How well you are able to keep up with the latest trends on the small business front is one of the factors that will play a big part in seeing your business either fail or succeed in 2013, and although the upcoming trends are hardly surprising, their importance remains paramount.

One of the most crucial things to take on board this year is the realization that standing on the sidelines is no longer an option. Over the past few years, we have seen many business owners reining themselves in, neither moving forward or backwards as they waited to see what would happen with the economy.

They waited with hiring, they waited with advertising and they waited with manufacturing and creating; because no one knew what was around the corner.

In 2013, however, the economy is expected to grow, and if you want your business to stay relevant, it's time to stop waiting and start taking action.

Here are some of the top business trends of 2013 that you should be using to your advantage in the coming year:

Word-of-mouth advertising 

Word-of-mouth advertising will play an important role for small businesses in 2013, although in this digital age, "word-of-mouth" is no longer an adequate description of this type of advertising.

It encompasses a wide range of techniques, from reputation management to content sharing, and if you want to do it right you will need to be aware of what is being said about your business, both the good and the bad.

Thanks to social media, consumers have the power to share their opinions freely through reviews, blog posts, tweets, shares and likes at the click of a button. A lot of this is being done in real-time with smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.

Naturally, you want those opinions to be as much on the positive side as possible, which means that it is now more important than ever to cultivate positive customer relationships and tune in to what people are saying about your business in order to continue improving and evolving.

High quality content 

High quality content is essential for any business in 2013. The days of dry and boring pages of unbroken text proclaiming the benefits of a product or the ins and outs of a company are long gone. Consumers these days want interesting, concise and informative content, and if you aren't providing them with it, they will go elsewhere.

Social gamification

If you don't know what gamification is then it's probably time to step away from that rock you've been living under and start doing some research. Consumers are getting harder and harder to please, and gamification is the latest craze in the business world.

Customer engagement is the all-important factor in business, and it just so happens that people love games, which is why the integration of game design concepts in non-game scenarios has become so popular.

In fact, the strategy of gamification is expected to be used by 70% of the world's largest companies by 2014 and generate $2.8 billion in consumer spending by 2016. So, if you haven't already, it's time to get with the program.

Good SEO 

SEO has taken a big hit over the past two years, with Google's Panda algorithm in 2011 and its Penguin algorithm in 2012. However, this doesn't mean that it will no longer be a part of small business marketing; it just means that the rules have changed.

Rather than focusing on links and keywords, small business owners should focus on creating value for their customers in every way possible. Social signals, mobile design, media and localization will also play a role, so do your research and come up with a well-rounded marketing strategy. 

Advertising as entertainment 

In the past, advertisers were more focused on finding ways to force consumers to read their ads than looking for ways to make it interesting for them; this was evident in things like pop-up ads, email spam and misleading messages.

But, you know what they say; "You can lead a horse to the water, but you can't make it drink." Advertisers have learned the hard way that rather than encouraging consumers to buy, such disruptive tactics only serve to frustrate and annoy them.

Today, advertising that is "disguised" as entertainment and pushes a brand while also being enjoyable for consumers is replacing the traditional spammy methods.

Author Bio:
Aileen Pablo is a Filipina business and finance blogger. She works at Open Colleges, one of the pioneers of Online education in Australia and one of the leading providers of diploma of management. If you want to feature her on your blog, drop a line at aileen (at) oc.edu.au.