Running a local business can be tough. Big corporations like Amazon and eBay have a huge reach, unlimited funds and can spread their reach to any area, no matter how remote. In the face of this, local businesses have to find new, innovative methods of attracting customers, either through footfall or online engagement. Breaking through and getting in front of customers is what business is all about, but local businesses face some big challenges.

Mobile is Key

With a smartphone, every potential customer now has access to all the information they need, no matter where they are. They can look up whatever it is they want to buy and compare prices on the spot. Getting your local business in front of potential customers is vital and every business needs to have a mobile strategy.

This starts with ensuring your site is mobile-friendly and quick to load. People no longer have the patience to wait for more than a couple of seconds to get the information they want. Local businesses must be up to date on the channels mobile users use -whether it’s Google or anything else — and optimise content to give themselves a fighting chance.

An Ever-Changing World

As technology develops more and more quickly — Augmented Reality Ads, voice search and target keywords, to name a few iterations — the techniques used to ensure customers know about your presence can also change from day to day.

This means being on top of trends and knowing what you are going to do. It’s no longer enough to have a simple website and wait for Google to do the rest. There needs to be a comprehensive strategy — with key points and plans for the future — so that local business stays on-trend, rather than lagging behind.

Work on the Business

Running a business from day to day is hard work. All the nitty gritty of paperwork, restock orders and management can make it seem like there just aren’t enough hours in the day. This is where many local businesses face challenges, because they become wrapped up in the daily grind and forget about the future.

Rather than getting to tomorrow being the goal, there needs to be some time for evaluation. Any good business — great or small — has to take a step back and assess. What’s working? What isn’t? Finding these wrinkles is paramount to ensuring that a local business focuses on what it does well, sharpens what it doesn’t and diversifies.

The ‘recommendation generation’ has, thanks to FlipNpik, been taken a whole new level. The FlipNpik team understand the challenges and needs of local businesses and consumers alike and its collaborative ecosystem has been created to change things for the better.