The NHS Marketing Loan Program

NeighborWorks Housing Solutions recently received CDFI (Community Development Financial Institute) funding through the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation. As part of our commitment to small businesses, we created a Marketing Loan Program that came out of our work with the Empower Digital Program. What we see as advisors, is a need for digital marketing. Many entrepreneurs still don't have a digital presence for their businesses causing them to struggle to stay open, normally due to lack of sales.

Our loan program consists of:

• One-to-one coaching on structure and content for the website
• Logo design or redesign, font and color palette
• Customized WIX website : Why WIX? The website is easy to maintain for small business owners who are not technical. $17 monthly hosting charges, after the website is built, are manageable. NOTE: All WIX fees will be paid independently of the loan
• Keyword and SEO centric content
• SEO keyword structure in backend
• Mobile and laptop optimization
• Google Business Profile optimization

We are willing to work with you on different marketing objectives. You must have a well-designed, SEO-optimized website, representing your business, to have the funds used for other types of marketing.

Benefits of the Marketing Loan Package

• Create an optimized online presence, with a website and completed Google Business Profile, that will help create future sales opportunities
• Work one-on-one with a marketing professional who will guide you through the online process, clearing the way for incomplete websites with limited visibility
• Allows you, as the business owner, to create business credit for your small local business with positive payments reported monthly to the credit bureau
• Vetted vendors will understand the expectations of the program as well as the client base

We want to continue to support business owners in gateway cities, low to moderate-income, minority-owned, woman-owned, veteran-owned, LGBTQ+, and non-English speaking business owners.

Eligibility requirements for the loan program:

• Must attend Marketing Loan Workshop (2-hour class, see link below to sign up): this will describe the program along with expectations
• Minimum of 1 year in business or filed 2023 tax return
• Basic business plan and the ability to repay
• Two years of personal tax returns
• Minimum credit score 620* (no established credit will be considered)

If the above criteria is not met, we look at a case by case application with the ability to repay.

Marketing Loan Package:

$4500 @ 5% over 3 years with no payment for 6 months or $4500 @ 5% over 2 years with no payment for 6 months - no pre-payment penalties.

After qualification, requirements will be as follows:

• Must use a vetted vendor within the program
• The WIX account will be set up by you (approximately $17 per month + domain : credit card is required to open an account. Loan funds cannot be used for a credit card to secure a subscription.)
• Project must be completed in 3-4 months
• Funding will be paid directly to the vendor

If you are interested in next steps for the Marketing Loan, please make an appointment to see Tricia White : pwhite@nhsmass.org.

Click link for workshops: https://nhsmass.org/events/category/workshops/