BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Bob Kirby Branch of the Warren County Public Library was anything but quiet on Friday afternoon, with local business owners and entrepreneurs attending a Grow with Google event.
“Opportunities like we have today allow members of our community to learn new information and gain abilities that will better their lives,” said Warren County Public Library Director Lisa Rice.
The California tech giant is making its way to libraries across the country, stopping in every state to put on free workshops and classes for business owners.
Kentucky is the 17th state they’ve visited so far.
“Very excited and honored to be here in Bowling Green today,” said Katherine Williams, public affairs manager for Google. “Grow with Google is our economic opportunity initiative where we provide Americans with free tools and resources to grow their skills, careers and businesses.”
They do that by offering classes on topics including discovering digital resources for non-profit organizations, using data to drive business growth and how to improve search engine optimization for an owner’s business.
Grow with Google was first developed in Jan. 2017, and since then, it’s helped out local businesses around the nation, including Bowling Green business Land Shark Shredding, LLC.
“They made a tremendous difference in the way we are drawing in unsolicited contacts to our company,” said Don Gerard, Jr., president and CEO of Land Shark Shredding, LLC.
That’s become a challenging thing to do in an era of market globalization that revolves around a digital landscape, one many of these business owners, like Gerard, Jr., are unfamiliar with.
“A lot of the businesses that have been around awhile need to figure out how they get their products sold in international marketplace,” said South central Kentucky Congressman Brett Guthrie, who spoke to local business owners and entrepreneurs who attended the day-long event.
Figuring out something like that would be challenging for most people, which is why it, along with many other avenues of information, are covered in Grow with Google’s curriculum.
“We have a unique opportunity and responsibility to help Americans understand how they can use the tools that we have to help make their every day lives easier,” added Williams.
Google hopes that this will make the futures of the business owners easier, too.
“Traditional marketing is out the window,” Gerard Jr. said. “We live in a new age now. It’s 2019 and we have to be in the digital age now. We feel like Google is an excellent platform for us to be able to leverage the tools that they provide for us to be able to grow our business tremendously.”
For those unable to attend today’s event, access to the free resources supplied at Grow with Google can be located here.