News

The BCA recently launched its Accelerate Your Success! small business educational and technical assistance initiative and is pleased to announce that it is receiving positive reviews from participants. This week, the virtual series wrapped up the fourth of its scheduled eight virtual workshops which thus far has covered topics including 1) enhancing customer experience, 2) building brand loyalty, and 3) designing low-cost advertising strategies.

"We are really excited to be part of this class. The experience has been wonderful in terms of what we are learning and how this knowledge can be used to help build our restaurant and connect with the community," explained co-owners Lois and Devin Baker of Dev's Jamaican Cuisine Restaurant. "Neither one of us are tech savvy, so at first we were hesitant to sign up. We ultimately decided to do it because the program was free, and it presented a great opportunity to meet other business owners and learn from an expert in marketing."

Accelerate Your Success! is a new program designed for Bloomfield business owners and intended to expand their knowledge of marketing and outreach by helping them to adapt to the new environment and grow their businesses.

"Our BCA team is pleased with the feedback we have gotten thus far from the business owners," said BCA Executive Director Ollyn Lettman. "The nineteen registered participants are receiving excellent instruction regarding strategies to market their businesses during these unprecedented times and also making great connections with each other that may lead to viable relationships in the future."

The training series is entering its second month of instruction and will focus on the following marketing topics: social media, digital marketing and e-commerce. The BCA has partnered with Suasion Communications Group, a woman-owned, award-winning, full-service New Jersey based marketing and public relations agency to deliver the training series and technical assistance.

"Even after years of working with digital media brands and news organizations, BCA's Accelerate Your Success! program has helped me re-ground in the basic principles of marketing and branding that I need to grow and sustain our work, explained Simon Galperin of the Bloomfield Information Project. "Bringing people together to share and learn from each other in this way is exactly what our community needs."

According to one of the participants, Simone Ganesh-Goode of GoodeLiving, the classes are already producing positive results. "One of my goals is to increase the visibility of the business which of course leads to revenue," she recently shared.  "Since the start of the program, "I've implemented what I learned each week by revamping my Instagram page, making and posting videos, and celebrating wins with the marketing strategies discussed during our Tuesday Zoom calls.  After just four weeks, my number of IG followers has grown by 53%!  I am so looking forward to the next four weeks."

At the conclusion of the virtual training series, current participants representing Bloomfield Center businesses will receive complimentary, individualized technical assistance in the areas of website design, e-commerce, and social media.