Branding isn’t made complete with the creation of your logo – it also requires consistency in graphic design, colour choices, customer service, lingo and spelling. This is especially true right now, at a time when brands worldwide are feeling the need to reassure their clients that they are true to their roots, wherever those roots may be. The question is, what does that mean in 2025 for Canadian large and small businesses whose digital marketing campaigns reach potential customers at home and abroad?
There has been a trend, since the very start of e-commerce, to strip identity from products and web content so that they won’t seem out of place to the eye of a buyer in the United States. Having written sales copy, web content and various types of business literature for international companies over the past 15+ years, I know that the go-to method for making a Canadian or online brand “marketable in the US” is to use non-regional spelling and avoid talking about the roots of the business.
The US is a huge market, and the assumption has been that being non-American makes products and services unpalatable to consumers in the U.S. Is that actually true? I don’t think so, but perhaps we’re all about to find out.
Consider this – what makes the following products extra-special?
Parisian fashion
German ale
Swiss chocolate
Columbian coffee
Mexican tequila
Korean (K) pop
Persian rugs
These products aren’t just clothes, beer, chocolate, etcetera. They are more than that because the reputation of the nation from which they come boosts their reputation for high quality. People want Swiss chocolate. They want the branding to look Swiss when they buy it, because that makes it more real; more of a delicacy and more enjoyable.
It's Okay to Stand Out When Marketing Your Canadian Brand Over the Border
Do people want generic items? Sometimes, yes. There’s a reason that you can never find a parking spot at Costco, even on a Wednesday morning. Despite that, most people make space in their budget for something truly special to them – be it South American Fairtrade coffee, locally-brewed craft beer, or a bottle of Moroccan argan oil.
So, let’s think about this again. Do we dare to reveal our true identities as (gasp) a non-American entity offering products and services to people outside of our home community?
Well, why not? What’s wrong with being a Canadian business or brand? What’s wrong with being a German, Swiss, Japanese, Thai or Mexican brand? The international businesses in our network work very hard to succeed and create good relationships with their customers in all regions. This is something everyone should be proud of, without having to don a generic persona in order not to raise any alarm flags in a foreign market.
Ask yourself, what is your brand losing by its detachment from your national identity? What is your national identity losing by its detachment from your brand? Think of what our entire community stands to gain from the success of your brand. What if Canadian businesses are the world’s best at timber framing, smart farming or SEO, but nobody (including Canadians) know that because we’ve been trained to hide amongst American companies? How can we know our own identity as businesspeople, entrepreneurs and marketers if we no longer even know whether we’re supposed to spell it “flavor” or “flavour”? Or why?
Promote Canadian Excellence with Your Amazing Canadian Business
In 2025, attacks on the mere idea of diversity are so rampant that people are actually losing their jobs – and that’s caused a great divide among people who are and who are not sick of stripping away their identities just to survive in business. It’s not just about nationality, at this point; it’s about human beings who are being made to feel that they do not belong in the world of success.
I’d like to say that it’s time to come out of hiding. Be Canadian. Be Ethiopian. Be gay. Be obsessed with the colour blue. Be whoever you are. Just be passionate and ambitious about what you do, and we will help you reach your business goals and achieve your entrepreneurial dreams. Right now, your neighbours are looking for businesses just like yours, run by people just like you.
More than ever, Canadians want their groceries, chain restaurant experiences, packaged goods, software solutions, clothing and other purchases to come from Canadian brands.
Do you have something to offer your community? Yell about it! Get it out there on the shelves!
And when you need some more strategic marketing, you know where to turn.
We’ve got your back!
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