Colac Otway Shire: Digital Support Program for Business

Training and support to use digital tools to grow your business

Do you want to know which digital tool will help you reach more customers and save you time?

  • You know there are things you can do with digital, but you’re not sure where to start

  • You may want to reduce the number of manual customer responses you have to deal with and have customers rave about your service

  • You’d love to save time and money, getting you off the hamster wheel of running a business

  • Do you want to feel more confident with digital and have a plan for how it can help you grow your business?

  • Maybe you’ve had trouble choosing which digital tool might be right for your business,

  • or you haven’t had that much luck with digital previously and want guidance and support to get it right.

This is where the Colac Otway Shire: Digital Support Program for Business will help you.

The Colac Otway Shire: Digital Support Program for Business

This program has been designed for businesses that want help using digital to grow their business. 

The aim is to support your business and you as a business leader in using digital tools to address common business challenges.

The program is subsidised by the Victorian government to provide targeted help in using digital for businesses in the region. There is no cost for businesses to participate, however, places are limited in the program. Watch the ‘program overview’ video below to understand how it all works.

Program overview

The Digital Support Program

This program is a combination of 1:1 support, online learning and group sessions. 

Over the course of 6 months, participants will be supported to complete:

  • A 1:1 business assessment - 25eight will meet with you to talk about what you’re currently doing and where you’d like to be. We’ll assess your business so you can understand how this program can help.

  • Self-paced online learning - bite-sized videos recommended for you from your personal assessment results. These will help you build knowledge in areas of business growth relevant to you and your business.

  • 4x Masterclasses on digital skills - Master specific topics to help you build your strategy and action plan with the rest of the cohort in local venues. This is the only element of the program you will need to attend physically.

  • Create an action plan with an expert - Work with an expert to develop an action plan for growing your business after completing the learning and assessment. Get 1:1 support to build an effective plan and implement it during the program.

  • Implement your action plan - We help you implement your action plan with support in strategy, digital and creative services. Be supported to build an email newsletter, create social posts, use Google tools and much more. Our team is here to support you.

  • 1:1 mentoring & drop-in sessions - attend group drop-in sessions to ask any questions or get support. In the mentor sessions, you get 1:1 support specific to your strategy and what to do next.

 
 

A private support channel will be open anytime for businesses to ask questions and get feedback. At the end of the program, you will review the outcomes of your initial action plan, create a new one with your mentor and showcase the progress and impact it’s had on your business.

This program is designed to fully support you to adopt digital practices that will help you grow your business.

The number of businesses allowed to participate in the program is limited, so that we can give you the attention you need. As an added bonus, we've found close-knit programs like this help nurture successful relationships and partnerships between local businesses.

EOIs are filling up fast and the submission date has been extended until Sunday May 1st, so make sure you submit yours today.

What you get from the program

  • Business Strategy

    A strategy for connecting with your customers using digital, including what to say and where to say it.

  • Clear action plans

    With support, create clear action plans that detail what you need to do to implement you strategy.

  • Increased digital skills

    Build your digital capability as you work through your action plan with guidance from digital experts.

  • One-on-one support

    Get support to implement your action plan from digital experts - from email templates to CRMs, social media and more.

  • Increased confidence

    Boost your confidence when choosing and using digital tools in your business, saving you time and money.

  • Set up for growth

    Get increased clarity on what to do and how to do it to grow your business, building your awareness and customer engagement.

Case studies from the South West

Kylie Treble - Going Digital

Kylie Treble runs The Place of Wonder and REAL Pizza Pasta Salads in Port Campbell.

  • Engaged 25eight for 2 years to build her own strategy and implement it

  • Kylie was trained and supported to build the REAL website from scratch

  • We nurtured her to post regularly on Facebook and Instagram about the restaurant to encourage foot traffic

  • Kylie started to build her email database, and now communicates with them monthly

  • Kylie is now building out further website functionality - a blog page, store for event tickets, adding FAQs and more

  • Kylie works on content, in-store events/promo and website updates in 90-day sprints and has increased her digital capabilities tenfold

Ready to submit an expression of interest?

Further program details

Over the course of 6 months, the program is broken into two main 90-day sprints:

  • First 90-day sprint: You are supported to identify opportunities for your business. You will complete the 1:1 business assessment, self-paced online learning, attend masterclasses and build your action plan to implement in the next stage.

  • Second 90-day sprint: Focussed on implementing what you’ve learned. You will be supported by experts in the “doing” process, attend 1:1 mentor sessions, access group drop-in sessions and at the end, review the outcomes of your initial plan and create a new one with your mentor. You will be given the opportunity to showcase what you’ve learned through the program as well.

For more information and detail on what the program involves, program dates and what to do next, please download the program brochure here.

Want to know more?

We held a series of 15-minute information sessions for the Digital Support Program online during April. Watch the recording below.

If you would like to be considered for this program, you must submit an EOI - applications close on Sunday May 1st 2022.