
Offering suite solutions
Regardless of the state of the economy, office space prices are predicted to continue to rise over the next twelve months. This is not a new trend. As a matter of fact, co-working facilities got extremely popular in 2013 due to namely this reason. However, in 2014, small business owners will search for even more flexibility. As a consequence, small-sized companies will cut down office work hours and offer employees more opportunities to work from home or from distance.
BYOD Growth
Companies are no longer tied to pricy hardware machines and software. Instead, they tend to rely on the cloud. Because of that, accessing and sharing data is easier than ever and it does not require a specialized device. That is why many startups have a BYOD policy or bring-your-own-device policy. Businesses just need to add a security program to them, as well as a suite or an app with which the worker can access the important data.
Startups and small business will go back to basics in 2014. They will turn their back on many popular practices and return to some old business strategies. This will be their attempt to reduce their losses and to increase their profits.
