Hi all,

We have had very high open rates for these emails (like 50%) so thanks for reading!  This is the 23rd update (in addition to a few other specific alerts we have sent) since March.  We won’t be remotely offended if you’re too busy to read this one; in fact, we hope you are! Feel free to let us know how you’re traveling; email 

Anyway, there is some interesting stuff in this one: restart guidelines, free consultations, digital training, the new Visit Vic campaign, the next industry forum…and more…

Summer mag
Hooray!  After being forced to cancel the winter and spring mag’s, we have just produced what is, without doubt, our best mag yet.  Thanks to the team for producing, all contributing authors, all businesses who got involved in the competition and articles, and above all, the advertisers.  We can’t afford to produce this without advertising support and I’m absolutely sure that those who invested in the magazine will see a great ROI.

You can come and grab a bundle from our office, but they’ll also be distributed around the region from next week onwards.  Can’t wait?  Check it out online here.

Industry restart guidelines
We have shared these before but ICYMI, here are some handy guidelines to make sure you follow the right steps now that you have (hopefully) reopened.

Mental Health Support
Also, if you’re feeling stressed (who isn’t) you can reach out to https://www.partnersinwellbeing.org.au to help get through it.  We all have tough times or bad days and services like this help a lot.

Tourism Recovery Consultations
VTIC has launched a Tourism Recovery Consultations program, designed to help tourism businesses recover from what has been a brutal year. This project is part of a wider industry development program that has been funded and supported by the Department of Jobs, Precincts, and Regions.

The aim of the program is to help businesses to prioritise and organise their next steps and set some realistic goals to kick start their recovery. Specifically, the goals are:

Participants will receive a one-on-one free consultation (of up to 90-minute) with one of our experienced tourism industry consultants.
The consultation will be a two-way discussion to help you identify a ‘goal’ to focus on, evaluate options that can help you achieve this goal, and set some practical actions to get you started on your recovery journey.

Well worth checking out. I’m friends with one of the consultants and she’s ace.
https://hub.vtic.com.au/topic/tourism-recovery-consultations/

The Small Business Digital Adaption Program is now open
The $20 million Small Business Digital Adaption Program is now open to help small businesses, sole traders and micro-businesses build digital capability in their day-to-day operations. The program is part of the Victorian Government’s $3 billion Business Resilience Package.

Through the program, eligible businesses will be able to trial and then receive access to digital products, tools, and training they can use to build digital capability in their day-to-day operations. Products currently available to businesses through this program include a website, e-commerce, finance, and digital business management tools.

Businesses will be able to register, and trial selected digital products from suppliers who have partnered with the Victorian Government, then choose one of these products to purchase. Once businesses have purchased a product, they can apply for a rebate of $1,200 to access the product for 12 months. The program also offers free digital adaptation training and workshops to help registered businesses adopt and implement online tools in their business.

Program guidelines, full details on eligibility, and how to register are available on the Small Business Digital Adaptation Program webpage. Registrations are now open and will close on 28 February 2021 or when funds are exhausted, whichever is sooner. Information is also available on this page for digital product or service suppliers interested in partnering with the Victorian Government on this program.

Visit Vic Campaign – stay close, go further
Last week, our mates at Visit Vic launched their new campaign, encouraging Victorians to explore their own backyard.  Even when state borders reopen, I hope most Victorians stay here; the other states didn’t want to know about us for months…so stuff them.

Anyway, needless to say we work closely with the groovy gang at VV to make sure they show the DMT area lots of love.

Want to get involved?  Find out how, here.

Do you have any high-quality videos?
While we’re on the topic of marketing, if you have some quality vid’s hosted on Youtube or Vimeo, please share them with us and we can add to your web profile (you’ll need to be a partner). The guys at Daylesford Cider shared this…nice!  Pls email  if you have something you’re proud of.

Industry forum
Whether you’re  a partner or not, you’re welcome to come along to our online industry forum on November 24th 2020, from 4.00 pm to 5.30 pm.

You’ll hear from us with a DMT update, updates from both Hepburn Council and Macedon Ranges Council, and also from Chuck (Charles Deuchrass), Regional Brand Manager from Visit Victoria, on their latest campaign (mentioned above).

The meeting is via zoom and we have a capacity of 100 attendees.  There will be an interactive component, and questions can be put forward via the chat function during the meeting and Steve will moderate.  We will also record the session if you’re not able to attend or we reach capacity.

If you’re unable to make it, please send any questions to Steve at  prior to the 23rd of November.

Please register here.

OK, that’s it for now.  We hope that you’re all busy now that things are heading in the right direction.

Hopefully, we’ll see you next week, or around the traps in the weeks to come.

 

Cheers

Steve and the DMT Team