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Southern Utah High Tech Business Builds Brand in Wedding Market

Located in the heart of southern Utah, Dittobug.com is a high tech startup in Enoch that has successfully generated an online presence for sales throughout the U.S.  Dittobug’s founder and owner, Cordelle Morris launched the business in 2010.

In 2011, Morris joined the Southern Utah Technical Council (SUTC) in an effort to grow Dittobug’s market.   SUTC was started by Brent Drew of the Cedar City Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to bring Southern Utah high tech businesses together and to help members develop resources, increase market share and become profitable through high-tech business practices.  “Morris took the heart of what we talked about in the SUTC groups, and has been quite successful with it,” Drew said.  “As soon as Dittobug went national (through website orders), it’s amazing how quickly the site was utilized.”

Morris learned about the SUTC group after being selected as a finalist in Southern Utah University’s (SUU) Best Business Idea Competition.  “The competition sparked the insight that my business could be much more than a hobby, that the business was something that I could legitimately do,” said Morris.  “It was an incentive to move forward.”



Following the competition, Morris began attending monthly SUTC meetings, began business counseling at SBDC and enrolled in “Start Smart,” a course that helps entrepreneurs learn effective startup strategies and how to write a business plan.  “I try to go to as many seminars as I can, to network, and to be out there talking to people,” said Morris.  “It helps me learn and it keeps the fire going!”

Utilizing a degree in graphic design and several years as a designer in the printing and publications industries, Morris offers Dittobug customers personalized wedding invitations and product printing at an affordable cost.  “Dittobug creates beautiful wedding invitation products and the website makes it very easy for customers to go online to personalize their invitations,” said Drew.  “What Cordelle has created, really takes part of the headache out of wedding planning.”

Prior to launching the Dittobug website, Morris created and sold wedding invitations locally throughout Iron County—primarily to friends, family and students from SUU.  Once the website launched, Morris observed a significant increase in sales and has since hired a graphic designer to handle the bulk of the design work so that he can focus more on marketing and sales.   Morris has been successful at building Dittobug’s presence in the wedding invitation market through social media and Dittobug’s incentive program—which provides incentives for customers. "Since we have a constant need to find new engaged couples, we offer our past customers great incentives to share our product with their friends and family," said Morris. Morris also regularly participates in bridal fairs and trade shows to help market and grow the Dittobug brand.

Morris hopes to see Dittobug become a large market share contributor in the wedding invitation industry, and plans to keep the business local—creating job opportunities for students and graduates from his alma mater, SUU’s Graphic Arts program.

In recognition for Morris’s achievements as an entrepreneur, the Cedar City Small Business Development Center has selected Dittobug.com to receive the Small Business Recognition for the second quarter of 2012.

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