Ok, so it’s official, as of the 1st of July the NSW government is providing $3,000 grants for small businesses. The grant is designed to provide SMBs with a little assistance in reopening post lockdown.

The grant is available across a multitude of services such as staff training, updating your office (sneeze guards etc), cleaning your office or growing your client base via an advertising campaign.

Of course, we all will have slightly different needs based on your industry. It really comes down to what do you need most right now. 

But if you’re in the position that you can use the money for marketing then you just have to make one of the below two choices.

Option one: Get new clients ASAP

If your business does not have a backlog of clients that have been eagerly waiting to use your service it’s likely that your primary need will be to kickstart your business with a marketing campaign via Google Ads or Facebook/Instagram that will be able to instantly generate leads for you.

The NSW government have done a great job choosing the value of this grant as if it is well planned and targeted for $3,000 you can run a very strong marketing campaign. You just need to be sure that it is well executed as if not your $3k will just be thrown on the proverbial Google/Facebook cash pile and never seen again.

Option two: Set up the business for long term growth

If you are in a position where your business can reopen with a strong demand from your pre-existing client base such as people in the beauty industry, then obviously running paid ad campaigns to drive instant leads is absolutely not what you need. In this case, the best options could be to plan out some website improvements such as conversion optimisation to ensure that your site traffic converts at the highest possible rate. 

Or perhaps your business could greatly benefit from an email marketing sequence that will be sent out to your clients to ensure a higher rate of repeat business. 

Every business is unique so the best way to find out what works for you is to speak to someone who has plenty of experience in marketing. If you are going for the paid channel option then ensure that whomever you select to do the work for you is at minimum a Google or Facebook Partner.