In this exclusive CanadianSME Small Business Magazine interview, Faiz Cheema, Founder and CEO of Digitalise, reveals how data-driven strategy and creative storytelling are helping SMBs achieve meaningful growth in a crowded digital landscape. Drawing from a decade of entrepreneurial and marketing experience across multiple industries and continents, Faiz has built an agency that empowers brands to optimize campaigns, target the right audiences, and build customer trust—bridging the gap between analytics and impactful results for small businesses ready to scale.
Faiz Cheema is the Founder and CEO of Digitalise, a Canadian marketing agency helping small and medium-sized businesses grow through data-driven strategies, automation, and creative storytelling. With over a decade of experience in marketing and digital transformation, Faiz has built multiple ventures across food, technology and marketing. Under his leadership, Digitalise has partnered with clients across North America, the Middle East and Asia, empowering brands to scale with measurable results.
Digitalise emphasizes data-driven strategies that redefine how businesses approach marketing. What led you to recognize the need for a more analytical and performance-focused approach for small and medium-sized businesses?
The idea for Digitalise came from observing how many small and medium-sized businesses were investing in marketing without truly understanding their performance metrics. I noticed a pattern agencies were focusing on aesthetics and trends, while business owners were asking, “What’s my return?” That gap between creativity and measurable impact inspired me to build a more data-centric agency. We started emphasizing analytics, attribution and automation giving our clients clear visibility into how every dollar spent translates into leads, sales and growth. Our approach allows SMBs to compete like enterprise brands by using real-time data to optimize campaigns and make smarter decisions. I wanted to shift marketing from guesswork to growth science empowering businesses to scale sustainably with confidence.
Your agency highlights delivering qualified leads as a core strength. For many SMBs competing in crowded markets, what does it take to consistently target and reach the right audience, and what mistakes should they avoid?
Reaching the right audience starts with clarity understanding your ideal customer, their pain points and how your product genuinely solves their problem. At Digitalise, we spend significant time defining audience personas and building data models around behavior, not assumptions. From there, we use precise segmentation, AI-driven targeting, and continuous optimization across paid and organic channels. The biggest mistake SMBs make is chasing vanity metrics likes, clicks, or impressions without linking them to conversions or business goals. Another is spreading budgets too thin across too many platforms.
My advice: focus deeply on two or three high-performing channels, test relentlessly and let data guide decisions.
Digitalise puts a strong focus on omni-channel campaigns. How do you balance creativity with analytical precision across multiple platforms to ensure both customer delight and measurable ROI for SMB clients?
Omni-channel success is about synergy, with every platform serving a purpose within the customer journey. At Digitalise, we start with storytelling crafting a unified message that resonates emotionally. Then we integrate data and automation tools to track engagement, measure conversion paths and identify drop-off points. Our creative team focuses on building content that connects, while our analytics team ensures it converts. This balance helps us deliver campaigns that are both engaging and accountable. For SMBs, this approach is crucial; they can’t afford campaigns that just look good. Every post, ad, and email must tie back to measurable outcomes like leads, sales, or repeat customers.
Digitalise has worked with diverse industries, from e-commerce skincare to beverage brands in Asia. What are a few cross-industry lessons that Canadian SMBs can apply to strengthen their positioning and accelerate growth?
Working across markets has taught us that the fundamentals of growth are universal: customer experience, consistency, and clarity. For instance, our e-commerce clients in skincare focus heavily on education building trust through transparency about ingredients and benefits. Beverage brands, on the other hand, excel in creating lifestyle-driven storytelling and community engagement. Canadian SMBs can blend both use storytelling to humanize their brand while providing clear, data-backed proof of value. Another lesson is agility; international markets often move faster in testing new tools and trends. Adopting a test-and-learn mindset allows Canadian businesses to stay ahead. Success comes from combining local authenticity with global marketing discipline.
As Canadian small businesses navigate digital transformation, what final piece of advice would you share with entrepreneurs on how to maximize their marketing investments and build long-term customer trust?
My biggest advice is to view marketing as an investment, not an expense. Every campaign should serve a measurable purpose whether it’s awareness, acquisition, or retention. Too often, businesses stop at the first sale, but long-term success comes from nurturing relationships. Focus on creating value at every stage of the customer journey through personalized communication, transparency, and genuine responsiveness. At Digitalise, we emphasize retention as much as acquisition because loyal customers are the best marketers. Lastly, embrace data. When you understand your audience behavior, you can make smarter decisions, adapt faster, and build trust through consistency and results. Trust isn’t built overnight; it’s built through clarity and care over time.
