In times of political change, keeping your business afloat by tracking the daily trends can feel like an uphill battle. Nevertheless, it’s one that you have to engage in – not doing so could leave you horribly out of touch and on the verge of losing money.

If we had a crystal ball which could see the future, life would be much easier. Instead, we have to make predictions based on educated guesswork and election promises from politicians – and we all know how few of those tend to work out the way they were promised! So while prediction is tough, a few trends have been gaining a foothold and look set to continue – the question is, can you bring your business up-to-date to manage them?

1. Manufacturing Is Changing

If you have a business that relies on raw materials, the chances are the majority of your materials come from overseas sources. The reasons behind the death of manufacturing in first world countries and its uptake in less developed regions are legion, but it happened, and now that might be able to change.

However, with the current populist movement sweeping the globe, manufacturing may be destined to be brought ‘home’. Even the basic materials like plastics may make their way back to your home country, and as this plastic injection molding cost estimator quickly makes clear, it might be less expensive than you fear. So it’s worth looking at and talking to your suppliers if you import at all – things might be about to change for you.

2. Social Media Is Going To Be More Important Than Ever

A strong social media presence for a business has always been important, but now you have to be particularly careful. If you say or do the wrong thing, you could find yourself on the receiving end of a Twitter storm. Just ask Pepsi or Cinnabon.

More than ever, you have to be 100% certain about how anything you release to do with your business – from PR statements to adverts to your website content – is not going to be met with anger. Run it by focus groups if you have to; it might be an extra expense, but terrible publicity is even more expensive.

3. Customers Are Craving People

It’s fair to say that customers are getting fed up of automated systems, not being able to get through to call centers, and being kept at a distance from company management. Integration is becoming essential; you have to be open and transparent, even if that means dealing with the occasional criticism.

Businesses that are focusing on their customer service as a valuable side of business rather than a boring necessity are flourishing. Customers tend to be able to handle it when things go wrong, so long as you take the action to remedy it. Looking at your customer service – from the speed at which you answer emails through to how you talk to customers – is an essential for the modern world. It’s far too easy for a bad customer service experience to be discussed online, and then you’re facing a wall of bad publicity once more.