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Digital Support

Giving you the tools to thrive online

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that there is no better time than now to be online.

We are offering eligible businesses the opportunity to work with either a website designer, digital marketing company or digital expert to have a website created or a bespoke digital marketing campaign, or bespoke digital audit created for your business free of charge.

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Digital Marketing Campaigns

We have been supporting SMEs from across Northumberland to understand the power of Digital Marketing for over 7 years. Whilst we can help you understand how to deliver digital marketing campaigns and utilise paid for advertising, ranging from Google to social platforms we know that you don’t always have the revenue behind your business to put the learnings into practice and make it a success. We have therefore secured funding to provide eligible businesses with their first paid for campaign which will be a real benefit to their business and help them further understand the power of Digital Marketing and technology to grow their reach and client base.

Each eligible business will work with a Digital Marketing Company who will design and deliver a bespoke Digital Marketing Campaign centred on increasing the online reach of the allocated business.

Each individual marketing campaign will include a spend of £750 directly on paid advertising.

We have procured a Digital Marketing Company who will be able to advise you on which method of digital marketing would produce the best results for your business, its product, and client base, including supporting existing channels that your business currently uses and any new channels to help your business achieve its communication objectives.

Businesses who meet the below eligibility criteria may be able to benefit from a fully-funded digital marketing campaign with an emphasis on the use of paid advertising.

Businesses must;

  • Be a small to medium-sized business (have less than 250 employees);
  • Be operating within Ashington;
  • Be able to evidence that they are a trading business;
  • Already have an active social media business page or a website
Click here to start your registration
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Website Design & Development (Open 27/08/24 – 20/09/24)

We understand that many businesses we work with do not have adequate websites or website functionality in place, making it difficult to take products or services online. We are offering a small number of businesses the chance to apply for grant funding to design and build a fully bespoke company website, fully funded by Accelerate Ashington.

With the programme extension into March 2025 we have made the decision to open applications for another round of grant funding. The call will be open from Tuesday 27th August 2024 until Midday Friday 20th September 2024. Businesses will be able to apply for funding for projects which are a minimum value of £1,000 to a maximum of £5,000*.

Applicants are required to submit three written quotes for the work to be undertaken alongside their application form. Successful businesses will then be able to choose their preferred supplier based on a value assessment.

There are certain eligibility criteria which must be met for this grant funding. Applications will be assessed and scored using a tiered system which is listed on the application form. Businesses who meet the below eligibility criteria may be able to benefit from a fully funded website for their business.

Businesses must:

  • Have less than 250 employees and a turnover less than 50 million;
  • Be registered and based in Ashington, Northumberland
  • Be able to evidence that they are a trading business;
  • Not currently have a live website or not currently have a website which meets the functional needs of the business, i.e.
  • Cannot currently list products and categories available for direct purchase through the site;
  • Cannot integrate products from other ecommerce sites;
  • Cannot take bookings of services i.e. table bookings for a restaurant or dates for hospitality venues;
  • Cannot take booking of calendar events;
  • Cannot take sign up to e-newsletters
  • Be able to demonstrate how functional changes to the current website would have a positive impact upon both the business and the town centre.
  • Provide three quotes for works to be completed
  • Be able to provide sufficient evidence of project completion (grant may be subject to claw-back if terms are not met)
  • Not already be part of Accelerate Ashington’s Digital Programme (Audits and Marketing Campaigns)
  • Provide a completed application form which clearly states the business need and benefit of receiving this funding.
  • Complete development work, inclusive of grant claims, in its entirety by 31st January 2025.

 

For further information on the application process, please click here.

All successful applicants will need to provide a full suite of project documentation to be used as evidence towards any grant funding claims.

Application forms will automatically download via the ‘Click here to download your application form’ link below. All completed applications should be sent to accelerateashington@advancenorthumberland.co.uk .

If you require any assistance in completing your application form please also get in touch with our team and we’ll be happy to do what we can to support you.

*Maximum project value £5000. Grants available as part of this second phase open call are limited and will be allocated subject to funding availability. Applications will be reviewed competitively in accordance with the eligibility criteria. Therefore, applicants are encouraged to be explicit in their needs, the impact of such intervention and to only apply for the level of funding required to complete the project.

Click here to download your application form