About This Column
This monthly column on Online Business Canada 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 the 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 July
July finds us in the throws of Summer, when our ideal customer starts exhibiting all kinds of strange behaviour. Take a fresh look at your customer avatar to determine how their behaviour changes in the Summer. It can inspire new ideas, innovative products, and result in a more profitable season.
The following bite-size tips reveal fast ways to grow your Canadian small business online this month.
[DISCLOSURE:Â We may receive compensation for links to products on this website.]
TIP 1: Build Your Bundles
Now is the time to put together bundles for back-to-school and holiday season sales growth. The top two reasons consumers opt for a bundle are value and convenience.
Product bundling is a very effective way to:
- Be unique & set yourself apart
- Increase value perception to shoppers
- Introduce new products or move stagnant inventory
- Boost the average value of orders (AOV)
- Beat your competition
- Grow your sales
Here are 16 Best Selling Product Bundle Ideas to Boost Online Sales.
TIP 2: Find New Customers on a Budget
Set up a referral and/or affiliate program to reach new audiences. It’s a cost-effective marketing strategy that gets you in front of your target market, resulting in a high conversion rate and virtually guaranteed return-on-ad-spend (ROAS).
“Need to boost retention or tap into new audiences? Referral partners can empower loyal customers to become brand advocates,” suggests Marketing Brew, “while brand-to-brand partnerships (also known as retail media) allow one brand to promote another in post-purchase emails, order confirmation pages, or loyalty communications, creating added value for shoppers and extra revenue for partners.”
This is a proven, yet underused, opportunity. A PMA study recently revealed the affiliate marketing industry alone has grown 49.8% to $13.63 billion, outpacing ecommerce growth.
TIP 3: Take Control of Your Sales Funnel
As the search world spins out of control and visibility on most platforms diminishes, marketers are scrambling to diversify their lead sources and take control of their sales funnels. A new focus on email marketing is the logical first step for many of them. It’s one of the most effective and enduring digital marketing tactics, and it’s available to everyone.
Kit asked Whitney Manney why she’s ditching the algorithm to focus on her newsletter and build a sales funnel she controls.
“I refuse to let someone else’s platform dictate my reach or income,” replied the savvy entrepreneur. “My email list is mine. I don’t have to worry about shadowbanning, suppression, or disappearing engagement overnight. With email, I’m in control. When I launch a new collection, introduce a collaboration, or have a story to tell, I don’t have to fight an algorithm; I go straight to the inbox.”
Focus on starting or growing your email list in July so you’ll be ready for the fourth quarter. Take a long, hard look at your other options for diversification while you’re at it, such as memberships or gated content. For inspiration, here are 13 online community examples from creators & solopreneurs who use their spaces to grow an audience, share their work, and earn recurring income.
If you’re just getting started, you’ll have all the functionality you need with Systeme’s free suite of tools (including funnels, email list, affiliate program management, and memberships).
TIP 4: Grow With Cross Selling
Cross selling is another classic retail tactic that’s making a comeback as online retailers try to offset reduced traffic. It’s become twice as important to maximize sales and profit margins by converting a higher percentage of the traffic we still get. We also need larger basket sizes to help offset expenses like shipping. One of the best ways to do all of those things, is through cross selling.
Most of today’s ecommerce platforms facilitate cross selling in one form or another, making it easy to start testing your options. Many platforms have plugins for even more opportunities and touchpoints, such as Canada’s Shopify.
Following are the Cross-sell Tactics of Top Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Brands, according to Practical Ecommerce.
- Product Bundles
- Product Page Recommendations
- Shopping Cart Offers
- Threshold-based Incentives (such as free shipping)
TIP 5: July 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 July holidays & observances:
Independent Retailer Month
Grilling Month
Picnic Month
Outdoor Month
Self Care Month
Lost Pet Prevention Month
Roadside Traffic Safety Awareness Month
Anti Boredom Month
July content themes and slants can include summer, recreation, landscaping, heat safety, travel, and time with family. July 1st is Canada Day, and there are two provincial holidays in July, Nunavut Day on July 9th and Orangemen’s Day on July 12th (observed on July 14th in 2025) in Newfoundland. Americans will celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July. Amazon Prime Week is July 8th-11th.
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.
“The beauty of influencer marketing — a single, informed voice telling the brand story — is also its largest challenge in measurement. Currently, there is no one-size-fits-all measure. Likewise, ROI calculations require connectivity between influencer actions and audience-brand behaviors. Here lies the paradox of influencer marketing. People share and reshare interesting posts, sometimes adding up to millions of data points. Yet, we are still working to understand how to properly connect an ultimate purchase decision with the originating influence.” ~ Influencer: The Science Behind Swaying Others, by T. Bettina Cornwell and Helen Katz (Currently FREE on Kindle).
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 July? Please share your ideas or questions in the comments below, or join us in the Online Business Canada Facebook group.
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Last Updated on July 31, 2025 by Melody McKinnon, Online Business & Marketing Manager
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.
The air is electric in Canada right now & I’ll be riding that wave with upgraded ecommerce platform & hiring marketing support. Interested? 😉
Agreed! I’ll keep an eye out for your email. 🙂