Knox City Council are dedicated to providing ongoing support to businesses in the Knox community. With the effect COVID restrictions had on businesses in this area, the council recognise the importance of the need for businesses to optimise their digital capabilities in areas such as website content creation, search engine optimisation, social media and online marketing. The Digital upskills program was a carefully considered program developed and delivered by The Creative Collective from December 2020 to February 2021 designed to provide knowledge, tools and resources to enhance the digital capabilities of the local businesses. Program components included:

ITEM 1: DEVELOPING AN ONLINE DIGITAL BENCHMARK/SCORECARD TO BENCHMARK PARTICIPATING BUSINESSES – We recommended developing a short online digital benchmark/scorecard which we required all businesses registering for the program to complete prior to their commencement of the workshops, so we could effectively benchmark their starting point and what uplift the program has had on their level of understanding and skills.

ITEM 2: DEVELOP & DELIVER 6 X 2 HOUR ONLINE WORKSHOPS/WEBINARS – Topics that Council wished to cover were broken down into 6 proposed workshops/webinars which progressed through the content in a logical manner, requiring participants to attend and extending their knowledge through each session. All sessions were recorded and made available as an unlisted YouTube recording within one week of the session. A workbook was developed for each session and supplied along with relevant resources immediately prior to each session. An in session poll/survey was run during most of the sessions and participants had the opportunity to ask questions via live chat during all live sessions.

ITEM 3: RUN END OF PROGRAM SURVEY – Following the completion of the series of online workshops/webinars we encouraged businesses to complete an end of program survey to see how their skills & confidence levels have improved from their participation in the program.

ITEM 4: POST WORKSHOP SUPPORT – Participants were offered to book a mentoring/consult with any of the Trainers during the program at a discounted rate. All attendees were offered x1 online module valued at $30-$50.

ITEM 5: Facebook Group – Participants were invited to join a private Facebook group facilitated by The Training Collective which already had x600 small businesses across Australia within it, all of whom have engaged with The Training Collective at a previous date. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ttconlinecommunity

ITEM 6: Help & support – This was provided via phone and email by a nominated person at Council.

PROGRAM OUTCOMES
A total of 60 people registered for the program (the Council target was 15). 48 completed the survey to analyse their skills levels and interest areas prior to commencement of the program. Over half of the businesses who registered were mature stage businesses (had been on operating over 5 years). Most registrants were micro businesses i.e. no employees 36% or 1-4 employees (38%) with a total net income of less than $100k. Most participants (50%) rented a commercial space. 30% were home based. Registrants came from 20 different industries with the most popular being Retail/eCommerce followed by personal services i.e. hairdressing, beauty.

Of the 60 people who registered for the program:

• A cumulative total of 250 people self-registered for webinar sessions (some for multiple sessions) out of a possible 360 (60 registrants x 6 sessions) = 70% self-registration rate for webinar sessions
• A cumulative total of of 164 people attended the x6 webinars out of the 250 who registered (66% of those who registered for a session attended)
• An average of 27.3 people attended each session.
  The most well attended session was Session 2: Developing Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Program participants were asked to complete an evaluation survey post the program to understand what the impact of the program had been. A total of 20 people responded to the survey as of 16/2/21 (30% of original program registrants).

100% of participants said they would recommend the program to others. 95.45% said the program ‘exceeded’ or ‘far exceeded’ their expectations.