Managing Partner, Brandon Holmes, praised 4-C’s commitment to the local economy of Southern West Virginia through sponsorship of small businesses like his. He commended 4-C on our ability to gain access to funds through a variety of sources and ingest those funds into the Southern WV economy with unconventional terms and conditions. “4-CEDA is really working on behalf of business development and entrepreneurship in this area."

“4-CEDA is clearly committed to our company’s success. They demonstrated this commitment by sponsoring my participation in a National Development Council course that better prepared me to manage unprecedented business growth. Without 4-CEDA we would not have the ability to attract and retain the talented people that now constitute WELD.”

Like more and more companies in today’s Creative New Economy, WELD can do business anywhere, and its managing partners, Brandon Holmes and George Rogers, chose to do business here in Wild and Wonderful WV.

WELD uses integrated online marketing strategies to connect its clients to their customers, and offers “Empowered Marketing” seminars to get you up to speed on how to use technology in every aspect of your business.

“We don’t just design a website and leave you to figure it out, or keep it the same forever,” Holmes explains. “In today’s fast paced business and technology environments, static marketing material goes stale fast. If you can’t change it, it won’t be relevant for long. We’ve made understanding Web 2.0 marketing strategies and delivery our business, but more importantly, we empower our clients with tools to understand and execute the most appropriate and cost-effective marketing practices available. 4-CEDA bought into this idea and now it's paying off.”

Rogers interjects, “We design a 'web presence' for our clients based on a dynamic strategic planning process. The tactics (like website programming, email marketing and search engine optimization) are designed to evolve as our client's business evolves. Our in-house programmers, photographers, videographers, content editors and search engine optimization specialists – everyone - work together to create innovative multi-media content tailored to our client's prioritized customer segments. Without some assistance from 4-CEDA, our growth would be much slower due to the inability to pay people to do research and develop our offering."

“WELD wants your company to feel comfortable in managing your message, and our dedicated team is always ready to help.” After a pause, Holmes adds, “I really think we are unique to West Virginia. There are traditional ad agencies and there are companies that build websites, but we are integrating everything and teaching our clients how to use the tools the way we do. We don’t want our clients to feel like they can’t learn how to use what we build for them; we want our clients to be empowered.”

For more information about WELD, visit www.weldtheweb.com. If you want to know more about the 4-CEDA loan program, please contact our loan fund manager, Kathy Calhoun, at kcalhoun@4ceda.com.