When handing over the reins to an external agency tanked her sales, handbag designer Megan Jackman went back to the personal and affordable approach that helped her build her audience in the first place.Maria Hillier
When handbag designer Megan Jackman hired a marketing agency six years ago, she thought it would accelerate her growing business. Instead, sales tanked.
“They basically went right to zero,” says Ms. Jackman, founder of Ragmaw Design House in St. John’s, adding that customers noticed almost immediately that the brand was no longer speaking in the same voice.
She went back to the low-budget tactic she had used to build her business in the first place: showing up authentically on Instagram. Every Thursday at 2 p.m., Ms. Jackman goes live, showing off new designs to her 48,000 followers.
This personal – and affordable – approach remains the backbone of the marketing strategy for the business, which now employs 12 people and ships products across North America. As rising costs squeeze small-business budgets, companies are increasingly turning to creative marketing tactics that don’t require big spends, often achieving better results than with traditional media.
“Everything costs more money, so margins are tighter than ever,” says Jocelyn Rhindress, senior manager of business resource initiatives at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). “A lot of small businesses are leaning into more grassroots marketing, leveraging social-media storytelling, community partnerships.”
More than half of CFIB’s 100,000 members have fewer than 10 employees, and they’re facing pressure from tariffs, rising costs and the Canada Post strike. For many, traditional advertising is no longer a viable option.
“Not many people have the budgets to remain relevant” through constant paid advertising, says Stephen Flynn, co-founder of Wunder, a Halifax marketing agency that specializes in guerrilla tactics. “Creativity is the weapon that comes to play to try and overcome that.”
Mr. Flynn says his clients are moving away from buying eyeballs through traditional media. “We have always been proponents of trying to get people’s attention, which is much more valuable than just getting [your message] out there in front of the masses.”
For Dave Theodoropoulos, chief marketing officer of Candy Funhouse, the cultural shift meant rethinking the entire business model. “We are a content company that just happens to sell candy, versus the other way around,” he says. “Content is everything for us.”
Candy Funhouse started as a single brick-and-mortar store in Cambridge, Ont., in 2018, but moved online a year later. Now based in Mississauga, the company has built a following by creating ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) organization videos, methodically arranging its colourful candy into neat compartments. One of its most popular videos has more than 180 million views.
Its creative approach to digital content was so compelling that two-time NBA MVP and Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo became an investor and co-owner after seeing the company’s social content.
The Candy Funhouse team is constantly thinking outside the traditional marketing playbook box. When it wanted to hire for a role it named “chief candy officer,” which involved paying someone a $100,000 annual salary to eat candy as the face of the brand, it received 200,000 applications in 30 days. The hiring process became a story itself, generating media coverage without spending any money on ads. It’s now developing the experience into a reality show.
Two-time NBA MVP and Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo became an investor and co-owner in Candy Funhouse after seeing the company’s social content, resulting in creative collaborations including his own candy-inspired basketball shoes.Nick Monroe/Milwaukee Bucks
Mr. Theodoropoulos is always looking for ways to evoke emotion from the audience. “When I ask anyone what’s their favourite product, they often go to what they grew up on, and there’s a memory tied to that,” he says. “We use social media to connect people to products through nostalgia or discovery.”
CFIB’s Ms. Rhindress points to other creative approaches gaining traction, including in smaller, local markets. For example, in Moncton, a coalition of downtown businesses organized a shop hop event promoted through social media, encouraging customers to visit multiple stores and collect stamps in a “Downtown Passport.” The goal was to help drive traffic across all participating businesses.
“The merchants were thrilled, with some of them [having] the busiest Saturday they’ve seen,” says Melissa Drisdelle, membership engagement co-ordinator for Downtown Moncton Centreville. All merchants saw a sales increase, with six of seven reporting results “far beyond expectations.”
Social media was a key marketing tool for the event. “A really well-crafted Instagram reel or clever Facebook campaign can actually have just as much impact as traditional advertising,” Ms. Rhindress says.
Digital tools are also helping level the marketing playing field. CFIB research shows 41 per cent of Canadian small businesses are using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. Of those, 84 per cent are applying the tools to content creation, drafting social-media posts, marketing copy and customer communications.
Mr. Theodoropoulos says his team is still figuring out where AI fits.
“There’s something to be said about how you leverage AI, where we want to be an authentic brand,” he says. “Is it a tool that we can successfully leverage, or is it something we shy away from?”
Ms. Jackman says consistency trumps trends. She’s learned that what feels repetitive to her is actually reassuring to her audience. “For customers, that’s only like 0.009 per cent of their entire week,” she says. “To them, it’s consistent. It’s reliable.”
The power of authentic marketing became clear to Ms. Jackman when she stepped back from social media while caring for her sick grandmother, and sales stagnated. When she returned with renewed energy, the business took off again, proof that her presence is what customers connected with.
The trade-off is time. What businesses are unable to spend in dollars, they’re investing in hours: creating content, engaging with followers and building community. For small businesses competing against larger companies with bigger budgets, it’s their competitive advantage.
Ms. Jackman, who left a career as a pharmacist to run her business full-time, says the lesson is clear: “Have your own voice. Show up as if you are speaking with people at a coffee shop. Be consistent so that people know what to expect from you.”