A Harlingen business now has a new way to attract customers, and the city's economic development council is helping them pay for it.

Word of mouth, storefronts and social media are ways to attract shoppers. Jorge Nunez recently opened Main Street Boutique & Bistro and said attracting customers has been a challenge.

He decided to focus his efforts on social media.

“Having more exposure outside, signs, posting on Facebook and Instagram… I’m not very familiar with those so that’s why I have to have somebody help me out,” Nunez said.

Nunez hired a group to help him share more posts, and the Harlingen Economic Development Council stepped in to help pay for that through their Boost Harlingen grant program.

According to Harlingen EDC Small Business & Startup Manager Maria Escobar, eligible businesses can receive up to $1,500 in matching funds for marketing efforts.

Business owners can use the money to buy business cards, photo shoots, and social media engagement.

It's the first year of the program, but the EDC says they hope to learn from this.

“We wanted to see how the grant would do and if it looks like a lot more businesses need the assistance… then we'll definitely bring it back next year in October with more funding,” Escobar said.

Nunez said the results have already proven the investment well worth it.

“At the very beginning it was very stagnant,” Nunez said. "Now we're getting three, four tables a day and that's definitely a big increase from what we had previously.”

More information about the Boost Harlingen grant is online.