About Us

 
One of the missions of Snowy Mountain Development Corporation (SMDC) is to help local businesses succeed and grow, and one way that has been accomplished this year is to spearhead the creation of a cooperative marketing website called "OurMontanaMarket.com. "

"We started working on this project early last spring," said Terry Huff a project coordinator at SMDC.
 
"We knew that our region has many talented entrepreneurs whose creation of products and services are home-based, or, cottage industries." These industries produce unique and distinctive products, but marketing these wares and services in order to compete with much larger companies can be a huge hurdle, Huff added.

After surveying many of the region’s cottage industries, SMDC staff discovered that there was interest in taking a cooperative marketing approach to help these businesses broaden their markets and become more profitable. SMDC worked with Westwind Web Solutions of Lewistown and brought interested artisans together to discuss implementation of a cooperative, point-of-sale website.

"The result of all of this is the launching of a website showcasing the talents of Montanans," Huff said. Located at www.ourmontanamarket.com, this site includes the biographies of the artists it represents and offers shoppers the opportunity to make online purchases of a varied selection of fiber arts, iron works, jewelry, crosses, photographs, books, mosaics and polymer clay. The site will continue to broaden its scope, and help statewide artists, craftsmen and producers in their marketing efforts.

Jackie Olsen of "Ewe Got It!" is one of the artists represented. She has been knitting for close to 50 years and spinning and felting for 18 years. Although she knows her trade well, she said marketing isn’t her expertise. "There are a lot of people like me who don’t have the resources or know how to go about putting our own web page together, so I was very excited about this cooperative website to market Montana products."

Olsen said she also appreciates the time invested by SMDC staff to spearhead the project. "This really helped us," she added. She also loves the name for the site, and said the name is an accurate reflection of what the site accomplishes, and that’s providing a market of Montana products. For more information about the Our Montana Market website, contact Westwind Web Solutions at (406) 538-2200 or email info@ourmontanamarket.com.