The Monday Morning Bites is a newsletter sent every Monday morning at 8:00am. The newsletter has the same 4 topics each week. They include one professional development opportunity, one funding opportunity, one business resource, and one video. Each topic has a brief description followed by a button that links the reader to the appropriate website.
The Monday Morning Bites has been extremely successful. We hear comments from the business community about how they look forward to reading it each Monday and share with their colleagues. In January and February of 2023 it has been sent to an average of 876 people per week with an open rate of 48.7% and a click through rate of 6%. We have even had business people from outside the Columbia Valley subscribe to the newsletter.
The following stats are the click each newsletter category received for from October 2022 - February 2023.
Professional Development - 239
Funding Opportunities - 242
Resources - 294
Informational Videos - 332
This project is extremely easy to replicate and scale. Many of the programs highlighted each week are provincial or federal programs. A number of the organizations that host professional develop or provide resources are regional including CBT, Community Futures, College of the Rockies, Export Navigator, Small Business BC and so many more. A regional template could be developed with space for communities to add local information.
We have learned that small business are very eager to learn about marketing. Whenever marketing courses or resources are included, they always have a decent click through rate. We have used this information to work to host more in person marketing workshops.