By Ewen McRae
Melton businesses are slowly getting back on their feet after months of uncertainty.
With movement restrictions making things tough for local businesses of all sorts, the council-run Open for Business campaign has seen more than 300 stores and companies receive assistance and support.
This has included free A-frames to advertise on, promotion on council websites, and additional support to help them maximise their business.
Platinum Accounting & Taxation was one of the businesses to receive support, and partner Corinne Cole said the program had helped them reach more people than they would have previously, especially with information about government financial support in the early days of the pandemic.
“The campaign did result in favourable results for us and we have generated new business as a direct result of the ad,“ Ms Cole said.
“We didn’t have a ‘special offer’ noted in our ad as many of the other businesses did, so what we did instead was make mention of our new podcast which, at the time of the advertisement, we had not officially launched to our database and target audience.
“We were just about to launch the podcast which was specifically designed to help small business and taxpayers, when the pandemic hit, so we had to change it up a bit.“
Ms Cole said the response to the campaign and the new podcast had been huge.
“We were able to explain to listeners how things like JobKeeper were going to work, and that really helped people,“ she said.
“Our download numbers went up tremendously, and the feedback from people was that many had found us through the council advertisements.
“We’re mindful that what we do is not exciting, but it is essential, and people have been really grateful that we’ve been able to provide them with the information they needed through this time.“
Melton mayor Lara Carli said asking the community to support local stores and businesses ensured the local economy stayed strong.
“This campaign has been about asking our residents to get behind the independent local businesses they love to make sure they can continue to operate well beyond this crisis,“ Cr Carli said.
“We’ve seen businesses that are not only surviving but thriving and it’s a real credit to the community who continue to support them.
“I’m really proud that as a council we’ve been able to help so many local traders by putting a spotlight on the outstanding products and services they provide every day.“
