Locals give back with marketing

Local couple Taylor Jackson and Lindsay Coulter have launched a branding website that hopes to help local charities while also promoting small businesses.

The initiative, called The Niyama Project, endorses local small businesses with the couple’s marketing services, like blogging or video. The products are sold online with a large portion of the proceeds going to a local charity.

“I think a lot of small businesses are trying to market themselves like they are big businesses,” Coulter explained.

“We’re just trying to tell the story about the people behind the business, what their products are, what their services are.”

The project was inspired by Jackson and Coulter’s previous struggles to market their own small businesses from a lack of funds and a desire to share their businesses’ story to the world.

Coulter explained that she and Jackson use an alternative method of payment for their services, opting for inclined payments, a modernized use of imbursement.

“Rather than giving us cash and a cheque, [the small businesses] can pay for their marketing products in their own marketing products and services,” Coulter explained.

By creating this website, the couple hope to help small businesses become more detectable on the Internet.

“When people search for local businesses on the Internet, their websites will pop a little bit closer and then they can view their website and it raises their recognition up,” Jackson explained.

The public has seemed to responded well to this project. After gaining some recognition for their work, Coulter and Jackson had been approached by several small businesses and self-employed workers who are interested in their help and associations.

“My inbox was flooded from people from businesses such as Inkjet, a winemaker who works from home and freelancers from their homes who want to be a part of the project,” Coulter shared.

“You don’t remember why you went into a store, but at least you heard about it, so there’s some social credibility there,” Jackson added.

Coulter and Jackson are currently promoting Nutrition for Learning, a community association that assists students in gaining a proper education by guaranteeing they are fed throughout the day at school.

The two hope to promote other Waterloo-based charities in the future.

“I think one thing that we’re looking for is a local charity that doesn’t always look at the negative and sad stories around the city,” Coulter said.

“We ultimately want to promote and filter something that goes back to the community.”