1. Optimization is the latest risk management.
With an atmosphere of political tensions running up and high and a potential knock of recession, it is no wonder ‘playing it safe while doubling down’ is the new trend. Lee Henderson of EY Americas Growth Markets Leader, emphasised on the importance of Playing it Safe, but still doubling down. Lee said “Companies need to look at things like contracts, vendors, costs, and business operations so that there’s comfort in efficiency, but they should still be looking for areas to grow and innovate. There will certainly be opportunities, and you want to be ready to capitalize on them when the time comes.”
According to EY, entrepreneurs are optimistic about those opportunities than other business leaders. 67% entrepreneurs said they were focused on “pursuing new market opportunities,” compared to just 19% of leaders at large companies.
2. Industry-specific start-ups have a better growth path.
Brad Keywell, CEO of Uptake and 2019’s World Entrepreneur of the Year, echoes the belief that the best opportunities for are not always in broad business services. “Big companies like Amazon are great at delivering value through technology to mass market audiences,” Brad explained. “It’s the niches they do not deal in that offer real opportunity to entrepreneurs, who can be flexible and move quickly.”
3. Non-technical entrepreneurial partnerships are setting the trend.
More non-technical entrepreneurs are trusting others (partners) to build out the technologies needed to turn their dreams into reality.
The reason for this, is that a lot of tech gurus and experts of other specific fields are also turning to entrepreneurship. They may have the skills to build the product, but they often need help on the sales and marketing side of things — which many non-technical founders provide.
4. Teams are using technology to maximize their operations.
One way companies are playing it safe is through technology. Time-saving tools make it feasible for entrepreneurs to accomplish more with less resources. TeamWork CEO Peter Coppinger, who received the EY Ireland Entrepreneur of the Year award, spoke at length about how efficiency improvements across operating systems are a great way to stay safe while pursuing growth.
5. Integration of Marketing & Technology:
Modern entrepreneurship thrives on marketing and the latest trend includes an intensive collaboration of technology in marketing. The third decade is going to be a tech savvy era which will thrive on information and data and to process this load of info a synchronisation with technology is must.
End to end customer experience – It is important for business organizations to merge their marketing plans with technology. They are now realizing the value of customer experience and its importance to the business. The evolution of AI is going to play a huge role by merging with digital marketers to provide an end to end customer experience.
Marketing automation – Everybody prefers personalized content; with data now being mainstreamed more than ever and innumerable insights available from loads of data, marketers will have to look into providing more personalized and customized content to consumers. Thus, marketing automation will evolve and is expected to undergo an exquisite change due to the marriage of technology and marketing.
Investing in AR/VR – The use of AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) has pressed the marketers to develop strategies to provide consumers with better services. This will bring further transformation in the process of collection of information by business organizations and customers, as well. Marketers need to bring in digital innovations to improve overall online experience of consumers.
Measuring Online Store Visits- For businesses with an online presence, determining the number of store visits or footfalls achieved through online promotions has always been a challenge. Using the digital marketing expertise and offline behaviour, business organizations must invest in digital tool which provide analytics and information accurately.
Focus on Marketplaces like Amazon:
Amazon is Emerging as a Big Player in Digital Marketing -Last year, Amazon had recorded a triple-digit growth in the quarter by quarter ad revenue. The buying intent of users makes it an immensely approachable platform for any Consumer Product client. It is evolving at a rapid pace and has definitely shown commitment for change the landscape of digital marketing.
Amazon Automation Tool – More than two-thirds of Amazon advertisers are using ad campaign automation tools. Market is poised to grow significantly in the next few years as Amazon ads will increase their market share.
Adapt and lead the major changes:
Voice Search – Demand of the voice-based AI devices is on the rise, for example, Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant; a huge bump is expected in the voice-based advertising for marketers. By using these products, people will be able to order customized products on the go. The number of voice searches is rising with every passing minute.
Video rules – With more than 30hrs/week average time spent on viewing TV or any form of video content, the video viewing quotient is at an all-time high. This huge trend shift has taken place in the form of videos watched on Mobile devices, tabs and TV. There has been a surge in the content of video channels like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Voot, Zee5, ErosNow etc are being consumed at a high rate. The advertising usage on mobile or channel based video content will be crucial for digital marketers.
Get Personal with the Customer:
Focus on Private Customized Messaging – The challenge is to provide more and more personalized content to users; brands are shifting focus to private messaging apps. Private messaging app advertising is evolutionary in digital marketing.
Advertising on WhatsApp – The tremendous reach of WhatsApp is still unexploited and it is the biggest social messaging app of the century. A channel of such huge mass marketing potential must be exploited and used to maximum level.
Strong Social Media Presence– Studies reveal 63% of the marketers think that Social media is going to be as big as apps or web. Creating brand awareness and brand connectivity among the customers is a must. Social channels are evolving constantly as new features are getting added to several social media platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Whatsapp etc. Social Media is here to stay and dominate. So, it is utterly important for digital marketers focus on their presence on social media.
6. Culture-conscious companies are winning hearts.A theme I wholeheartedly agree with — is that it is the individuals who make a business thrive. Building diverse teams, bringing out the best in their employees, and creating the sort of work culture where the best employees want to stay are the latest ins. Especially with unemployment at record lows, a lot of entrepreneurs are struggling to find relevant talent. The solution, is to invest in team members’ personal growth. That means providing flexible environment to work, creative freedom and performance-based compensations like profit sharing.
