Online Marketplace Trends for SMEs in 2016

Net Efficiency
  • Date Published
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  • Reading Time 7-Minute Read

From the day I first started working online to this very day, I have witnessed many changes in the dynamics of business.

Now the internet in general, and social media in particular, provides each individual the opportunity to connect with potential customers from all over the world.

Today we have online crowdsourcing websites such as 99design, Fiverr, and Up-work which have played a huge role in the growth of the small enterprise.

Let me explain the example of Fiverr, it is a place where you can showcase your prowess to millions in a single go and that too in an inexpensive way. Fiverr, along with other digital service websites, has revolutionized the world of business marketing for a small-medium enterprise.

A SME is supposed to have limited staff. It is implausible for them to hire people for every department, so as a SME you can approach websites like these to outsource your work to skilled individuals.

As a SME, you can use search to find the best suitable candidate for the fulfillment of your job and the devised rating system also helps you in determining who should be hired.

This has diminished the tiring concept of hiring individuals after interviews. Now you can outsource your work to people over the internet who will get it done for the best price within minimal time.

Online Market Trends Facilitating People to Engage in Business

Evolving marketplace trends have eased the difficulties you used to face, both as a business and a customer, in the past. Now you have the facility of the internet no matter where you are.

Online marketplace trends such as automation, content writings, and video marketing have solved the problems a reader would face back in time.

Now all you have got to do is hold your smartphone and push a button which will open an app of a specific business. You can get all the information regarding the business in that single app by a single push. The app may contain videos, infographics or text which will help you understand the business and its potential prospects.

The graph below shows a comparison between the business market trends in the running year. Online digital marketing has seen a growth of more than 50% compared to in-person marketing which saw only 13% growth.

Bar graph showing different marketing tactics success rates

Here we have discussed few of the online trends which have been popular among businesses in recent times:

Video Marketing

Making a video regarding your business proposal and posting it on your personal website, mobile app, or Youtube has become very common as of late. It gives the watchers an easy understanding of your product, their application, and benefits.

Compactness of Data

Another aspect I would like to mention is data automation and infographics, which have slowly taken over the long texts. Nowadays, SMEs are taking their business to different online websites in a much compact and easy to understand form. Pinterest and Tumblr have been largely used to write blogs and reviews about a business keeping the followers regularly updated.

Website homepage of repair company

The above picture is taken from the website of an SME which deals in vehicle glass repair and glass replacements. With using the right content in a limited number of words, they have compacted a huge amount of data into a single page infographics. You can find their address, the reviews, and their specialties all on a single page.

Content Writing Has Seen a Positive Explosion

Unlike the past, in today’s business world the text you opt to use for your business makes a great deal of impact on its performance. Businesses seek the services of experts to help them write an attractive script which is more appealing to those over the internet.

Mobile Apps Taking over Online Search

Mobile has taken over the computer and mobile apps over the websites. Now you find it easy to download a mobile application of a product and get all the information through it, rather than surfing the web.

Virtual Reality Taking over the Real Life Experiences

Virtual reality has taken over real life experience. With the introduction of virtual 3D device in video games, a new platform for online advertising has emerged. It would open new horizons for online business development in the near future.

Automation

Automation has been in place for quite some time now. Building your businesses in such a way that the size of teams increases automatically and gradually as the workload increases.

Search Engine Optimization and Social Media

SEO and social media advertising have been in place for some time now. People have been taking on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to promote their business. This is the cheapest and most productive method to advertise your business.

I strongly believe that there is a paradigm shift in the world of marketing, and the best is yet to come. With ever evolving social websites which are incorporating more interactive designs, we will soon witness internet marketing as the sole giant medium responsible for development and growth of business; huge and small alike.

A great thing about online marketing is that it provides all of us with the same opportunity to showcase our abilities to the world. You don’t need to splash bundles of cash to get your product promoted.

Big brands have also welcomed this shift in the world of online marketing with open arms. Multinational companies such as Coca-Cola, Levis, and small medium enterprises such as auto-glass repair companies, have taken their marketing strategies to the internet. This helps in maintaining a better communication between provider and end user of the service which is essential for the development of an enterprise.

The pie-chart below shows that online advertisements, including mobile, email, online magazines, have accounted for more than 22.5% of total advertising revenues in the United States in 2016 so far.

Local advertising revenues in the us in 2016 pie chart

The online marketplace is the easiest way for you to get engaged with your customers. Such things would happen at expos or special meet up in the past. But today, you can feed your potential customers with updated information on a daily basis to keep their interest alive. This helps you turn viewers into customers, and customers into a loyal fan base.

Autoglass comments on twitter

The above picture shows the twitter handle of our client Autoglass repair and replacement company. Here we can see that it has engaged with its service users which have helped it gain a positive, uplifting publicity. The appreciation provided by the users will urge the viewers to try their services as well.

Interactive websites work in a loop where all individuals are chained together, forming an online society. This makes the flow of information very easy. For instance, if you post something, it will be live on the wall of those who have retweeted the tweets and on the newsfeed of their friends as well. With such easy methods, you can reach out to millions in a very short period of time, and spending a very small sum of money.

As an emerging enterprise willing to take opportunities to the internet, you should do a basic study to find out which trends are common these days and which apps or websites have maximum traffic.

There Are Certain Things Which You Should Take Care of First:

  • Quality content is very important. Make sure that the content you provide to your online viewers is of high quality;
  • Integrate multiple strategies into your system;
  • Refresh your blog with updated information on a regular basis;
  • Interact with your viewers and answer all their queries;
  • Make targeted approach towards your potential customers;
  • Develop a loyal customer base;
  • Keep customer satisfaction as your top notch priority;
  • Gather a team of individuals with very high potentials;
  • Always analyze your strategies and improvise when needed be;
  • Never miss the data points. Gather all the statistical information before jumping into an online marketing campaign.