Trib Total Media bolsters local business recovery with $250,000 advertising grant program

We are in this together.

At no other time have those words been truer than today, when locally owned businesses search for answers about how and when their operations will reopen and reconnect with customers.

Trib Total Media is putting those words into action by offering homegrown businesses matching grants to aid their recovery from the devastating effects of the covid-19 pandemic.

“We are deeply rooted in this business community and committed to doing all we can to bolster the efforts of our friends and neighbors as storefronts begin to open and customers return,” Trib Total Media President and CEO Jennifer Bertetto said Wednesday.

“As an independently owned company, we understand the unprecedented impact of this crisis,” Bertetto added. “But we are a strong, resilient business community, and by supporting each other, we will position ourselves for a comeback. We want to be sure we are doing our part to support that comeback.”

Trib Chief Revenue Officer Matt Miller said the program will match up to a total of $250,000 in advertising for businesses that buy ads in Trib products.

The businesses must be locally owned and have no more than two locations in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The advertising match, which is available to new and existing customers, has a minimum monthly spend. The match must occur in the same month as the cash spend, Miller said.

“Getting the word out to customers that businesses are reopened will be crucial, but we realize advertising dollars may be scarce for companies facing so many other financial challenges,” Miller said. “We hope these dollar-for-dollar grants will help ease a part of that burden.”

The Trib will award the grants on a monthly basis May 1 through Aug. 31. For more information about the program and how to apply for a grant, visit marketinggrant.TribLIVE.com.

“We encourage business owners to take advantage of this opportunity by visiting the site where they’ll find an easy-to-complete application,” Miller said. “At a time when business owners undoubtedly are overwhelmed by so much, we have attempted to simplify this process as much as possible.”

Like so many Trib employees who are lifelong residents of the region, Bertetto said she is passionate about doing all she can to help local businesses take those first steps toward recovery.

“On the most basic level, our role is to provide news and information to our readers when, where and how they want it,” Bertetto said. “But we live here, our families are here, and our company has been an integral part of these communities for as long as most of us can remember, so we also believe we have a responsibility to play a role in our region’s healing as we fight our way back from this crisis.”