Small Business Month starts on Thursday, 1 October, and this year there’s even more to celebrate across the New England and North Coast.
Our regions are built on the passion and resilience of small businesses – from family-owned cafes and retail stores to local service providers and trades. These businesses keep our towns running, create jobs, sponsor community events, and give our main streets their unique character.
This October, New England Times and North Coast Times are joining forces to shine a spotlight on the people behind those businesses, with free business profiles running throughout the month.
And this year, you can choose to have your business profiled on New England Times, North Coast Times, or both!
Whether your customers are just around the corner or spread across both regions, it’s a chance to tell your story and introduce your business to more people.
Taking part is free. Simply register your business for Small Business Month 2026, tell us a little about what you do, and upload your logo and some photos. We’ll take it from there.
A warm welcome to the North Coast
This is the fourth year we’ve run this promotion in New England, but it’s the first year for the North Coast! To celebrate bringing this annual tradition to the North Coast Times, we’re also giving away three Taste Test advertising packages, each worth $1000, for North Coast Times.
That’s $3000 in advertising to help local businesses introduce themselves to our readers and show the community what they have to offer. Three lucky businesses will be drawn randomly at the end of the promotion (T&Cs here).
So if you’ve been meaning to give your business a little more attention, now is a great time to get involved. From a new venture finding its feet to a familiar local favourite with a story to share, we’d love to hear from you.
Our Small Business Month series has become a much-loved opportunity to discover the businesses on our doorstep – and for business owners, being featured can be something special.
“You have done an amazing job, and we are very proud to be chosen as one of the small businesses you have chosen to highlight this month. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be a part of this great initiative,” said Priscilla from Onyx Castle, a previous participant.
This year, we’re looking forward to sharing even more of those stories across both regions. Whether you’re a trusted local institution, a new businesses, or maybe looking to make the leap from hobby to full time business, or anything in between, we want to tell your story.
Because we’re here to help
For us, supporting local businesses is about more than one month of the year, it’s part of our DNA. We believe in making it easier for people to discover what’s available in their own communities, and giving businesses accessible ways to reach them. There’s so many great businesses here in northern NSW that you’ve never heard of.
New England Times and North Coast Times connect local stories with local readers, with paywall-free news and advertising options designed to suit a range of businesses and budgets. Including lots of free options – in addition to Small Business Month, we have a couple of other similar business promotions earlier in the year like Made in New England, our famous Best in the New England competition each July, and the business directory has now been upgraded to the New England Times Network (North Coast version coming soon!)
Businesses taking part in this year’s SBM promotion can also access up to 12 weeks of discounted advertising to build on their free profile. Paid advertising is entirely optional – there’s no purchase required to be included in the series. Explore the options when you register.
We know small businesses don’t have endless marketing budgets, or spare hours to spend working out where to start. We work hard to keep our advertising easy and affordable, and don’t expect you to know the jargon or what works best. That’s why we have the taste test – we can try different types of ads and find out what works best for you before you commit to anything long term.
You don’t need polished marketing copy to take part in Small Business Month, either. Just tell us about your business in your own words: who you are, what you do, and what makes your business special.
Register now for Small Business Month 2026 and choose New England Times, North Coast Times, or both. We can’t wait to share your story.
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