It's that time of year where we all predict what to expect in 2012. Keep in mind I am not clairvoyant or anything. These are guesses, although I like to think educated guesses. If they don't come to fruition I reserve the right to claim my blog was hacked and someone else wrote this post.
So here we go:
Economy begins to rebound, kind of
I have said all along that we were in at best an "L" shaped recovery where we would hit bottom and just bump along. Although the media has touted a "double dip" recession that was more hype than anything driven by the stock market. Wall street is not a good indicator for main street. I think we can expect to see improvement in 2012 for two reasons:
- Small business innovation: Small businesses have been struggling to keep their heads above water without the help of many financial institutions. Entrepreneurs are actually getting pretty creative. Small business innovation will begin to outpace the recession.Their focus on customers and revenue generation strategies will continue to allow them to improve.
- Election Year: Every major election year we see an economic bump as the President tries to show the economy is getting better to bolster re-election chances. Look for freeing up of funds to organizations like the SBA and loosening of some regulations on small business and financial institutions. While much of the stimulation might be artificial small businesses will take advantage of what they get.
Small business funding loosens up.
Through political pressure, easing of some regulations (see previous point) and the need of larger institutions to get back into the lending game to hit their numbers expect more funding to become available. Community banks and credit unions will continue to be the best sources of working capital though.
Daily Deal sites begin to show true colors.
Small businesses are starting to see the negative aspects of daily deal sites after using them for awhile. This recognition along with the easing of economic conditions will result in less activity in this space. The daily deal sites will need to adjust to serve both the small business and the consumer to stay relevant.
The rise of the "Solo-prenur"
Look for continued growth of the solo-prenur. Individuals look to take more control of their future income by pursuing their passion both full-time and part-time. The internet and social media allows more access to larger numbers of consumers making it easier to sustain side businesses than ever before.
Information storage gets "cloudy".
Cloud computing will move into the mainstream with the power of Google, Apple and Microsoft in the market as well as smaller offerings like Evernote and Dropbox. As security continues to improve expect more small business to look to this option to reduce infrastucture and expenses.
Social continues to creep into small business marketing
I realize that social media usage has increased over the past few years but many small businesses have not taken advantage of these tools. However, with the increasing popularity of social platforms among consumers small businesses will see the opportunity to reach more potential buyers and they will embrace social media.
Video kicks in
As social media usage increases video will finally break into the small business market as a useful marketing tool. Small business will realize the power of creating a visual example of what they provide for consumers. Given this and the ability to deliver video content without significant expense you will see an explosion of video usage.
Well there it is. Did I miss anything? Share you thoughts on what we can expect in 2012.
