By Adam Frisk Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Running a small business or a not-for-profit in the Highlands usually means wearing about seven different hats while working on a tight budget, including marketing and promotions.
That squeeze has driven high demand for digital marketing and artificial intelligence tools, prompting the County of Haliburton and the Haliburton County Development Corporation (HCDC) to run three fully booked training workshops since May.
Timed with the start of Small Business Week, organizers with the County and HCDC hosted a third Canva and digital tools workshop on Monday (Oct. 19) at The Link, after previous workshops built extensive waiting lists.
According to HCDC and County staff, participants, who range from independent shop owners to non-profit volunteers, are turning to free platforms to help with marketing while operating on a tight budget.
“A lot of the businesses here are small… The owners or the employees are wearing seven different hats, and it’s hard for them to do it all,” County of Haliburton tourism manager, Angelica Ingram, told The Highlander.
Organizers said the demand for these workshops caught them by surprise. Elisha Barlow, HCDC’s program and operations co-ordinator, said sessions repeatedly filled to capacity with a waitlist for future offerings.
“There was a higher demand than we originally expected, which is a good thing,” she said.
As businesses increasingly use automated tools that incorporate stock images and generic graphics rather than local designers and photographers, it raises a tougher question: is marketing efficiency stripping away Haliburton’s identity?
“I think people just have to be cautious,” Ingram said of automated tools like Canva, noting that business owners should approach artificial intelligence with a balanced, informed mindset.
Organizers noted that the rush to use automated tools is not about aggressive cost-cutting measures, rather it’s about having a rural business or non-profit survive on slim budgets. Many businesses simply don’t have the resources to hire professional photographers or graphic artists.
“Everyone is strapped for budget, so it is hard,” Ingram said. Ingram said that internally, the County has policies for AI use in creative work, partly to protect design jobs, while small businesses are left to navigate an industry shift on their own.
“It’s something that’s so fluid and is changing so quickly,” Ingram said, noting that internal policy-makers have had to keep pace with the changes year-over-year.
But AI-based tools have created some problems, with AI-generated images and videos misrepresenting the Highlands. Ingram acknowledged that inaccurate AI content poses a real risk for tourism, pointing to online videos claiming to showcase the County that are clearly not the reality of the area.
“Sometimes I see videos on YouTube that are [supposedly] from Haliburton County but they are clearly not from Haliburton County,” she said. “You don’t want people to see this and say, ‘I’ll never travel there,’ when that’s not even an accurate depiction of the area.
“That’s a concern from a tourism perspective,” she said.
Organizers also suggested that businesses check local photo libraries or reach out to regional creators before defaulting to a prompt or a stock creation, if it’s within their means.
As digital marketing tools like Canva continue to transform, organizers said that a broader conversation, potentially a panel discussion, about AI and the use of it within the community might be needed down the road.
