10 Ideas to Grow Your Small Business in 2025

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However, global survey data of small businesses conducted by digital marketing platform provider LocalIQ found that nearly half (48%) cited economic uncertainty, and 45% said gaining new customers will continue to be challenging in 2025.

But what small business owner isn’t up for a challenge?

With an eye on brighter horizons, we offer 10 suggestions for things you can do to try to accelerate your small business’s growth in 2025:

1. Embrace Sustainability and Eco-Friendly Practices

With global warming and climate change concerns steadily increasing, demonstrate to your employees and customers your commitment to embracing sustainability, green practices, and lowering your business’s carbon footprint as much as possible.

There are many inexpensive ways to do so. For example, ensure your business minimizes waste and has a recycling and composting program. Use energy-efficient lighting and appliances or equipment. Also, use eco-friendly packaging for products and install water-efficient faucets and fixtures in your shop, building, or office to cut consumption and lower your water bill.

Consumers are increasingly choosing to support companies that demonstrate environmental responsibility, especially among Millennials and Gen Z, who are willing to pay more for eco-conscious products and services.

2. Integrate Omnichannel Marketing

Omnichannel marketing is a term used in e-commerce and retail industries to describe a business strategy that provides a flawless, smooth shopping experience across all marketing channels, including websites, email, social media, and e-commerce. But it’s not exclusive to retail, per se.

Take small steps and build as you go (don’t try to do everything from the get-go). For instance: 

• Offer customers click-and-collect options. Customers can make a purchase online and pick it up at your store to save on packaging.
• Embrace email marketing to keep in touch with your customers and offer them exclusive deals so they’ll return to buy from you again. 
• Understand who your customers are and map their journeys across all possible touchpoints.
• Use online surveys and analyze your data to gain customer insights. Then, use those insights to determine what content and communication methods will serve them best.
• Keep your Google My Business profile updated and ensure its information is consistent with your website’s information.
• Provide your customers with multiple payment options.

3. Optimize Your Website for AI Searches

Consumers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) tools or AI-powered search engines with their queries. That’s a significant game-changer. Analyze and understand the search queries commonly used in AI searches (i.e., keyword research). These usually are in the form of questions people ask online.

The answers should formulate the core focus of your content for web pages, blog articles, and product and service descriptions. However, there must be a balance between producing content for consumers and search engines. For example, grasp the consumer’s or user’s intent by understanding their questions and matching it to the answers users want, such as learning about a specific product. Your answers should be concise, allowing AI to pull that information directly at their desired word length.

Also, when updating your SEO strategy, focus on ‘entities’, which are well-defined concepts, people, places, or things that search engines can recognize. As Google and other search engines shift away from relying heavily on keyword density, incorporating relevant entities into your content can enhance context and relevance. For instance, an auto garage can mention its city or neighbourhood in its content to help improve its rankings and visibility in search results.

Lastly, be the subject matter expert on the topics you write about, and get references or backlinks from your content to authoritative sources or websites.

4. Provide Personalized Customer Service Experiences

Give every customer the “white glove” treatment. In other words, provide personalized customer service by being attentive and responsive to customer needs and issues. 

Follow up with them by email after they buy from you to thank them and offer additional help if needed. Doing so shows you care about them, builds trust, and could possibly generate more business.

5. Prioritize Mobile and Social Commerce

Consumers are increasingly researching their buying options and making purchases on mobile devices.

According to Salesforce, 59% of shoppers said they’d made a purchase on social media in 2023 – a nearly fourfold increase from the 15% who said so in 2021 – and 60% use their mobile devices in-store. Furthermore, almost 40 million people live in Canada. Statista states that 33 million of us owned a smartphone in 2024.

Knowing that suggests optimizing your website and social channels to make it easy for consumers to buy via mobile phone or tablet is the way to go.

6. Optimize Your Website for Voice Searches

An estimated 40% of English-speaking Canadians use smart speakers with voice-activated integrated virtual assistant features, like Google Alexa, Amazon Echo, or Apple Siri. Moreover, research by Adobe found that 40% of users who heard voice ads or search results for a specific product or service on smart speakers in 2019 purchased that product or service.

Enhance your website’s content and ensure it’s concise and easy to understand so that smart speaker voice assistants can relay your company’s details, products, and services for voice-activated searches.

7. Consider Using Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI will continue to play an outsized role in our daily lives and for businesses, too. Learning how to harness AI for everything from initial customer interactions to content creation and data analysis may give your business an edge. But be careful! Using AI comes with liability risks. 

Our free downloadable Small Business Artificial Intelligence (AI) Handbook can help guide small businesses on how to use AI safely to grow.

8. Support Local Charities and Community Causes

Show support for your community by championing positive social causes and supporting local charities. 

Participating in charity drives and fundraising initiatives to help others in your region helps drive employee satisfaction, and it demonstrates to customers that your business is a vital part of your community’s fabric. That can increase your brand’s loyalty and attract new customers whose values align with yours.

9. Review and Update Business Insurance Coverage

Did you think we’d skip mentioning the importance of reviewing and updating your business insurance? We’d be remiss if we did. The fact is having a customized, comprehensive business insurance policy is vital to protecting your financial wellness, enhancing trust with your customers, and serving as the backbone of your business continuity plan.

For example, your business may have expanded, reduced, or changed its products and services or hired more employees in 2024. Maybe you renovated your business property, or your annual revenues increased. These are all reasons to review your existing coverage and ensure you have adequate coverage limits to account for such changes. A Zensurance broker can help you do that.

10. Improve the Employee Experience

Your employees are on the frontline, serving your customers across all touchpoints. They are your brand ambassadors charged with delighting your customers. You can’t improve the customer’s experience with unhappy or unmotivated employees. So, treat them well and foster a positive work environment and workplace culture.  

If possible, offer them hybrid or remote work options, invest in training them to grow their skills and knowledge, and empower them to take control of their careers and roles.

Get the Commercial Insurance Protection Your Small Business Needs to Thrive in 2025

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