WG 12 Trends PDF

12 TRENDSTHAT WILL DEFINE BUSINESSESIN THE “NEW NORMAL”

Take Control of YourBUSINESSBusiness operations are under pressure dealingwith the rapid pace of innovation, rising commodityprices and a constant pressure to do things better,faster and cheaper.To help you ensure the future of your business,we o er 12 trends that span the range from newconsumer attitudes and emerging disruptivetechnologies to the latest marketing and businessoperation practices.Think of these trends as opportunities you can seizeto give your customers more of what they want.

Trend 1:SHORT-TERMISM“People are thinking more about the here and now, and less about things that may or maynot last a long time,” says noted trend analyst William Higham, author of The Next BigThing—Spotting & Forecasting Consumer Trends for Pro t. “This sentiment leads us to buy basedon our immediate needs.It also makes us want to take greater responsibility forourselves across a range of sectors, rather than relyingon the media. The relative usefulness of technology,lasts no more than a year, sometime onlymonths. When it comes to new technology purchases,consumers have learned to adopt a “wait-and-see”attitude.

Trend 2:BRAND AID Companies are now building brand loyalty by helping their consumers navigate through today’s complexities and di culties. “These brands want to be seen as helping consumers through life,” said Higham. Brand aid typically takes the form of advice, information or free services provided to the public.

Trend 3:CONSCIOUS CONSUMERISM Most people make purchases based on highly selective or speci c criteria. Companies think about their consumers in terms of what, why and how they purchase. Impulse buying is waning, giving way to purchases that are driven by enduring core values. Brands increasingly provide a meaningful reason for consumers to buy their products. This means their products need to be targeted more speci cally to particular attitudinal and needed segments.

Trend 4:SIMPLIFICATION One of the key trends is the growth of choice. Simpli cation creates three distinct marketplace opportunities for nimble companies, including:• Single-occasion products: Now companies pair daily activities into occasions with their products.“You can buy bottles of wine made to be drunk with speci c dishes like sh or chicken; orco ee brands that are made to be drunk at speci c times of the day.”This pairing serves to simplify choice. • Recommendation as a service: Recommendations and shortlists of options give us the right choice rather than an abundance of choices. Products that reduce the need to make a choice bene t from this trend. • Multi-use products: “If you own a single device that acts as phone, camera and music player, you don’t need to decide which of several single use products to take with you when going out.” Multi-use products are marginalizing certain types of single-use products.

Trend 5:MOBILE PURCHASINGAs customers embraced online shopping for its convenience,they also embrace mobile purchasing in di erent forms of transactions:• Swipe phone: Customers swipe their cell phone and use it just like a credit card, making for aquicker transaction. Businesses use this technology to gain more sales.• Accept payments with phone: A card reader hooks to your iPhone or Android. When a customerwants to buy something from you, they swipe their credit card through this gadget then they signtheir name and complete the transaction.• Enter phone number online: Customers shopping online can enter their cell phone number to paymaking it a lot easier. They must reply to a text message sent by the site to complete the transaction.• Transfer money via cell phone: You can now transfer cash via text message. Both the sender andrecipient need to register for a free account with a provider. For small business owners it’s an easy,inexpensive way to send or collect payment overseas.

Trend 6:EMOTIONAL BRANDINGSuccessful brands establish an emotional • Create satisfying experiences for your customers.connection with their customers. People value sensory, pleasurable, intellectual, safe andUnderstanding how your stakeholders look consistent experiences.at your business brand is delivered is important. • Figure out how to best serve your customers by• Have an ongoing relationship with your customers. studying what they do to serve their customers.The program should make them want to tell theirfriends about your business.• At every touch your customer has with yourcompany, treat them consistently well. This makesthem feel important.• Infuse your brand with values that drive yourproducts or services. People want to feel part ofsomething important.

Trend 7:REPUTATION MANAGEMENT Your online reputation is important if you want to be trusted or have an in uence online.“Reputation measurement will become a massive economic enabler as we get better at assessing it,” says futurist Ross Dawson, who authors the Trends in the Living Networks blog. “Assessing a business’s online reputation is becoming more sophisticated,” says Dawson. “We are able to create measures that tell how trustworthy and Marketing Trends knowledgeable a person or business is based on their online networks.” Look for reputation management is as important to driving busines online as search engine optimization is now.

Trend 8:BEHAVIORAL SEGMENTATION Segmenting your customers by demographics allows companies to build robust pro les of individual customers. You can create such pro les based on what your customers do on your website—what content they view, what o ers they respond to, what they buy, what information they enter during registration, which emails they respond to, and any other data you can collect on them. Once you build a pro le of your prospect or customer, you can use the information to predict what o ers and content they are likely to respond to and thereby increase your sales conversion rates.

Trend 9:GREEN, THE SECOND ACT A carbon footprint is an important part of the business balance sheet. “More consumers demand product foot printing—a holistic, lifecycle picture of the climate impacts of your products and services,” says Ryan Schuchard, Manager of Environmental Research and Innovation at Business for Social Responsibility.

Trend 10:COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCECollective intelligence is an opportunity to distill the “wisdom of the crowd” in a quick, cost- e ectivemanner and get solutions for your pressing business issues. Here are some examples:• Crowdsourcing: When you broadcast a request for work • Freelancers on demand: On theseyou need done and people online willingly help. sites, companies can post job listings• “My Ideas”: Companies are now gathering and freelancers worldwide can bid onthe opinions, ideas and recommendation them, usually in an auction-style format.of their customers and then surfacing themost popular of those.

Trend 11:EVOLUTION OF SALESThe traditional sales process is beingdisrupted and transformed by robustwebsites, social media, online reviewsand customers who value speed andconvenience in purchasing.Many companies are dismantling theirsales forces and replacing them withmarketing teams.When people look for a solution, theyget recommendations from peers, thenthey read online reviews and view videos,then they go to a company’s website.

Trend 12:CONSTANT BUSINESS PRESSURE Businesses focus on creating products and o ering services that are better, faster and cheaper than the competition.

With the new normal, businesses will require innovation, renewed commitment tocustomer service and solutions; and, above all, every business owner and manager willhave to be an entrepreneur to steer their businesses to success. 1300 Garret Lane, Suite 200 Lincoln, NE 68516 800.676.9076 [email protected]