With the City of Busselton offering grants to businesses within the municipality that have been impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, local businesses are on standby to help people navigate the application process with cost effective solutions.
The City's Business Support Program has two grants focused on business sustainability.
The first is Small Business Support Grants of up to $5,000 per applicant as a one-off grant. The total pool of grant funds available is $75,000.
This program will fund initiatives such as website design, e-commerce platforms, digital marketing, advertising campaigns, a business strategy to take businesses to an online platform or supporting business partnerships solutions.
The second is Economic and Community Development Support Grants for businesses, industry associations, not-for-profit and community support organisations to help them adapt where possible to a different operating environment.
These grants are for projects up to a value of $25,000 per applicant and a total grant pool of $85,000 is available.
City of Busselton Mayor Grant Henley said that council was very aware of the situation many local business and community groups found themselves in as a result of the pandemic.
"These additional grants will further support local business to get back up and running and help people to get back to work," he said.
To help business find digital solutions, local marketing agency Jack in the box has launched a cost effective service for businesses looking for an online presence under the brand EUSO Digital.
Jack in the box partnered with bureau42 and EUSO Digital to bring a comprehensive range of digital services which could assist businesses at this critical time.
Jack in the box director Scott Robinson said they identified some time ago a growing need in the market for more cost effective solutions.
Mr Robinson said they had been working on ways to help businesses find options to go digital and decided now was the right time to launch their new service.
"At the heart of everything we do, we actually like helping people," he said.
"We wanted to get something out there that we knew would help people and would continue to build upon what digital could offer over time."
EUSO Digital offers businesses the option of having just an online presence or a quick shop feature to sell products through an e-commerce store.
"We found some people just need a very quick online solution to make sure they are found and seen and are able to communicate with people," he said.
"At a time when digital communication is at its peak sometimes people have found they just need a website that instructs people on what they are about, what they do and how they could be contacted.
"Some businesses need a cost effective e-commerce solution, there businesses have operated on bricks and mortar for a lifetime but now no one is going to their store because no one is in town or there are no tourists.
"This is a great way for them to jump in and get that assistance to have a cost effective solution when we all know that money is tight.
"These are difficult times for everybody so in the spirit of us all being in this together, we thought what could we do to create a cost effective solution.
"Is it the Taj Mahal of websites? It's not, it is what it is, but they are very good websites and well constructed with state of the art technology and premium hosting solutions for people.
"It is not necessarily a bad option, it is just a different option."
"We are trying to make it fun as well, websites should be fun they should not be boring, we have tried to take away some of the technology hassles and focus on business and communication."
The Mail is also offering support to local businesses with cost effective, comprehensive packages to encourage its readership to think big by shopping small.
If businesses need help with advertising locally please contact the Mail on 9754 3330.
Applications to the city's Business Support Program are open until June 30, 2020.
