It’s true: $2,400 To Grow Your Business
Have you heard? The Government of Canada is giving businesses a $2,400 micro-grant to help grow their online sales.
What’s the catch? Honestly, not a lot! We’ve helped businesses take advantage of this grant to put towards digital marketing (like costs for advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and others), adding AI tools in Shopify sites to help drive sales, and more. Some companies have even used the grant to purchase iPads to help sales teams.
So if there’s no catch, why is the government doing this?
The Government of Canada introduced this to help businesses get online, after so many had to shutter their doors during and after COVID-19. They’re investing in the success of small and medium businesses to be more resilient and that path forward is through helping organizations get online & improve their internal systems.
Let’s See If You Qualify
So of course with any government program, there are some eligibility requirements. With the Canada Digital Adoption Program – Stream 1 Grow Your Online Sales grant, your business needs to:
- be for-profit (including for-profit social enterprises and co-operatives)
- be registered or incorporated
- be consumer-facing (sells goods and services directly to end consumers)
- have at least one employee (other than the owner) OR have had at least $30,000 in annual revenue in the most recent tax year
- commit to maintaining a digital adoption strategy for six months
- be willing to participate in follow-up surveys, share data about the experience, and have your name published as a grant recipient
Does this sound like you? If it does, then what you’ll need to have ready for your application is:
- All the legal information about your business: the name, contact information, structure, how many years you’ve been in business, and your NAICS code
- Your business registration number and articles of incorporation, Sole Proprietorship Registration Statement or Partnership registration statement
How Can the Mico Grant Be Used?
The overall intention of the microgrant is tied to growing a business online. So what does that mean exactly?
Get Online
If you currently don’t have a website, these funds could be used towards setting up your website or getting an e-commerce platform installed (including the subscription and fees/costs!).
Be Discovered
Lets face it, all businesses need and want new clients and customers. You can also use it for things like SEO for website search optimization, Meta or Tik Tok Ads, and more (but note, social media can’t be a stand alone item, and needs to be tied to an e-commerce plan or digital marketing plan). But services such as keyword research, technical and on page SEO, and work to build backlinks can be applied to help new customers find you online.
Website Optimizations
Adding tools to your existing website, such as online calendars/booking systems, ordering systems, and electronic payments all qualify for the microgrant. Plus, items related to tracking inventory, product databases, Cybersecurity, tracking sales and software, and building reporting and analytics capabilities qualify too. These activities can add tremendous upside to your business through helping to streamline your operations, convert more website traffic, and protect your business assets.
Get Organized, Digitally
Need a CRM? Those costs can also be included in the grant, if you’re looking to centralize all of your customers into one spot and automate some of your processes. Whether interested in using something like Hubspot or Salesforce, we have team of experts ready to help you with your implementation.
Outsourced Help
Hiring a marketing agency for initiatives related to driving more sales for your product or service based business can be included in the costs. This could be for pulling together a digital strategy of what to do or even managing and optimizing your paid advertising campaigns.
Hardware & Software Purchases
If you’re needing to purchase a new POS system or even invest in iPads to help digitize your sales experience (think arming your people with iPads to show a product or service and take registrations), those costs can be applied towards the grant.
There are some rules of course, where some costs cannot be the sole item you submit to the plan. For instance, hardware can only be covered up to 20% of the cost and social media ad spend expenses cannot be the entire $2,400.
Overall, this is a great opportunity your company won’t want to miss. And our team can help you navigate what you need.
Ready To Apply?
Your business makes the cut and you have some ideas on what you could spend the $2,400 on. Fantastic! Then follow these steps:
- Start your application
- Your application can be approved really quickly!
- Speak with your marketing agency
- If you don’t have one or want to check around, set up a time with us to discuss what you’re looking for.
- Connect with the CDAP Stream 1 Advisor (in Alberta, that’s Business Link)
- They’ll run you through the program and provide you with a spending plan template
- Connect with Sensible Marketer and we’ll help you get your spending plan ready and approved
Don’t Miss Out On $2,400
Our parents all told us that money doesn’t grow on trees, but this is one of the more straightforward grants you can get — without having to pay it back. Take advantage of it today!
And if you’re also interested in adopting more digital software/platforms in your business, be sure to take a look at the CDAP Stream 2 – Boost Your Business Technology. It’s a $15,000 grant to help you start your planning and get access to a $100,000 interest free loan to help.
As Approved Digital Advisors, we can help you grow your business and set yourself up for success.
How Sensible Marketer Can Help
Our team was approved as CDAP Digital Advisors in October of 2022, and since then we have helped numerous Canadian businesses grow their online sales and boost their technology.
Since 2017, we have helped businesses attract, keep and grow their customer base with winning marketing strategies, solid execution, and technology. Our team has worked in industries from SaaS (tech), Taxes, Utilities, Fashion, Homes, CPG, Manufacturing, Tourism—you name it!
At the end of the day, it all comes down to understanding what makes your product or service unique and the customers you’re trying to get to, and then applying the right strategies to win them over.
With the Canada Digital Adoption Program, we’ve worked with small businesses on getting their first Digital Marketing Campaigns up and running to finding the technology they need behind their website to make things run better. With so much happening in a digital world, technology is the backbone to making your business run more efficiently, consistently, and improving your productivity.
Our team is fully Alberta-based, equipped with marketing strategists, copywriters & designers, and a development team spread across Calgary, Airdrie, Edmonton, and Sherwood Park. We can be the team to help you figure out where to begin, how to optimize what you already have, or how to automate according to best practices today.
Sensible Marketer is a full-service marketing agency. We help your business grow and keep your customer base. We use a number of CRM tools and our years of experience to help you build integrated campaigns to grow revenue and reduce churn. Contact us for a FREE consult today to help get your programs started or evaluate the ones you have running.
