Do It Digital campaign to help three million businesses develop online skills

A campaign that was launched at the end of last year is now aiming to help three million small businesses in the UK to develop online skills.

Do It Digital was launched by Michelle Ovens, director of Small Business Saturday, a campaign that is held every year to encourage consumers to shop at their local independent stores to support small businesses.

The Do It Digital campaign will provide hands-on training to small businesses that have not yet set up their own website. The scheme consists of an online platform that provides easy-to-use digital tools for small businesses.

Resources

According to Ovens, hundreds of resources will be accessible through the Do It Digital website by the end of the week.

The scheme has generated much interest, with the #DoItDigital hashtag and Twitter handle receiving over 14 million views over the past few months.

Ambassadors of the initiative include destination management company Brilliant Liverpool Tours and Northumberland-based women’s outdoor clothing retailer, Gear For Girls.

Relevant

Speaking about why she decided to create Do It Digital, Ovens said that by speaking to small businesses every day, she got an “acute idea” of the challenges that they face, and that she was surprised at how many SMEs do not go online.

“It surprised me how many SMEs say 'I won’t go online to print a poster’ or 'I don’t know how to look up events online.’ This spurred me to do something about it,” she said.

She added: “We talk about 'how to sell more’ or 'cut costs’ instead of using jargon. If you say, here’s how to do search engine optimisation or social media for CRM [customer relationship management], people glaze over. You have to make it business relevant.”