10 Small Business Trends for 2024

What volition the remainder of 2024 bring for tiny businesses?

In this guide, we’re covering 10 of the hottest tiny concern trends you should support an oculus on. 

They absorption connected antithetic aspects of business—from integer selling to workforce management. 

Let’s get started.

1. More Consumers Will Involve Sustainability successful Purchasing Decisions

Consumers are increasing much acrophobic astir the biology interaction of their purchasing choices. Which means businesses request to absorption connected sustainability much than ever. 

In fact, 68% of consumers study that a company’s sustainability practices person “at slightest somewhat of an impact” connected their purchasing decisions, according to Visa’s Global Back to Business Study. 

The aforesaid survey further reveals that much thanthree retired of 4 consumers are willing to wage much for sustainable products/services.

Patagonia, an outdoor recreation covering retailer, is simply a large illustration of a marque actively incorporating sustainability measures. Their environmental work programs page serves arsenic a impervious of their absorption connected sustainability: 

Here are a fewer sustainability practices to instrumentality and beforehand to your people audience:

• Re-evaluate your proviso concatenation to find ways to minimize your biology footprint
• Use eco-friendly packaging similar compostable materials to chopped backmost connected waste
• Try sustainable transportation methods similar utilizing electrical vehicles to trim emissions

2. The Use of Generative AI Will Increase

More tiny businesses are expected to summation their usage of Generative AI tools. Two retired of 3 tiny concern owners program to effort retired Generative AI wrong the adjacent 12 months, according to a Freshbooks survey.

It makes sense.

Generative AI tin assistance tiny businesses bash much successful little clip and astatine a little cost. Like creating societal media content, penning blog station outlines, generating emails, etc.

For example, you tin usage a Generative AI level similar Midjourney to nutrient originative and engaging images based connected prompts. You tin besides upload your ain images for reference. 

Here’s an representation we created utilizing Midjourney for a doughnut store based successful Chicago:

Another generative AI usage lawsuit is Semrush’s ContentShake AI. This instrumentality helps you make contented ideas, physique outlines, constitute articles, and optimize contented utilizing competitory marketplace data. 

Here’s an illustration of a blog station outline created with ContentShakeAI:

Here are immoderate different fashionable ways tiny businesses tin usage generative AI:

• Generate occupation descriptions
• Improve lawsuit work communication
• Generate on-page SEO elements for your website pages similar title tags and meta-descriptions
• Extract insights from datasets 

3. Employees Will Continue to Prefer Remote Work 

A FlexJobs survey shows that 96% of employees privation to enactment remotely astatine slightest portion of the time. Which means tiny businesses that connection distant enactment volition apt spot an summation successful worker restitution and loyalty.

For example, Scilife, is simply a fully-remote tech startup with employees based successful antithetic parts of the world. Which they mentioned successful this LinkedIn post:

Being 100% distant helps them pull and prosecute apical endowment portion besides reaping outgo savings connected bureau abstraction and utilities.

While adopting distant enactment whitethorn not beryllium imaginable for each kinds of businesses, those that tin clasp distant enactment volition person a competitory advantage.

How tin you guarantee a palmy modulation to distant work? 

Here are a fewer tips:

• Invest successful collaboration and connection tools that support everyone connected the aforesaid page
• Develop wide distant enactment policies that assistance everyone recognize expectations

4. More Businesses Will Invest successful Nano- oregon Micro-Influencer Marketing

There’s a beardown penchant among companies to enactment with nano- and micro-influencers implicit large-scale influencers. Because they’re much affordable and tin make amended engagement. 

Aspire’s The State of Influencer Marketing 2024 reveals nano-influencers person a 4.39% mean engagement complaint and micro-influencers person a 2.59% mean engagement rate. But macro-influencers lone person an mean engagement complaint of 1.44%. 

But collaborating with small-scale influencers doesn’t warrant success.

To marque your campaigns effective, you indispensable find the close influencers whose followers intimately lucifer your people audience.

For this, you tin usage a instrumentality similar Influencer Analytics to observe influencers based connected your circumstantial criteria. 

Plus, the instrumentality gives you insights into influencer pricing ranges. So you tin program your fund accordingly. 

Further reading: How to Find Influencers for Your Brand (Not Just connected Instagram)

5. Businesses Will Prioritize Employees’ Mental Health

Small businesses that prioritize their employees’ well-being volition apt spot a emergence successful productivity and clasp their astir invaluable talent. Because employees are favoring these companies. 

And a report from the American Psychological Association supports this—indicating 92% of employees judge it’s precise oregon somewhat important to enactment for a institution that provides intelligence wellness support. 

Here’s what you tin bash to help: 

• Give employees much power implicit however they work: If possible, fto your employees make their ain enactment schedules and connection distant oregon hybrid options 
• Avoid tracking your employees’ productivity: Just due to the fact that idiosyncratic works much hours doesn’t mean they’re much productive. Rather than tracking your employees’ productivity based connected hours worked, measurement the results
• Provide intelligence wellness benefits: These see benefits similar acquisition workshops and entree to intelligence wellness professionals 

6. Small Businesses Will Prioritize Cybersecurity

Despite having less resources, tiny companies are progressively taking measures to support themselves from cyberattacks.

In fact, 54% of tiny concern owners are much acrophobic astir cybersecurity present than they were previously.

To forestall cyberattacks from disrupting your business, present are immoderate measures you tin take:

• Implement two-factor authentication
• Increase information budget/headcount
• Introduce much stringent information protocols for vendors and 3rd parties
• Implement microorganism oregon malware protection 
• Implement password/access controls

7. Small Businesses Will Leverage User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is immoderate benignant of promotional contented created by your customers. Since UGC comes from existent customers, it carries a level of authenticity and spot that accepted selling contented whitethorn lack. 

EnTribe’s The State of UGC 2023 report reveals that 83% of consumers are inclined to acquisition from brands that stock existent lawsuit content. Proving customers privation to see, hear, oregon work authentic experiences earlier making purchasing decisions themselves. 

Dieux Skin, a skincare and accessories brand, loves sharing UGC connected its Instagram profile. 

This contented heavy focuses connected however Dieux’s customers usage their products and however those products marque them feel. 

Here’s an example:

Small businesses tin leverage this inclination by resharing Instagram Stories created by existent customers, incorporating UGC into videos, utilizing testimonials connected their websites, etc. 

8. Google SGE Will Revolutionize the Way People Use Search Engines

Google’s Search Engine Generative Experience (SGE) is an experimentation that uses generative AI to supply users with speedy overviews of the topics they search—without requiring them to click connected idiosyncratic results.

These results look astatine the apical of the hunt motor results pages (SERPs) and look similar this: 

Google SGE delivers wide and concise answers to hunt queries by compiling accusation from the web. And includes links to sources it references.

To summation the chances of your contented appearing successful SGE, you request to optimize it. And 1 of the champion ways to bash that is to absorption connected creating contented astir long-tail keywords.

This is due to the fact that SGE seems to beryllium encouraging radical to hunt for longer, much elaborate queries. Like "cardigan sweaters for women'' alternatively of conscionable “sweaters.” 

To find the champion long-tail keywords for your business, usage the Keyword Magic Tool.

Enter a effect keyword (a wide operation related to your business), take a location, and click “Search.”

Now, you’ll spot a database of related keywords on with their respective search volume (how galore radical hunt for these keywords each month), search intent (the crushed down a searcher's query), keyword difficulty people (a measurement of however hard it is to fertile good for the keyword), and more.

From here, you tin find long-tail keywords by clicking the “Questions” filter. 

This volition springiness you a database of question keywords (which are typically long-tail phrases) you tin usage successful your content. 

9. More Businesses Will Adopt Pay Transparency

There’s a bully accidental tiny businesses volition determination toward greater wage transparency—the signifier of openly communicating accusation astir compensation to candidates and employees. 

Half of the U.S.-based occupation listings notation immoderate benignant of wage information, according to Indeed.

Here’s an example:

Some states person adjacent adopted wage transparency regulations.

For example, New York’s Pay Transparency Law requires backstage employers with 4 oregon much employees to adhd a scope of wage for each advertised jobs, promotions, oregon transportation opportunities.

Plus, being forthcoming astir wage besides helps physique spot successful the workplace, summation worker retention, and motivate employees to execute well. 

10. More Small Businesses Will Leverage TikTok 

Consumers are spending much clip connected TikTok. Research shows usage has grown 12% since 2021. 

As a result, much tiny businesses are expected to physique their beingness connected the societal media platform.

Here are immoderate ways immoderate tiny concern tin make a beardown beingness connected TikTok: 

• Create authentic and relatable content: Share behind-the-scenes glimpses, day-in-the-life snippets, and different types of compelling stories
• Use engaging captions: Craft catchy and concise captions that punctual users to interact with oregon stock their thoughts connected your content
• Collaborate with influencers: Partner with TikTok influencers successful your manufacture to grow your reach

Further reading: TikTok SEO: The Ultimate Guide for Boosting Your Profile Visibility

Use Small Business Trends to Gain Competitive Advantages 

These tiny concern predictions tin assistance you support your customers and prospective customers happy, amended your concern operations, and enactment up of the competition. 

That’s adjacent much existent if you instrumentality vantage of the close integer selling tools. 

Semrush gives you entree to a implicit suite of options for SEO, contented marketing, paid advertising, and more. Which you tin usage to commencement capitalizing connected these trends earlier they go commonplace.