Workshops to help local business go digital
October is Small Business Month, and the Yass Valley Business Chamber in conjunction with the local Council has been awarded grants of $2000 to hold workshops. These workshops aim to help grow business potential and teach skills that are necessary for today’s market.
The Yass Valley Business Chamber applied to the Department of Treasury for the grant which gave six themes to choose from for the workshops. Through their previous experience of hosting events they were successful in securing the funds to subsidise the workshops.
Many members of the current Business Chamber executive have experience in social media and marketing businesses online and the themes chosen for the workshops are ‘working with digital technology’ and ‘building your brand’.
The Business Chamber has two guest speakers lined up for the workshops which will be held on Saturday the 10th of October and Tuesday the 20th of October. The guests for these workshops are Nick Whiting of Superb Marketing, a Yass local, and Lizzie Goodfellow of Oakwood Digital.
The Yass Valley Business Chamber is excited to be organising these workshops and wanted to use people from the local area. Nick Whiting was previously on the committee for the business chamber while Lizzie Goodfellow is from the Southern Highlands region and services rural and regional businesses. As a born and bred country girl, she leverages skills and experience as a professional strategic communications specialist to empower regional businesses.
Nick was an obvious choice having worked with the Business Chamber before and showing his affinity for starting and building his own business through Social Media. Lizzie Goodfellow was chosen after looking at her social media and online presence which spotlighted her as an ideal candidate.
Mr Whiting will be running a couple of beginner sessions for the first day of the workshops. He will focus on digitising your business and introduce building your brand. He specialises in social media, how it is used, how to set it up correctly and how to market effectively.
“I’m calling it the Get Social Series,” said Mr Whiting regarding how his workshops will benefit the people attending. “I have gone through all of the social media growth and challenges with my own experiences to get where I am now. I want to share my experience so other people can take it away and learn from me that it’s all about getting social.”
Superb Marketing helps tailor websites, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Linkedin, to reflect the individual business in the design. Mr Whiting said there are a lot of templates you can use to plug your details into but stressed tailoring social media to a business creates a more personalised experience.
He currently has over sixty website clients who he continues to work with regularly and makes on average five to six websites a month.
The Business Chamber is confident Nick has a lot of personal experience and insight to offer those attending the workshops.
“It’s necessary to have a social media presence, and that’s been highlighted at the moment because of COVID-19 and people wanting to find things online,” said Mr Whiting.
Following the workshops, Mr Whiting is offering a free 30-minute one-on-one coaching session to help small business owners look at their own business with social media services in mind.
Due to current restrictions in place for COVID-19 there will be a maximum of 15 people for each workshop and Secretary of the Business Chamber Jacquie Tewes said she “expects the workshops to book out quickly and a fourth may be organized depending on demand.”
“There will be a waitlist for the workshops, and we encourage those interested to visit the Yass Valley Business Chamber Facebook page for more information.”
https://www.yassbusiness.com.au/events
The two-hour workshops run by Mr Whiting will be $20 for non-members of the Business Chamber and $15 if you are a member. The four-hour intermediate workshop will be $45 for non-members and $30 for members.
“Social media is a tool of the 21st century and with COVID the way it is, business needs to look at going online,” stressed Mrs Tewes. “That is the way people are shopping, and a lot of people are using smartphones to find a business nearby. Having a social media presence is important for capturing people who are passing by and want to use your service.”
An introduction to Lizzie Goodfellow will feature in next week’s Yass Valley Times.
