The Marketing Grant For Growth
Marketing Grant for Growth Application Criteria
We’re so excited to launch our grant program again for 2023! As you can imagine, we had to come up with some specific requirements to make sure that we can maximize our efforts and really set up the recipient to grow. We wish we could help everyone. For 2023, the following criteria are mandatory.
To be eligible, you must meet the following criteria:
- You are the primary business owner, decision-maker, and operator
- Your business is owned, operated, registered, and do business in the United States
- You and your business are based in the United States
- You have been in business for at least two years
- You are comfortable being the public face of the brand – since this grant includes photography, you can’t be camera shy
- You have an existing marketing budget (however small)
- You have a website and at least one social media channel
- Good marketing strategy comes with good data. You must be able to share business financials, access to your website, social pages, analytics, sales, and marketing tools, back-end data, and ROI/results
- You agree to cross-promotion at the completion of the project. We will ask for testimonials, and showcase your project on our websites, and in our marketing materials
- You are available to work on your marketing both remotely and in person with our team for 8-10 hours per month during November, December, and January
- You are NOT a current client of Elle Marketing and Events
Not required, but *HIGHLY Recommended: (as in, we can’t fulfill the entire grant if you don’t have this in place)
- You have a WordPress or Shopify website
- You have at least one active business social media channel
- Basic budget for social media test ads during the grant. We will do your ads set up, but we can’t do any testing for you without a small budget. We recommend $500-$1000. But this is entirely optional.
- Budget to support the ongoing maintenance costs of any programs or tools we set up for you as part of your marketing grant. Monthly costs would generally range between $50-$150/month
Apply for the Marketing Grant For Growth!
Note: the application will take you 20-30 minutes to complete. Be as detailed as possible. We really want to get to know you. Click HERE for the application workbook – so you can prepare before you start.
Don’t meet the criteria? That’s OK.
You can still apply for one of three $500 consulting grants! Just click HERE for the giveaway!
Marketing Grant for Growth FAQs
Can I decide how to use the $20,000 worth of in-kind consulting and marketing services? I don’t think I need all the things…
We designed this in-kind grant for a very specific purpose – to help a business take their marketing to the next level and drive results. There are some specific tactics that come down to three main elements:
-Analysis and Strategy
-Photography
-Set up & Implementation
That means that if you don’t have the assets or need for a specific line item in the deliverables, we will take that off the list and reserve the right to not replace it with alternative deliverables.
What is the application deadline? And when will you make a decision?
The grant application will be open from October 9, 2023, at 6:00 am MT – to October 31, 2023, at 11:45 pm MT. All submissions must be received by the deadline to be considered.
We will notify the winners of the $30,000 grant by November 1, 2023, and the winners of the $500 consulting grants by November 1, 2023. Winners will be notified via email and will have 7 days to respond and confirm.
Are there any special considerations I should be aware of?
We are storytellers at heart and want to capture your story. Priority will be given to businesses that are very detailed in their WHY, HOW, WHO, AND WHAT. We genuinely want to get to know you.
I won’t have much time to spend with you in November (or December, or January). Can I push the dates back?
We deliberately picked the time in our business when we have more flexibility in our schedules to support the grant. Unfortunately, we are not flexible on dates. If you can’t be available for the 8-10 hours/month of the grant period, you will need to decline the grant.
What if I have business partners? Can my business still apply?
Of course! We just need to know that the business owner is applying and who the final decision maker will be. But we’re happy to partner with you, your partners, or your team during the course of the grant.
What if I haven’t been in business long enough? I’m brand new.
Our goal is to work with businesses that have a solid base and are ready to grow. If you haven’t been in business long enough, please consider applying for one of our $500 consulting grants HERE.
I’m camera shy. Do I really have to do a video?
We really want to help you become the face of your business. So often that will require you, to tell your story. Besides, video is the current king of social media.
My marketing budget isn’t very much. What do you mean when you ask what I spend on marketing?
Don’t be embarrassed. We just want a sense of what you’ve done in the past and how successful it has been. We’ve found that business owners that have invested some in marketing are that much more likely to maintain after we wrap up the project.
I am a former client of Elle Marketing and Events. Can I apply?
Sure thing!
What do you mean by “cross-promotion” at the end?
We’ll likely feature you and your business on our social media channels, in press releases, in video, and in a final case study. We’d love for you to give us a shout-out and credit for the work we did and also provide a video testimonial and the wrap of the project.
Terms and Conditions
All the legal bits.
Marketing Grant for Growth Terms and Conditions
By submitting an entry to the Marketing Grant for Growth (the “Grant Giveaway”), you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Elle Marketing and Events(the “Sponsor”), and that you satisfy all eligibility requirements.
Click to expand our remaining Terms and Conditions:
The Grant Giveaway (“Grant”) is open to all humans age 21 or older at the time of entry. Residents outside of the United States are not eligible to enter or win. Employees or current clients of (the “Sponsors”), its respective parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, distributors, merchants involved with this Grant, and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household of each are not eligible to enter or win. Grant Giveaway is governed by United States law. Grant is subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary to enter or win. A purchase will not improve your chances of winning.
HOW TO ENTER:
To enter the Grant Giveaway, follow all onscreen instructions and fill out the Grant Giveaway Application to complete and submit the online entry form (“Primary Entry”). You can earn an Additional Entry for one hour of coaching by Elle Marketing in the Grant Giveaway when you send the Grant Giveaway page to an eligible U.S.-based business owner, age 21 or older, by following the Additional Entry instructions on the screen (“Additional Entry”). The eligible Utah-based business owner must enter the sweepstakes through your referral in order to get an additional entry. All entries must be received by 10/31/23 (“Grant Entry Period”). Online entrants are subject to all notices posted online, including but not limited to the Sponsor’s privacy policy.
PRIZES & APPROXIMATE RETAIL VALUES (“ARV”):
Maximum ARV of all Grants: If the winner is unable to receive the Grant and Comply with all Grant Giveaway Terms, then the prize will be forfeited, and an alternate winner may be selected in accordance with these Official Rules from among the remaining eligible entries for that prize. The grant may not be transferred or assigned except by Sponsor.
- (1) $20,000 ARV Marketing Services Grant (no cash value)
- (1) $500 ARV Consulting Grant with Elle Marketing and Events (no cash value)
ODDS:
Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received during the Grant Entry Period.
THE FOLLOWING APPLIES TO THE ABOVE:
The Grant Winner will be chosen based on application responses and eligibility + ability to grow. Judges will consist of Lydia Martinez and the Elle Marketing and Events team. Winners will be chosen at their sole discretion. Winners of $500 consulting sessions will be selected in a random drawing from all eligible entries received. All decisions are final.
Random drawing will be conducted on or about 11/1/2023 by a representative from the Sponsor whose decisions are final.
All winners will be notified by email and/or mail and at the judges’ discretion, will be required to complete and return an email confirmation of prize acceptance and possibly an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and a Publicity Release (“Affidavit/Release”) within 7 days of notification, or an alternate winner will be selected. Prize awarded within 30 days after receipt and verification of completed Affidavit/Release or prize notification. If a potential winner cannot be contacted, or if Affidavit/Release is returned as undeliverable, or if the selected winner cannot accept or receive the prize for any reason, or he/she is not in compliance with these Official Rules, the prize will be forfeited and may be awarded to an alternate winner.
If a winner is otherwise eligible under these Official Rules, but is nevertheless deemed a minor in his or her state of primary residence, the grant will be awarded to another winner. No substitutions are permitted. Grant is not redeemable for cash and non-assignable and non-transferable except to a surviving spouse. Winner is responsible for all federal, state, local sales and income taxes. Any other incidental expenses on prize not specified herein are the sole responsibility of winner. Entry and acceptance of prize constitute permission to use winner’s name, prize won, hometown and likeness for online posting and promotional purposes without further compensation, except where prohibited by law.
Limit: one prize per business. Cash value of the prize cannot be redeemed.
Participating entrants agree to these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsors, and release, defend and hold harmless the Sponsors and their affiliated companies, and all other businesses involved in this Grant, as well as the employees, officers, directors and agents of each, from all claims and liability relating to their participation, acceptance and use or misuse of prize. Winner assumes all liability for any injury or damage caused or claimed to be caused, by participation in this Grant or use or redemption of prize. Sponsors are not responsible for any typographical or other error in the printing of the offer, administration of the Grant or in the announcement of the prize.
Winner acknowledges the Sponsors and all other businesses concerned with this Grant and their agents do not make, nor are in any manner responsible for any warranty, representations, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, relative the quality, conditions, fitness or merchantability of any aspect of prize.
In the event of a dispute over the identity of an online entrant, entry will be deemed submitted by the “Authorized Account Holder” of the e-mail address submitted at the time of entry. Authorized Account Holder means the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. Entry materials/data that have been tampered with or altered, or mass entries or entries generated by a script, macro, or use of automated devices, are void. The Sponsors are not responsible for: (i) lost, late, misdirected, damaged, illegible, or incomplete entries; or (ii) error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission, theft, or destruction, or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions of any kind, or inaccurate transmission of or failure to receive entry information by Sponsors on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any web site or any combination thereof; or (iii) any injury or damage to entrant’s or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in the Grant Giveaway. By participating in the Sweepstakes, you (i) agree to be bound by these Official Rules, including all eligibility requirements, and (ii) agree to be bound by the decisions of Sponsors and the independent judging organization, which are final and binding in all matters relating to the Grant Giveaway. Failure to comply with these Official Rules may result in disqualification from the Grant Giveaway. Sponsors reserve the right to permanently disqualify from any grant it sponsors any person it believes has intentionally violated these Official Rules and cancel the Grant Giveaway if it becomes technically corrupted (including if a computer virus, bot, or system malfunction inalterably impairs its ability to conduct the Grant Giveaway), and to select a winner from among all eligible entries received prior to withdrawal. Legal Warning: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN individual, whether or not an ENTRANT, TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE, destroy, tamper, or vandalize this WEB SITE OR interfere with the OPERATION OF THE SWEEPSTAKES, IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS and SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES and diligently pursue all remedies against ANY SUCH individual TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
ARBITRATION:
This Grant Giveaway shall be governed by and interpreted under the laws of the State of Utah, USA. without regard to its conflicts of laws provisions. By participating, entrants agree that any and all disputes arising out of or relating in any way to this Grant Giveaway shall be litigated only in courts sitting in Utah, U.S.A.
WINNERS LIST:
The personal information collected from each entrant in the course of the Grant Giveaway will be used by the Sponsors for the purposes of administration of the Grant Giveaway and as otherwise permitted in accordance with the Sponsor’s Privacy Policy. The Sponsors reserve the right to alter any rules or cancel the Grant Giveaway at any time.