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 December
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TIP 1: Grow Your Brand’s Social Reach With Influencers
Rather than focus on building your TikTok or Instagram channels by yourself, use influencers on these channels instead. They already have the audience, which will quickly get your message out there, while building your follower count inadvertently each time you use them. This strategy is also useful for companies that don’t want to grow their presence on a specific social media network, but still want to reach some groups there.
The effort to build & maintain social media followers and engagement on multiple networks, makes it necessary for brands to focus on the platforms that attract many of their ideal customers. Using influencers, you can enjoy extensive reach into a social media platform that you aren’t otherwise active on.
Influencer marketing continues to be one of the most impactful forms of online advertising, while boasting an impressive ROI. With proper management, influencer campaigns often outperform other forms of digital marketing, making it a more cost effective way to grow your social media audience and maximize its impact right out of the gate.
Note: B2B is not an exception when it comes to the benefits of influencer marketing. Check out the TopRank Marketing 2025 B2B Influencer Marketing Report to learn more about tapping into influencer marketing.
TIP 2: ‘Tis the Season to Grow Your Email List
While your goal may be more holiday sales in December, you can extend the benefits indefinitely by promoting your email list at the same time. If they provide their email address at any point along the buying journey, you can ask if they’d like to subscribe to your newsletter. Design a special landing page to offer exclusive discounts, tantalizing downloads, or access to special content in an effort to bring in subscribers who haven’t purchased.
7 Recession Proof Online Businesses to Start From Home shares a few benefits of growing your email list:
- Your email list won’t disappear like social networks can.
- You can provide value to subscribers, establish your expertise, and build trust.
- It provides another platform for promoting your brand, advertisers, or affiliate offers.
- You can have news and new offers in front of subscribers instantly (but don’t overdo it).
- You can use “auto-responders” to take subscribers through any process, from a designated set of emails for new subscribers to email courses.
- It’s a key component to a successful online sales funnel.
Keep your eyes open for other opportunities to piggyback on holiday traffic, online or offline. You can also Turn Post-Season Sales into Lasting Growth.
TIP 3: Business Blogging for Growth
Build business blog content around the answers to these questions, in relation to your product or service:
- What are their problems?
- What are their passions?
- What are their objections?
- What do they care most about?
Stuck on the blogging content treadmill? Here are four tried-and-true steps to producing successful blog posts that grow your audience and your business: How to write a blog post that grows your business (and your sales)
TIP 4: Outsourcing 2025 Growth
Growth in 2025 is going to require a bigger team. Many web-based businesses have virtual staff and contractors at their disposal. Anyone can quickly and easily build virtual teams to support their business.
Andy Schachtel founded Sourcefit, and has experienced the many benefits of outsourcing for company growth. He has been in the strategic outsourcing industry for more than two decades – both on the client side and as a provider – working with Coca-Cola, Toyota, Vodafone, Subaru, Sony, and more.
In a press release, Andy shares the following advantages to outsourcing:
Round-the-Clock Productivity: Leverage outsourced teams in different time zones where tasks can be completed around the clock, speeding up project timelines and enhancing service delivery.
Global Talent Pool: Outsourcing opens doors to a world of talent, bringing specialized skills and quality to projects.
Cultural Exchange: Outsourcing enhances a company’s diversity, enriching the workplace, fostering global awareness as well as gaining insights into different markets and consumer behaviors.
Scalability on Demand: Teams can quickly ramp up or scale down, offering agility in response to market demands.
Cost Savings Beyond Payroll: Outsourcing not only cuts labour costs but also saves on office space, utilities, and technology expenses.
Source: Elkordy Global Strategies
Check out freelance marketplaces like Upwork or recruit through LinkedIn to build your virtual team as you grow.
TIP 5: December 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 December holidays & observances with promotion potential:
Read a New Book Month
Safe Toys & Gifts Month
Write a Business Plan Month
Tie Month
Stress-Free Family Holiday Month
Tropical Fruits Month
December content themes and slants can include holidays, cold, Winter sports, gifts, candy, and the colours red & green. December holidays and observances in Canada include the First Day of Hanukkah and Boxing Day on December 26th.
TIP 6: Business Books Worth Reading
Here we share quick quotes from business books we’re reading to help your knowledge grow with your business.
“As business relies more and more on content, we need more content geniuses in the world. You can become one by setting up a system of content intelligence, making quality decisions about content informed by that intelligence, and then learning from the outcomes as you reflect on the quality of the decision. If for some strange reason that sounds easy, it’s not. But the benefit is that, over time, content decisions will become easier and more successful for you.” ~ The Content Advantage: Succeed at Digital Business with Effective Content, Third Edition, by Colleen Jones.
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 December? Please share your ideas or questions in the comments below, or join us in the Online Business Canada Facebook group.
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7 Recession Proof Online Businesses To Start From Home
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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 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 & brands 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.
