Highlands and Islands Enterprise launches free digital strategy workshops for Highland businesses

Thurso promenade - Image credit: Reinhard Diterich (Wikemedia Commons)

Highlands and Islands Enterprise has launched a series of workshops to help businesses in the north of Scotland create an effective digital strategy.

Business leaders will be guided through the different digital channels and shown techniques to achieve their goals, whether that is increasing sales or raising brand awareness.

Attendees will also be given an overview of social media platforms, including which ones they should prioritise and ideas for content.

In addition, the workshops will look at how customers research online and make purchases, how Google works and why businesses might not be getting the results they want.

The free-to-attend Delivering a Digital Strategy workshops are part of HIE’s Entrepreneurial Academy.

They are open to entrepreneurs or senior staff of companies or social enterprises in the Highlands and islands with growth potential or the ambition to scale.

The workshops will be delivered by Gary Ennis of digital training consultancy NSDesign, with the first taking place in Thurso on 26 September, followed by others in Benbecula, Fort William, Forres, Inverness, Oban, Lerwick and Kirkwall.

Louise MacDonald, senior entrepreneurship manager at HIE, said: “With so many digital channels available to businesses, it can often be difficult to identify the best ones for your target market or to create campaigns that successfully engage your audience.

“That’s why we’re delighted to have Gary share his knowledge.

“If you are unsure how to make digital work harder for you then I would encourage you to attend.”

Ennis said: “At the workshops we’ll look at digital strategies, review the websites of attendees, looking at whether they’re optimised for mobile and reviewing Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), review social media platforms, including paid for advertising, and, new for this year, we’ll be giving advice around cyber security.

“We’ve designed the workshops to be fun and engaging; we’ll be working together and using live demos and YouTube videos to facilitate discussion.

“We’ll not only be giving an overview of best practice use of digital platforms but will be looking at the strategy behind their usage.

“Attendees will go away with the knowledge of how to monitor and evaluate their efforts and an action plan for their business.”

Full details of all Entrepreneurial Academy workshops can be found on the HIE website.