Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP)
Get Up To $2,400 With a CDAP Grant To Grow Your Business Online!
Launching a website. Marketing for sales. Ensuring your website is secure. Prioritizing social media interactions. These components are that of a strong online presence and, for a lot of small businesses, they’re more costly than what many entrepreneurs realize.
To avoid the thousands of dollars it can take to launch a small business online, a lot of entrepreneurs and organizations attempt to do it all in-house. As they try to do it themselves, what you end up with is a compromise on the sort of digital marketing campaign you’ll want to launch and/or settle for a low-quality website. This is no way to deliver results.
Fortunately, we can help direct you to grants, such as the Canada Digital Adoption Program, or CDAP, that will provide funds to set up and grow your online presence.
These grants can be integral to allowing your business to set up a website, grow its reach, and make sales.
What Is CDAP?
CDAP offers several grants targeting Canadian businesses that are looking to expand online or to adopt technology that propels your business forward.
The Grow Your Business Online grant, as an example, offers up to $2,400 to qualifying businesses. This money can be used to fine-tune an eCommerce website, to attract new customers to an existing website, and/or to set up a new website.
How You Can Use The CDAP Grant
Common uses of the Grow Your Business Online grant for small businesses includes:
- To develop an eCommerce website, including subscription fees and costs.
- To increase sales of an existing website or to add functionality to an existing website, i.e. electronic payments, online ordering system, online booking tools, or search engine optimization.
- To hire a digital marketing consultant for eCommerce to implement an overall eCommerce plan, including various elements of brand-building online.
- To adopt security software or increase cyber-security for your website.
- To connect with new and existing customers on marketing platforms.
- To improve your social media marketing reach and lead generation.
- To track and manage inventory and sales, offer discounts, and/or maintain a loyalty program.
- To improve the user experience for online customers.
- To cover up to 20% of total costs for hardware and software purchases for your small business.
Please note that your business must have an eCommerce presence to be able to request funds for digital marketing from CDAP.
There are many activities that are not eligible to be covered under a CDAP grant. It can’t be used to pay for Internet connectivity. Shipping of goods purchased through an eCommerce platform is not relevant to a CDAP grant. Other costs that cannot be covered under such a grant are the renewal of digital services, signage and printing, logo redesign or rebranding, salaries, purchase of land or vehicles, monthly rents, refinancing existing debts, to pay for fines and penalties, administrative fees, and more.
Requirements To Qualify For The CDAP Grant
To qualify for the Grow Your Business Online grant, the criteria is fairly straightforward. You must be a Canadian-owned business, for-profit, and incorporated in Canada.
You must be consumer-facing, meaning that you sell goods and services directly to end-consumers.
Your organization must have at least one employee other than the owner or have at least $30,000 in annual revenue in the most recent tax year.
You must commit to maintaining a digital adoption strategy for six (6) months and agree to participate in follow-up surveys to share data about the experience.
A business is not eligible for a CDAP grant if it is a corporate chain, franchise, or registered charity. If you represent a multi-level marketing company, brokerage firm, are engaged in online reselling or drop-shipping reliant on third-party suppliers, or are a wholesale or distribution business and manufacturer, you also will not qualify for the Grow Your Business Online grant.
How To Apply For The CDAP Grow Your Business Online Grant
To apply for the CDAP grant, it’s a four-step process. The first of these is to create a My Canada Business Account.
Create A CDAP Account
To create a CDAP account, you can use either an email, GCKey Sign In, or Interac Sign In.
After registering, one must verify their identity either online, in-person at a Canada Post location, or through a CDAP officer.
Confirm CDAP Eligibility
Next, your business eligibility must be confirmed using your CRA My Business credentials.
You can do this by logging into your CRA My Business Account. It should confirm eligibility in real-time immediately.
Create A Digital Adoption Plan
After you’ve been approved for the Grow Your Business Online grant, you must develop a Digital Adoption Plan. It should be tailored to your business needs and overseen by a digital advisor to ensure that your strategy on how to spend your grant is strong.
A DAP is a rundown of all costs and services, and how you intend to use your CDAP grant. It is generally planned for a six-month period.
Collect Your CDAP Grant
After your Digital Adoption Plan is finalized, it is submitted along with your claim to CDAP.
After it’s confirmed your DAP meets all eligibility requirements, payment is issued. Payment is generally received within 30 days of receiving a claim.
Get In Touch To Check Your Eligibility
How All The Way Up Media Can Help You With A CDAP Grant!
All The Way Up Media is a full-service digital marketing agency specializing in offering the best results-driven strategies in SEO, PPC, social media, and more.
Our clients come from all sorts of backgrounds and industries, some of which we have assisted in getting approved for the Grow Your Business Online CDAP grant.
At All The Way Up Media, we can assist you in managing the application process, ensuring it’s done correctly, and guide you through every step.
With experts ready to complete everything from the initial stages of applying through to assembling the Digital Adoption Plan, we can ensure that you receive the best possible opportunity to qualify for a government grant and to subsequently have that applied to an advanced online marketing strategy.
Some of the ways in which you can use your grant that have not been specified already include a full SEO audit and website optimization, keyword research, setting up product catalogues to promote across social media, a UX/UI analysis, an SEM/paid marketing campaign, and more.
If you’re struggling to afford the type of marketing and online support you need to move your business forward, the CDAP Grow Your Business Online grant is a big opportunity to cover some of your expenses and receive a little help in generating momentum forward.
After being approved for a CDAP grant, we are happy to connect you with an All The Way Up Media expert to analyze your budget and put together a strategy focused on delivering the best results.
For more information on CDAP grant and how we can help you qualify for it, get in touch with us.
