About This Column
This monthly column is intended to inspire action. You know digital transformation is critical to growing your business, but there are so many moving parts and so much to learn! It’s easier to navigate if someone points you in the right direction so you can take the first steps. You don’t have to master anything right now, you only need to move forward and learn as you go.
If one growth tip doesn’t work for your business, pick another one and try that. If you do that over a course of a year, you may be surprised at how much your business has grown and how clear your path is to further growth. A custom strategy will naturally emerge from your efforts, all from trying something new every month.
Content for this column will vary from month to month. We’ll cover what’s trending, motivation, tools, diversification, funding, actionable Canadian data, expert quotes, and how & where to grow your business online over the following month. New posts will be announced in our newsletter, so sign up to ensure you don’t miss a single month of growth.
Grow Your Canadian Small Business Online in April
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TIP 1: Easter Words That Hop
We analyze email subject lines every year to select the ‘words that sell’ in the Easter category. They work well for headlines and ads too. Come up with a few and start testing & analyzing for your company’s Easter promotions. Below are a few examples to jumpstart your creativity.
Easter
Bunny (Every-bunny, any-bunny)
Eggs (Egg-static, egg-celent, egg-stra, egg-cite, eggs-plosive, egg-cetera)
Hop/Hoppy (Hop to our website)
Sweet (Sweet deals)
Ears (Grab these deals by the ears)
Spring
Hunt (Deal hunt)
Hatch
Hide/Hidden (Click here to find the Easter egg deals hidden on our site)
Basket (This one is especially good for abandoned cart / ‘Easter basket’ emails)
Carrot (Follow this carrot to get 25% off)
Get more Easter Email Marketing Tips & Ideas.
TIP 2: Grow with Press Releases
You can tap into blogs with press releases, but traditional press releases rarely do the trick unless it’s truly news their readers will be interested in. Even if it relates to their niche, they’re not going to bore their readers with company announcements and thinly-disguised ads. Everything they post should add value and engage their readers.
Try these ideas to get more bloggers to publish your press release:
• For bloggers, your press release should be considered a hybrid of a press release and guest post. Include information that will help and engage their readers.
• Enhance your press release with more ‘evergreen’ content that will be of interest to readers over the long term, such as related tips, listicles, research, case studies, statistics, product reviews, and comparisons.
• Include high-quality visuals whenever possible, such as slides, infographics, charts or videos.
• Have more than one version on the same release, with angles that appeal to defined segments of your target market. Then, send the right version to the right bloggers.
Learn more about How to Get Bloggers to Publish Your Press Release.
Finding suitable bloggers in your niche can be tedious and time-consuming, but the right outreach tool will make the task much easier. Ninja Outreach is a favourite outreach tool for a number of reasons. It offers the most options to help you find bloggers, content influencers and social media influencers. If you’re looking for Canadian bloggers, we have a list for you.
Use PR Newswire’s Definitive Guide to Crafting an Engaging Press Release (free download) as an expert guide to traditional press releases. Give consideration to the above tips if you’re targeting bloggers.
TIP 3: Recession Growth
You’ll have little to fear from a recession if you’re prepared for it. For example, you can be poised to pivot as your ideal customer’s needs change.
Know your audience and give them what they need or want right now. It could be very different from what they needed or wanted in a more stable economy. Consumers are focused on what they need during times of uncertainty, but they still want other things. If you can find a way to let them fulfill their needs and maybe even get what they want, you’ll continue to make sales during a recession and beyond.
Here are 10 Tips to Recession-Proof Your Online Business.
TIP 4: Grow with Free & Faster Shipping
You can offer free, fast shipping through many popular ecommerce platforms with integrated 3PL services. Shipping is less expensive through third-party fulfillment, as a rule, especially if they have multiple distribution hubs for you to stock with inventory (like ShipBob). When your products are closer to the customer, they’re cheaper to ship.
Add a free shipping eligibility requirement of a minimum order value to increase basket size. It’s typically calculated at a minimum of 15% higher than your average order value (AOV).
AOV $50 + 15% ($7.50) = Minimum Order Value to Qualify for Free Shipping ($57.50)
If you’re shipping in or from Canada, however, I recommend a minimum order of up to 50% above your average order value.
Learn more in 7 Surprising Ways to Boost Ecommerce Profits with 3PL Fulfillment.
TIP 5: Biased Growth
Psychology plays a huge part in marketing and sales, and it can stimulate growth considerably. For example, if you familiarize yourself with cognitive biases you can use them to quickly engage consumers on your website or in correspondence.
“Cognitive biases are mental shortcuts people use subconsciously to make sense of information as quickly and easily as possible,” writes Kath Pay for MarTech.
“People want to process and understand information completely. They simply will not spend minutes puzzling over your email message and what they should do with it. Email readers spent an average of 8.97 seconds reading an email, per a 2022 Litmus study. And that’s only if they open it.
When you learn which cognitive biases are most effective in persuading people to do what you want them to — like opening and clicking on an email message and converting from it — you can use them in your messaging to make your emails easy and even attractive to act on.”
Check out the Cognitive Bias Codex infographic for an overview of identified cognitive bias.
Learn more about How Cognitive Biases Shape Email Engagement: Boost email marketing with persuasive, psychology-backed strategies that ethically drive action.
TIP 6: April Content
Grow your traffic, grow your business! Timely content can differentiate your business while generating traffic that converts.
Note: We post a list of holidays & observances (monthly, weekly and daily) for marketers in the Online Business Canada Facebook group. There’s a lot of them! You’re bound to find some that are a perfect fit for you business.
Here are just a few April holidays & observances with promotion potential:
Decorating Month
Pet First Aid Awareness Month
Financial Literacy/Capability Month
Global Child Nutrition Month
Garden Month
Foot Health Awareness Month
Stress Awareness Month
International Customer Loyalty Month
International Guitar Month
April content themes and slants can include Spring, cleaning, renewal, earth, flowers, wind, and rain. Earth Day (April 22nd) is an opportunity to share everything eco-friendly about your company, which is very important to many Canadian consumers. Easter Sunday is on April 20th.
TIP 7: Business Books Worth Reading
Here we share quick quotes from business books we’re reading to help your knowledge grow with your business.
“Authenticity is your only ammunition — without it, you might as well give up. People can smell bullsh*t a mile away, and no amount of money from a brand can cover up the stench. Every piece of content should feel as honest and real as possible. You should love your content as much as you want your followers to love it.” ~ Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media, by Brittany Hennessy.
Incremental Change
Changes spread out over the year will combine into powerful results. When growth based on technology overwhelms us, we can make small changes to continue growing and develop further as we feel our way through it.
How will you grow your online business in April? Please share your ideas or questions in the comments below, or join us in the Online Business Canada Facebook group.
For weekly inspiration, insights, tips, and resources, sign up for the Online Business Canada newsletter!
7 Recession Proof Online Businesses To Start From Home
Expert help to choose, start, and run a successful online business!
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Melody McKinnon is an internet entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in a wide range of online business models, backed by a formal business/marketing education and enhanced by training and mentorship. She has owned or managed both educational and ecommerce websites. Her book, 7 Recession Proof Online Businesses to Start From Home, is available from all major ebook retailers.
Melody has worked with many businesses in a multitude of capacities. She can often be found on CanadianDigitalMedia.com, CanadiansInternet.com, CanadianFamily.net, and AllNaturalPetCare.com, as well as other quality digital publications. Her content has earned reference links from highly-respected websites, magazines and university textbooks.
Eggcellant! The Easter words tip was my favourite marketing tip this month!
Thanks for the motivating marketing suggestions for April. These monthly tips always lead me to more improvements and that’s where the value is most for me. Keep up the wonderful work Melody – you make a differencce. XO