It’s that time again - one year is about to end and another is about to start. Yes folks, 2019 is upon us, sooner than you think.

So as a business owner, you’re probably thinking of plans and strategies for growth and advancement in the new year. To assist you with this thought process, here are some tips to keep on your radar.

Growth in personalising marketing strategies

People are more informed now and require special attention. They are looking for something unique, something that appeals to them specifically. Marketing campaigns therefore need to be personalised - a trend that has become increasingly popular and is set to continue into 2019. Gone are the days that stock images and generic call to actions were enough to get customers through the door. Every step of the customer journey now requires valuable, high quality, personalised content.

The human touch remains irreplaceable

We live in a highly digitalised era; however, the value of the human touch is not something that is going anywhere anytime soon. To keep your success going into 2019, your customer experience must involve more than AI and predictive analysis. Fostering and nurturing a genuine relationship with trust will remain a pinnacle in driving business and commerce. Ensure you keep connected to your customers in more ways than one, and don’t forget the human touch.

Banking changes and shifts

With the digital era comes digital banking. Millennials want to have the freedom of banking when and wherever they please so the traditional banking model is losing attraction. Going into 2019, the mindset for banking will become more technology focussed and carrying a wallet may become redundant. It is predicted that digital banking will grow to more than 2 billion users by 2020. And we will see big corporations like Google and Amazon introducing their own payment systems, which means a new set of regulations will be required.

A happy workplace will become top priority

The trend of providing employee engagement and happiness will continue into 2019, with businesses wanting to retain their top talent. Obviously, a workplace where employees feel valued and happy is a workplace where employees will want to stay. Hand in hand with this objective is a shift towards more remote work. The flexibility and reduction in commute in itself is a welcome move for employees. But this will mean business leaders will be required to find other ways to share corporate information while ensuring collaboration.

User reviews will be influencers

Before entering a restaurant or buying a from a particular brand or participating in an event, more than 95 per cent of online customers will look for a review. In fact, more than 90 per cent of people decide to not go ahead with a purchase after reading a bad review. Going into 2019, these customer reviews will become great influencers for any business and business owners will look to publish customer reviews on their own forums and online platforms. Such reviews may even be used to drive innovative marketing campaigns to influence the target audience.


Keep these things in mind and you'll be off to a great start in 2019!