Highland News and Media commits to £70k support package to help keep local businesses trading during coronavirus outbreak

Businesses struggling after the onset of strict measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic are being offered a helping hand by a local media firm.

Highland News and Media - which publishes 18 newspaper titles and a catalogue of websites and other publications across the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire - said it would offer 50 free websites to local firms.

The company said its generous offer - worth a total of around £70,000 - would help local businesses make the transition to e-commerce, which is becoming increasingly important with shops selling non-essential items forced to close in the wake of the crisis.

HNM's digital marketing services team will build a website of up to 10 pages hosted for a minimum of three months. The websites will be e-commerce ready, so businesses can move quickly from bricks to clicks to help them through this difficult period.

The team will aim to have the sites up and running within five days of your briefing call and will be offered on a first come, first served basis.

Companies will also be given free advertising on HNM's websites to help push traffic to their new digital platforms.

Steve Barron, HNM's group advertising director, said: "Local businesses are the lifeblood of our business. We're making this £70,000 commitment to help businesses which are adapting from their traditional business model to one which is more suitable for this crisis. Within five days of a local business reaching out to us, we will build and make live a website with e-commerce capibility and up to 10 pages. This will ensure businesses can sell their products online and continue to trade. We'll back that up with free advertising on our news websites to drive traffic to these sites. We've always been on the side of local businesses and we will do all we can to help them through this crisis."

Any business interested in taking up the offer is asked to visit www.hnmedia.co.uk/free-websites for further details and to apply or email: louise.ross@hnmedia.co.uk

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