Northern manufacturers getting wired for business
Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services
NNSL (Aug 10/98) - It's the future of business marketing in the North. The territorial government is calling on all manufacturers to publish their business on the Internet.
The department of resources, wildlife and economic development has led the call by setting up a Business Incentive Policy Web site which very soon will link users to Northern manufacturers.
"The rest of the world really doesn't know what we make in the NWT," said Bonita Melvin, manager of the BIP. "So one of the things we hope to achieve in letting the world know by putting a separate little location on our web so that it does increase sales and awareness out there of what we do make."
The marketing strategy not only gives free advertising to Northern manufacturers, it keeps other companies informed of the expertise available to them when doing business.
"We want to put the information in the hands of the business person so that it helps them," said Melvin.
Melvin has been working on the Web site with a private contractor for more than a year now. It has taken a while to move all of BIP's information on the Web, she said, but the first item to be placed online is the business registration guide.
Any manufacturer can advertise for free on the web site but has to pay for any artwork or photographs it wishes to include.
There are approximately 100 manufacturers in the NWT, working in industries including audio and film producing, canvas products, concrete products, furniture, clothing, door making, signage, rubber stamping, cabinet-making and goldsmithing.
"The idea is to have a one-stop shop so the business community is not going to a hundred sites," said Melvin. "They're going to one spot and they're linking themselves to each other."
Other sites will be linked to BIP's Web site including the bureau of statistics. Various publications on department programs, like how to set up a business and economic strategies, will also be on the site.
The Web site can be reached at www.rwed.gov.nt.ca/RWED/ti/bip2.htm.
