Digital Main Street

Cyber threats are real, so we have teamed up with Mastercard to bring small businesses top-tier cybersecurity training for free. Protect your business and customer data. Enroll today! 🔒 https://buff.ly/3O9qez5 #cybersecurity #cyberattack #protectdata #digitalmainstreet #mastercard

Ursula Kressibucher’s journey to starting her own business was not linear. Born and raised in Beaverton, she originally planned on exploring a new career path in Toronto. However, finding a job in a competitive market had its challenges, so she returned to her hometown roots, creating something of her own sprouting, The Sunflower Farm. The farm is planted in two locations: Beaverton and Lindsay, Ontario. This captivating tourist attraction allows visitors to experience life on a farm in Canada’s only sunflower-shaped trail through 20 acres of blooming sunflowers.   Ursula recognized she needed help getting her business into the digital space. Being based in a small town, she wanted to receive more exposure from her target audience and let them know all about the activity blooming at the farm. To stay ahead of the curve and streamline business processes, she realized her business needed a solution to make it possible for customers to purchase farm visits online. So, she turned to the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) for support. Read more about Ursula's story: https://buff.ly/3Ap1ZsA #canadadigitaladoptionprogram #cdap #smallbusinessgrant #ontariosmallbusiness #sme #ecommercesupport #ontariotourism #getonline #sunflowerfarm

Selling her first sauce on Father’s Day 2017 at a local farmers market was just the beginning for Laurie Rowe, founder of Jordan Ridge Sauces. “Jordan Ridge is named in honour of my mom and my grandparents”, Laurie shares. “Maple Campfire, my very first ‘Dip & Grill’ barbecue sauce, was a recipe of my Grama Jordans'. Generational farm family recipes are made with simple ingredients, no preservatives, and tastes great.” Recognizing her unique situation as a female entrepreneur in the rural setting of Black Diamond, Alberta and the potential for her sauces, Laurie sought support from the Digital Economy Program. She had already created a website for herself but felt something was missing, and looked to her Digital Service Squad member for support. “I was quite proud that I had created my own website but recognized that the more I added to it the less I liked it and the less it portrayed the simple message I was trying to put across. My DSS... was able to evaluate it critically from a younger viewpoint and give suggestions (on) how to modify the pages and why he felt it needed modifying,” said Laurie. Laurie continues “I am excited to begin the physical updates to my webpage once the planning process is completed. You can't just rush in and do changes. It all has to be "on-brand" and flow.” With these changes, Laurie hopes to share more of her farm family sauces with more people in Alberta and Canada Wide. If you're interested in learning about how the Digital Economy Program can help your business, visit our website: https://buff.ly/3eA4UDN #digitaleconomyprogram #albertasmallbusiness #smallbusinesses

Tip of the Week: Choosing the Right Platform When it comes to social media, you don't necessarily need to be on every platform, you just need to be active on the platforms your audience is on. To decide what platforms to be on, identify your target audience by focusing on: - Demographics: Age, gender, - Location - Interests and behaviors - Preferred content type This information will help you narrow down where your audience is so you can refine your social media strategy. Interested in gaining more about knowledge about choosing the right platform for your business? Connect with us at [email protected] to learn more! #DigitalMainStreet #DigitalMarketing #DigitalAdoption #DigitalMarketingTips #SmallBusiness #SmallBusinessTips

One of our Toronto DSS, Jonathan, teamed up with the Kennedy Road BIA to help local businesses get connected to Digital Main Street and learn how to improve their online presence. We love working with local businesses and BIAs to support them in staying active online! #DigitalMainStreet #DigitalMarketing #DigitalTransformation #KennedyRoadBIA #OnlinePresnece #DigitalAdoption

Your customers are on the web. Having a strategy for your online presence allows you to market your small business online so customers can easily find you. In this workshop, we’ll discuss the importance of getting your business online and where to start developing your online presence. Join our 'Web Presence 101 - Ensuring Your Foundation is Set' webinar, to learn about creating a strategy to build your online presence in the digital space. This webinar will be an overview of various digital marketing topics, such as websites, social media, business listings, SEO, and more. Register now: https://buff.ly/4fkPYEu #DigitalMainStreet #DigitalMarketing #DigitalTransformation #WebPresence #OnlinePresence #OnlineMarketing #SocialMedia #SEO #Ecommerce

Beverly Griffiths is the owner of Jerk & BBQ Haven, a Jamaican restaurant providing healthy, delicious, Jamaican food in Mississauga, Ontario. Traditional foods such as Jerk Chicken and Ox Tail are some of the delicacies that can be enjoyed at Jerk & BBQ Haven. Recognizing the importance of having a robust digital presence, Beverly felt it was time to take a step toward strengthening the restaurant’s e-commerce strategy, so she turned to the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) for help. Read more about how CDAP helped Beverly build a new online sales channel for her business: https://buff.ly/3WIMEM1 #digitalmainstreet #cdap #canadadigitaladoptionprogram #smallbusiness #sme #ecommerce #digitaltransformation #businesssuccess

Looking to pivot and switch careers, Kersten Gruber pursued something she was passionate about: beauty and skin. Kersten founded Candid Cosmedics in 2017 to help her customers look and feel their personal best through medical-grade cosmetic procedures. Kersten was introduced to the Digital Economy Program (DEP) by a long-term client who thought it would be the support she was looking for to help her business. “I wanted to know more about how to engage with both new and existing clients, increase my visibility and how to grow (my) e-commerce (presence)", Kersten shares. Kersten worked with her Digital Service Squad (DSS) Member and learned more about market and competition analysis, social media marketing and ad creation, strategies for engaging clients through email marketing and newsletters, creating loyalty programs and e-commerce selling. Reflecting on her experience, Kersten says “I was very happy with the information and support I received from my advisor and the program. The support received has made me more knowledgeable and aware of deficit areas needing time/attention...as well has boosted my confidence in dealing with certain aspects of my business I found too overwhelming to initially deal with.” Kersten continues, “My DSS member was great! She was super knowledgeable and had so many creative ideas to share with me about how I could take both small and large action steps for impactful change. Just having someone to walk me through certain specific steps and someone to be accountable to was super helpful for moving forward and reducing procrastination.” "This is a free resource that can offer so much for a multitude of businesses at different growth and challenge points. It can help illuminate blind spots and things you didn't even know existed that are holding you and your potential back,” said Kersten. If you're an Alberta businesses and are interested in learning about how the Digital Economy Program can help your business, visit our website: https://buff.ly/3eA4UDN #digitaleconomyprogram #albertasmallbusiness #smallbusinesses

Thank you, Mastercard for collaborating with us on this presentation and engagement session to increase the awareness of cyberattacks and how to protect our digital ecosystems. Learn how to fortify your business against cyber attacks in our free, go-at-your-own-pace online course, designed specifically for small businesses. Enroll here: https://lnkd.in/gvYzefA2

Tip of the Week: Data Driven Decision Making Data Driven Decision Making is the process of using data to inform your data decision making before committing to a course of action. This process involves 5 steps: 1. Know your Vision - This is where one defines their goals and what they want to achieve. SMART goals area good way of doing this. 2. Find Data Sources - Once the goals are established, choosing the tools and technologies they'll use to collect the data is next. 3. Organize Data - When the data is collected, then comes organizing it into graphs. This helps to visualize the data and understand the insights it provides. 4. Perform Analysis - Extracting the insights from the data allows one to gain the knowledge to make data informed decisions . 5. Make Conclusion - After finishing the data analysis, conclusions will have been made. Having those conclusions filed in a separate section are important. This will help keep one organized and prepare findings. If you want to learn more about data driven decision making, connect with us at [email protected] #DigitalMainStreet #DigitalMarketing #DataDrivenDecisionMaking #DigitalTransformation #SmallBusinessTips #SmallBusinessMarketing #OntarioBusiness #AlbertaBusiness #CanadianBusiness