What Did 2012 Mean for Your Small Business?

Here we are again… just a few weeks away from the closure of another year. Before looking forward to the New Year, you should first take a look back at 2012 and ask yourself: what did 2012 mean for you and your business?

Was 2012 your best or worst year yet? Where do you have room for improvement and are you already making plans for 2013 to be your best year yet?

For the majority of us, running a business from the internet is like nothing else. Every day brings new challenges and issues that we must adapt to. What worked last week might not be working for us next week.

It’s all about growing with the changes and knowing how to adapt our businesses to succeed in changing times.

Here are some areas that you should look into for continued success in 2013.

Mobile Marketing is Waiting for You

Mobile IS NOT the future… mobile is now! There is no doubt about it, more and more internet marketers and businesses are looking at mobile and making the jump to have it their main focus. The reasons for this are obvious. There is a massive amount of money being poured into mobile marketing and it’s nowhere near as saturated as other internet marketing areas such as ppc marketing and affiliate marketing.

Make sure to include mobile marketing in your 2013 business plans. There are plenty of affiliate and ad networks that are already dedicated to working with partners that are specifically focused on driving mobile traffic and leads. Adapt now and cash in throughout all of 2013.

Will Social Networking Continue to be a Cash Cow

With nearly a billion users on Facebook and amazing targeting options for advertisers to create and profit from their ad campaigns, what will the next year hold? I just talked about how mobile marketing is the future, yet many social networks are having a hard time converting their mobile users into profit. As we move into 2013 I’m sure there will still be a boatload of money to be made in the social networking space, it’s just a matter of coming up with better ad campaigns and knowing how to target your audience to the max and staying profitable.

Social networking isn’t limited to just Facebook, you also have Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, MySpace and many more. Which of these big names will rise and fall during the next 12 months?

Are You Growing Your Own Brand or Someone Else’s?

Whether you are going to be making money with mobile marketing or social marketing, you are probably going to be using a third party affiliate network or advertiser. While there is nothing wrong with this business model, the money will only keep flowing as long as you continue to drive profits with your ad campaigns. More and more internet marketers are learning from their success and starting a brand of their own. Instead of growing someone else’s brand and profits in 2013, start to look at your options for starting and growing your own business or brand.

Advertisers and budgets might be here today and gone tomorrow, but as long as you are already your brand and name recognition will be right with you. If you don’t currently have a brand and name for yourself, right now is the best time to start.

Getting Ready for 2013!

The best way to know if you are ready for 2013 is to know how well your 2012 went. At what points during the year did you have the most success/failure, and why? Does your business perform better during the holidays or do you like to jump around and promote ad campaigns that make money no matter the time of the year?
No matter the business model you have, it’s best to have a model and plan in place before the New Year starts. When people and businesses and have a set of goals and tasks posted on their walls or something they read on a daily basis, they are that much likely to succeed. It’s way too easy to get lazy and lose focus in the world of online marketing. Make 2013 your best year yet, by being ready before the year even gets started!

Disclosure: I am blogging on behalf of Visa Business and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Visit https://facebook.com/visasmallbiz to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business. The Page serves as a space where small business owners can access educational resources, read success stories from other business owners, engage with peers, and find tips to help businesses run more efficiently. Every month, the Page will introduce a new theme that will focus on a topic important to a small business owner’s success. For additional tips and advice, and information about Visa’s small business solutions, follow @VisaSmallBiz and visit https://visa.com/business.