There are an abundance of small businesses in Asheville, but we often hear that there’s a lack of marketing resources catered to the little guys.

In fact, this isn’t only a local problem, but a national one. According to sources, 60% of small businesses nationally don’t have a website, or if they do, it’s often not user-friendly + difficult to navigate. In 2018, SEO (search engine optimization) is vital, as 93% of web traffic (a.k.a potential customers) comes from Google searches. And, with 64% of online shoppers saying that a video on social media helped them make their decision, creative content is more important than ever.

Local marketing agency, Dolo Digital, has launched the Marketing Education Program (The MEP) to spread awareness about the importance of utilizing digital marketing tactics, teach small business owners how to effectively take control of their own marketing, and benefit the Asheville business community and economy and local business owners. The platform includes free courses on social media, branding, SEO, web development, digital marketing + more. Plus, a database of local marketing resources.

Marketing has changed dramatically in just the last few years due to the evolution of social media and digital marketing. The MEP was also created to address the misconceptions behind modern marketing tactics’ costs, processes, and time frames. Dolo Digital was formed after founders Travis, Josh and Ryan worked in traditional agencies and saw the lack of access smaller companies had to marketing services because of a lack of resources and unnecessarily high costs in the industry (or just cost). This inspired them to create the education portal to help those companies market themselves on their own.

The details:

The MEP has six completely free marketing courses that are published currently: Web, SEO, Social Media, Digital Marketing, Branding, and Photography/Video.

They’re all self-paced and are a great introduction to what you need to know going into marketing + growing your business. Then, if you’re looking to bring out the advanced tactics, the team behind the courses, Dolo Digital, are ready to help.

Check out the free courses here.

This content was created in partnership with Dolo Digital.