New York SBDC Research Network

The year 2015 began with a powerful nor’easter that dumped several feet of snow in Massachusetts, forcing major road closings and flight cancellations in the Northeast. In October, heavy rains in the Charleston, South Carolina area resulted in flooding that caused widespread losses. The year ended with deadly tornadoes and floods sweeping through the Midwest and the South. The factors that cause financial losses to small businesses exist every day. A solid business continuity plan will protect your organization and your assets while ensuring a quick recovery when a disaster occurs. Join Agility Recovery and the U.S. Small Business Administration on Tuesday, Jan. 12, for a free webinar that will take a look at how small businesses handled disaster-related losses in 2015, lessons learned, and the resulting best practices.

1. Youth matters. Many entrepreneurs say they wished they started on their path sooner. So when better to start then at a young age?

Rapidly evolving urban consumer attitudes are transforming our world. With only 5 years to go until 2020, the future seems closer than ever. Trends include using wearables for non-verbal communication, robots keeping us company, and the convenience of using things without the hassle of owning them. The insights in the report come from Ericsson ConsumerLab’s global research program, with a special focus this year on smartphone owners aged 15 to 69 in Johannesburg, London, Mexico City, New York, Moscow, San Francisco, Sâo Paulo, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo – statistically representing the views of 85 million frequent internet users. Report Infographic Presentation

We may have barely crossed into the second half of 2014, but if you want to have a big year in 2015, you should jump on your game plan now. As you lay the foundation of your 2015 marketing strategy, here are five marketing trends to give you a jumpstart on your big projects for the rest of this year and next: Five Marketing Tips for 2015

2014 showed us so much change within online marketing, particularly the massive boom in content marketing. 2015 is a different year and more change is inevitable. Will content marketing still have such a huge presence? Will it evolve or become replaced by something else completely different? Will the other trends of 2014 such as, social media marketing and guest blogging, continue as strong as ever or fall flat on their face? You need to know where to allocate the bulk of your marketing budget, based on the tactics your customers and prospects are engaging with more frequently. That’s why we’ve tried to make this infographic as comprehensive as possible, addressing issues from Email Marketing, to lead conversion, to automation platforms. So, get ready for the future of marketing. Here are Wheelhouse Advisors’ 10 Marketing Predictions for 2015: Read more at business2community