The marketing world is changing at a rapid speed every passing day. Every now and then, we encounter many new business evolutions and changes in the digital world. Some of these changes are gradually accepted by the business world however, some succeed at a slower rate. However, the large-scale businesses stand on the brighter and stronger side to adapt to the emerging and continuous changes. As a concerning matter, the small businesses need to deliver more focused attention on these changes as they need to compete with more reputed and popular names in the industry.

The business environment around the small-scale businesses is witnessing a rapid change. Over the time even the small businesses have realized the fact that they need to be in the present trends for maintaining their stand in the industry and marketplace. If they lack is in the trends, they might get ruled out of the industry very soon. Thus, as a result, most of the small size businesses are focusing their attention to maintain themselves with the present and upcoming trends. They have been consistent in planning the strategies that can help them to compete amongst themselves along with the leading big names in the industry.

Interested in knowing the SMB marketing trends in 2018? Here are some of the marketing trends for 2018 that can help SMB to gain an instant recognition in the business world. Have a look:

2018 has opened the doors for so many vast business opportunities for the small business. The only thing that matters is to make the most of the emerging trends so as to secure your position in the industry and amongst the customers.

Small and medium-size businesses must keep this simple thing in mind that they are competing against the well-established and well-known names in the industry. Therefore, they will need nothing but the best for marking their stand against them. And what can be the best other than Google? SMB must focus on maintaining a Google My Business page for enhancing their visibility and improving their local SEO in the market. According to an analysis, nearly 93% of online experiences begin with the help of the search engines, it is, therefore, necessary to have a strong presence over the search engines for delivering the best of the online experience to the customers.

The algorithms of Google have been modified over the years. Google has now traveled a long journey in the way in which it uses to display and highlight the information in its search result. It now focuses on having more accurate and transparent business details for making in the search results of Google. Thus, the businesses must maintain all the required information regarding their phone numbers, email ids, address, related websites, name, etc. in complete detail and accuracy on their homepages or websites. They should make it easy for their customers to locate them over the local SEO. Apart from this, the SMB should make this as their priority to timely update their information for eliminating the risk of providing outdated information to their customers.

According to MOZ, 34% searches now results in no click and not maintaining the needed information is one of the prime reasons for this. Thus, SMB should focus on maintaining a known identity on Google for enhancing its reach to the customers and improving its visibility in the search engines.

Adding reviews on the websites and on the web pages may appear to be a very little step but it provides huge benefits to the business’s market position. Earlier, it was not considered necessary to add customer’s review on the websites as it was considered of no use. But as the online market grew and attracted more customers, the businesses have realized the importance of having some well-known and positive reviews on their websites. It has been observed that maintaining online reviews of some regular, consistent and loyal customers helps in attracting new customers towards the business.

According to the stats on reviews as mentioned on the Bright Local:

• 97% of the new customers read online reviews on a daily basis and then gets attracted by any business to buy their products and services
  
• 85% of customers trust the mentioned online reviews for making their buying decision
  
• 49% of customers have admitted that they only trust the brand name having a 4-star rating
  
• It has been observed that on an average the customers read 7 to 8 customers reviews before making their mind and opinion for the brand
  

If the SMB wants to make their position stronger in the online business world, they must make sure to highlight some of their positive and strong customer’s reviews on their website that can attract the new customers. However, in order to attract a huge customer base, the businesses must not take any help from adding the fake reviews on their website as it has been predicted by many top marketers that Google will crack down all the possible fake reviews in the year 2018. Thus a fake review will destroy your future potential for attracting the customers and establishing yourself as the leading name in the industry.

Gone are the days when customers get happy with whatever you serve them without complaining about anything. The present time is the time where the customers are smart and are active for all the possible scenarios around them. Thus, it has become very difficult for fooling them with anything less than perfection and high quality. Content marketing has always been the top most choice for the marketers to inform their customers of all the latest updates regarding their business plan and products and services. But the need is to present them with the best of the content which can hold their interest and attention for a maximum time. This is where the need for content optimization falls in for SMBs.

As per the changing time and the more focused online world, it has become easy and convenient for the customers to find all the needed and desired information at one place like Google search engine. The recent reports have clearly indicated the strong relationship between the average spent time on the page’s content and the listing in the search engine’s list. The more time customers spent on the page’s content, the higher are the chances for improving the Google ranking of that page and certainly of that business website. But to make the customers spent more time on the page’s content it is important to present them with quality content rather than quantity content. The content should be optimized as per the requirements of Google and should be stuffed with the relevant keywords that the customers search on a frequent basis. According to NewsCred, readers only invest 37 seconds for reading the page’s content and blog. Thus, the businesses need to optimize their content and work as per the SMB marketing trends in 2018 in such a way that those 37 seconds can deliver them the maximum benefits.

There can be no better thing to do than doing social media marketing for the SMBs for making their position right in the right place and at the right time. This is the time where the majority of the customers are spending most of their time on the social platforms. The craze of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. is not a hidden fact. All these social platforms have the required potential for dragging the customers, right in place for the business point of view. Moreover, it has also been said by most of the top marketers that if you are not on the social media, then you are losing a huge opportunity of making your business shine amongst the neck cutting competition.

2017 was the year that helped many businesses to secure their position in the market with the right moves on the social platforms. Many top businesses along with startups and small scale businesses were seen developing strategies that can help them to get the maximum benefits from the social platforms. If experts are to be believed, the year 2018 will be no different. 2018 will be the year that will help the SMBs and other businesses for enhancing their scope of doing business by reaching to the vast variety of customers around the world and providing them with the best experiences. In order to get the same amount of customer attention, SMBs should focus on using the relevant social media marketing tools for posting the relevant posts and information along with using tools for carrying automatic scheduling with the maximum ease and for reaping the best of the benefits.

2017 marked the beginning of the use of videos on the websites for providing the customers with the needed information and telling the customers about the hard work that are put behind for providing them with the best experience with a brand. The strategies of video marketing can be used by the SMBs for winning the trust of the customers that they are investing with the right people and can completely rely on them for all their needs. How can one imagine winning a loyal customer unless the SMBs provide them with the basis for trusting them? And this can perfectly and easily achieve by making the use of video marketing for the brand.

The recent time has changed many traditional approaches in the market. In the present time, 55% of the customers watch online videos on a daily basis. This clearly depicts the potential video marketing can offer to the SMBs if used correctly and accurately. If we dig more into details, then it has been observed that 50% of the customers watch the online review videos of the product before actually making up their mind for buying the product. Apart from the many benefits that the video marketing delivers to the small and medium-size businesses, the use of an appealing video on the website helps in catching the attention of the visitors and thereby reducing the bounce rate of the business. The only thing that must be completely taken care of is the fact that the businesses must use only the relevant videos on their websites and should invest their time and efforts in making informative videos for their customers.

Here are some of the useful tips that the SMBs can use for creating an effective video for their website:

• Understanding their audience type
  
• Knowing the likings, dislikes, and preferences of their customers
  
• Starting with creating a small video
  
• Try to include the maximum relevant and accurate details about the offered product or service
  
• Focus on adding a personalized touch to the video so that the customers can relate to that instantly
  
• Before uploading the video on the site, make sure to test for knowing the reaction  
• 2018 will be the year where the customers will get to witness more of the relevant videos from most of the businesses especially the SMBs.
  

The journey to success is certainly hard for the SMB because of many obvious reasons. But if they are working and planning their strategies as per the emerging trends of the year, the journey will definitely become easy for them. The trends will keep on changing and one cannot be certain on any particular trend but what can be done the best for getting the right outcome from these trends is to use the trends as they grow in the market. Since the SMBs are competing also with the reputed big names in the industry, they need to focus on investing their time and efforts on the right trends for marking their shining presence amongst those big reputed names in the industry.

• 2018 is ready with the pool of opportunities to offer to SMBs for reaching the new heights of success in the business. Are you ready to intake those benefits for your business with the SMB marketing trends in 2018?