Forbes.com Countdown: Top 15 Important Small Business Trends We’ll See By The End Of 2020

There’s no doubt that 2020 has been a challenging year for small businesses. With the Covid-19 pandemic, racial equality protests and a looming economic recession, the business landscape has been transformed, and new trends are cropping up as a result.

Staying on top of these developing trends can help you adapt and end the year on a high note, as well as give you a leg up on your competitors. To help, we asked the experts of Forbes Business Council to predict some upcoming small business trends. Below they share 15 things we can expect to see in the business world by year-end.

15. Rethinking Marketing Spend

Most marketing professionals will rarely admit this, but some marketing spending is wasteful with questionable ROI, e.g., hackathon sponsorship or other pretend innovations by osmosis. The pandemic has forced businesses to rethink their approach when it comes to marketing. If you can’t quantitatively justify a marketing campaign, perhaps it’s time to recalibrate or change focus. — Scott Amyx, Amyx Ventures

14. Focusing On Online Reputation Management

Online reviews have become a critical concern for B2C and B2B companies and it’s a trend expected to intensify in 2020 and beyond. There will be more emphasis on the monitoring of reviews and ratings. It’ll be important to use online tools that allow small business owners to track and manage feedback and…