Today, digital capabilities are the key component businesses need to succeed in an increasingly competitive, global, and volatile environment. The DMS program is a smart, efficient way to help businesses adopt and expand their digital capabilities in ways that are realistic, actionable, and effective.

The DMS program is based on these important components:

• Knowledge transfer through training and assessments. Digital Training (online and in-person): Webinars and workshops focusing on specific digital technologies and strategies, including e-commerce, social media, and website development.
• Resources including Digital Transformation Grants upon completion of their digital assessment and online training, businesses may apply for a grant of up to $2,500 to offset costs as outlined in their Digital Transformation Plan and budget. These funds are available to help businesses strategically adopt technology and meet their digital goals.
• Digital Service Squads support. Digital Service Squads are digital technology specialists in an area or region of Ontario who deliver one-on-one assistance to main street small businesses.
• Ongoing support including access to basic digital services, a list of vendors that can identify technologies and tools businesses need to be digitally ready, and other resources such as assessments, articles, best practices, etc.

Is my business in the catchment area for this program?

This program is open to Main Street businesses.

Businesses are considered to be Main Street if:

• They are located within a Business Improvement Area
• They are located in the commercial core (Central Business District)
• They are just outside of the BIA/Commercial core, but the zoning is consistent
• There is no BIA and they are zoned commercial (there may be some exclusions)
• They are in a rural location zoned Highway Commercial (there may be some exclusions)

Businesses are ineligible if:

• They are located in an industrial area
• They are located in a shopping mall (even if it is zoned commercial)
• It is a shared workspace (ex. hot desks)
• They are home-based
• They are in a rural secluded area

View the maps below and contact us at opportunity@haldimandcounty.on.ca should you have any questions on whether you meet the definition of a Main Street business.

Fundamental to the program’s design is the Digital Service Squad. These trained specialists meet with small businesses, at no cost, help them complete an online assessment, and introduce them to online training modules to build their knowledge and skills.

This one-on-one assistance includes support for basic website set-up, Google My Business profiles, 360º photos, digital storefront set-up with e-commerce, creation, or enhancement of social media presence, and much more.

Haldimand County has hired 4 Digital Service Squad members ready to serve you safely either in person or via remote video conference.

They can also assist with the development of their Digital Transformation Plan (DTP) and then help them apply for a one-time $2,500 grant to implement it.

Businesses receiving DMS grants can apply the funds in a variety of ways, including optimizing websites for search, setting up e-commerce platforms, back-office solutions, social media advertising, and creating customer databases.

As we have learned in recent months, businesses best able to survive the COVID-19 shutdown were those that had made investments in e-commerce capabilities, remote-working technologies, and customer relationship tools.

By improving their ability to work online, as well as to reach and sell to customers online, businesses were able to continue earning revenue, keep customer relationships intact, and maintain ties with suppliers.

Do I Qualify for a Digital Transformation Grant?

Once your Digital Transformation Plan (DTP) has been created, you can apply for a Digital Transformation Grant to upgrade qualified digital improvements. The Digital Service Squad is available to assist you in your application.

A Digital Transformation Grant is open to any business that meets the following requirements:

The Digital Service Squad a are holding FREE online webinars and workshops to assist businesses with increasing their online presence. These workshops are being presented in partnership with Haldimand County and Grand Erie Business Centre! Details on the workshops, and registration links are below.

Custom Graphics with Canva

This workshop gives an overview of the graphic design platform Canva. This is a great tool businesses can use to create graphic design elements for their social media and email marketing.  Canva offers free customizable templates. Join us and start designing like a pro!

Dates offered:

Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2021 – Time: 9:00 am to 9:30 am – Register Here

Date: Thursday, February 4 , 2021 – Time: 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm – Register Here

Advertising on Facebook

This workshop will focus on teaching you how to make a simple, effective ad that can also be displayed on Instagram. We will walk you through the selection of an ad objective, how you can choose your audience, setting your daily budget, and how to monitor your ad’s performance metrics. We will include some tips and tricks that will contribute to your success with future Facebook ads.

Dates offered:

Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 – Time: 9:00 am to 9:30 am – Register Here

Tuesday, February 9, 2021 – Time 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm – Register Here

Targeted Email Marketing

In this workshop you will learn how to utilize your client contact list efficiently and effectively with the email marketing platform Mailchimp. We will guide you through uploading contacts and organizing them based on interests to customize templates and promotions. Finally, a sample email marketing campaign will be created.

Dates offered:

Date: Thursday, January 21, 2021 – Time: 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm – Register Here

Date: Tuesday, February 2, 2021 – Time: 9:00 am to 9:30am – Register here

Email Marketing: After the Send

“I’ve sent out an email to my database, now what?”

This workshop, will guide you through looking at and analyzing the results of your email campaigns using Mailchimp. This will include discussion on, open rates, bounced emails, unsubscribes, click through rates, etc.

Dates offered:

Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021 – Time: 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm – Register Here

Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2021 – Time: 9:00 am to 9:30 am – Register Here