Offering a range of free workshops, masterclasses and 1to1 business consultations delivered by industry experts, the goal is to help businesses get the most out of digital technology. The £1.5M programme is in addition to the Connecting Cheshire £28.5M Phase 1 roll-out of Superfast Fibre Optic Broadband to over 80,000 premises. "This is fantastic progress for the region,” said David Marnell, Programme and Partnerships Manager of Connecting Cheshire Superfast Business (CCSFB), "they have a combined potential increase of over £30M in GVA and hope to support the creation of 454 jobs.”

One of the businesses benefiting from the support is Colony Networking. Owner, Kirsty James, said: "The Connecting Cheshire free workshops have been invaluable to my networking business. The Business Advisory team even gave a free digital workshop at my business networking event and ran extra workshops for my members to assist them with their own digital plans.”

The unique programme is free to attend – subject to eligibility – and offers insights into all aspects of digital marketing, from social media for business, to measuring your online success.

Another business owner, Graeme Corlett, Director of This One Counts (TOC), said: "We’ve always used very traditional routes to market previously – flyers, knocking on doors, leaflet drops. The Connecting Cheshire free workshops empowered us to push our message out through social media with fantastic results already!” TOC was set up with a goal of introducing a sense of adventure into peoples’ lives through adventure sports and activities such as trail running and adventure racing. Set up by Graeme Corlett and Jamie Evans, TOC is based on a lifelong love of sports and passion for adventure. Self proclaimed digital phobics – they were recommended to the programme by a contact in the digital arena. "The programme has enabled us to develop our digital marketing plan to include site updates with a view to upgrading the site in the future. The contact we have with our customers has increased significantly. This, coupled with our new awareness of social media as a marketing tool, has had an immediate impact with registrations for this year’s NITro North 10k trail run, which takes place on the 7th March in the dark, already significantly up on last years” said Graeme.  

To find out more about the European Regional Development Funded support available via Connecting Cheshire Superfast Business visit www.ccbusiness.co.uk/events, email info@ccbusiness.co.uk or call 0300 123 1696.

For more information about the availability of Superfast Broadband in your area visit www.connectingcheshire.org.uk