Business trends that drive success

According to sources as diverse as Forbes Magazine in the USA and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, we are in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution. Whether this is entirely accurate or just the latest media catchphrase is not the point – the important thing is that technology has made fundamental changes to the way businesses operate, and it continues to do so.

In increasingly competitive times, organisations need to evolve at the same rate or risk being left behind. Here, we take a look at five trends that no business can afford to ignore.

1) Content marketing

As buying trends increasingly go online, the role of marketing is one that has changed more than any other. Content marketing essentially turns on its head the traditional approach of reaching out to potential buyers by using a “hard sell” approach.

Today’s buyers know what they want or need, and actively go online to search for it. If you have the right content on your website, it will mean that buyers will come to you rather than vice versa.

2) The cloud

Organisations are investing more in cloud tech than any other area of digital technology, and no wonder. Before the days of cloud tech, businesses were burdened with time-consuming, space-consuming, expensive and inefficient hardware systems.

Today’s business managers are embracing Microsoft Office Cloud to reduce costs, improve productivity and increase flexibility through being able to access their systems from anywhere at any time.

3) Video content

If your business has a professional website on which you regularly publish informative articles and blogs, you probably feel you are well on top of digital marketing and SEO. The sad truth, however, is that blogs are out, and vlogs are in vogue.

If history has taught us anything about video content, it is that people are more likely to watch the movie than read the book, and the same applies to business. Survey data has revealed that some 80 per cent of website visitors would be more likely to view and share a video than a text article.

4) Social engagement

Around 2.2 billion people use social media. That’s a third of the global population. Two billion are on Facebook alone. If you can think of a platform that has a broader reach, you must be from another planet.

It is vital to have more than just a “Facebook page.” A business needs a defined social media strategy through which your business publishes important, on-brand content (including video content), across all social media channels.

5) Data insights

The more you know about your customers, the better you can serve them. Today, our apps, websites and online systems produce vast amounts of data with every view, like or key click leaving a trail.

Big data analytics makes use of this information to provide insights into who your customers are, what they are doing and how they are doing it. Whoever makes the best use of this information stands to gain an advantage over the competition.

Evolving with the times

Modern technological trends bring huge potential and opportunity to those businesses that are prepared to embrace them. Ensure that yours keeps up with developments to thrive in the 21st-century business environment.