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 October
TIP 1: It’s the Most Lucrative Time of the Year
Following are a few things you can do right now to position yourself for growth in Q4:
1. Make sure you’re ready to grow heading into the lucrative fourth quarter, by getting your latest and greatest products in front of affiliates, bloggers, and influencers. Touch base with them as early as possible and begin rolling out holiday product samples and seasonal content.
Note: We start to receive pitches for holiday gift guides in July! If you’d like us to consider your products for our 2024 gift guides, let us know what you have that’s suitable for AllNaturalPetCare.com, CanadianFamily.net, or here on Online Business Canada at CanadiansInternet.com. Send the details to business{at}canadianfamily.net.
2. If you’re an influencer or affiliate marketer, grow your commissions by researching hot products for Autumn 2024. Offer a good balance of trending products and your proven best sellers, switching out the trends as the latest top products are revealed in each quarter.
The following posts will get you started:
The Top Affiliate Program Categories for Amazing Autumn Sales
The Best Dropshipping Products to Sell in Autumn 2024
3. If you intend to take your products to where your customers are shopping most, it’s important to get them into online marketplaces (like Amazon) right away. The same goes for selecting and stocking your fulfillment partners (such as third-party fulfillment).
TIP 2: New Business Growth
While it may be easier and less expensive to retain customers, we still need a steady influx of new customers if we want a healthy rate of growth. It’s common to get stuck in a rut as you pursue new customers, relying on methods that may be outdated or stale.
One way to prevent that is to keep up with the latest strategies that are proving to be successful for industry leaders. It’s a tactic I employ on a regular basis to not only learn the latest best practices, but also to inspire and motivate myself. Things change fast in the online world and it literally pays to stay fresh, relevant & agile.
A couple of recent examples from my own reading are:
Lead Generation Data: Sources of the highest-quality leads according to exclusive data from Sprinklr, LinkedIn, Ascend2 and TopRank.
Survey shows how SEOs are getting new business, the kinds of clients they have, and the most popular services they offer.
TIP 3: Q4 Growth Opportunities
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how lucrative the fourth quarter can be for most niches. Whether it’s a gift or business software, you can build promotions around holidays and observances beginning in the Fall and ending as the new year is born.
We go into these opportunities further in 2024 Shopping Days in the 4th Quarter.
TIP 4: Growing with Ghosts & Goblins
Halloween may not be the holiday that comes to mind when you think of warm, fuzzy nostalgia, but you can channel some of the best memories most adults have of their childhood.
About 48.8% of Canadians who celebrate Halloween planned to spend more than $50 in 2023, according to an RCC/Caddle survey, compared to 54.3% in 2022. Another 30% will spend $51-$100. Canadians will spend most of their budgets (62.2%) on candies and eating out to celebrate Halloween.
The scary thing about Halloween for Canadian online sales, is most people do their shopping for the holiday in October. They really don’t want to hear about promotions until then. Even if you start marketing in September, they’re often not ready to buy. Additionally, we have to take away a week+ at the end of October for delivery time of online orders.
Earlier Halloween promotions should focus on branding and maintaining visibility until the ghosts & goblins start shopping. The goal is to immediately bring your brand/products to mind when consumers are ready for you. Promotions with a Halloween theme, which can be used in both B2C and B2B scenarios, can be safely started in October.
We have more tips and data for you in Canadian Halloween Stats and Online Marketing Tricks.
TIP 5: October 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 October holidays & observances with promotion potential:
Bake & Decorate Month
Book Month
Car Care Month
Child Health Month
Computer Learning Month
Cyber Security Awareness Month
Dental Hygiene Month
Dollhouse & Miniatures Month
Financial Planning Month
Kitchen & Bath Month
Pet Wellness Month
Self-Promotion Month
October content themes and slants can include Autumn, leaves, pumpkins, gratitude, and the colours orange and black. October holidays in Canada include Thanksgiving Day on October 14th and Halloween on October 31st.
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.
“Whenever a searcher lands on any page of your website, whether it is an advertised landing page, product page, or homepage, it is vitally important to quickly communicate what sets you apart from your competitors. Think of it as communicating what you do and are, as opposed to what you say or want. If you claim to be the ‘best,’ you need to provide proof.” ~ Kim Krause Berg in Digital Marketing Fundamentals, OMCP’s Official Guide to OMCA Certification.
TIP 7: News & Events
Canadian Chamber of Commerce & BDC are hosting a webinar during Small Business Week on October 23rd, to provide insight into the pool of small businesses that are scaling and scalable in Canada. Discover “what businesses are growing and how are they doing it.”
Free Shipping Tuesdays: Canada Post is offering free shipping of one package every Tuesday during Small Business Month (October).
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews & Testimonials: The rule will allow the agency to strengthen enforcement, seek civil penalties against violators, and deter AI-generated fake reviews.
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 October? Please share your ideas or questions in the comments below, or join us in the Online Business Canada Facebook group.
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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.
I’m not sure I’m ready but here we go into quarter 4! Thanks for the tips for growth every month. It’s a great idea. Wish I’d thought of it. 😀
I’m taking this time of having to deal with a bankruptcy in Canada as a blessing. If all goes well, I’ll be discharged from the bankruptcy first thing in February 2025.
In answer to your question, I will grow my online business of affiliate marketing in October by growing my audience of true fans. I will have to work on de-monetizing my blog but I have plenty of content to share from colleagues; from fine folks like you Melody; and from my surfing efforts.
I’ve only recently discovered that I can create an additional personal Facebook profile under my main profile and I look forward to adding new friends and associates there (so I don’t have to bug all my friends under the main profile). Then when the time is right I’ll turn on Facebook’s Professional Mode.
Oh BTW – thanks for that list of Q4 2024 shopping dates. The new ones for me are Green Monday and Panic Saturday, lol.