Helping Small Businesses Build a Connected Online Growth System for 2026 with SCORE

On Tuesday, January 28, 2026, SCORE hosted a live online webinar titled “Build Your 2026 Online Growth Machine: Connect Content, SEO, Social & AI for Real Results.” Award-winning mentor and digital growth strategist Ines led the session, guiding entrepreneurs, local business owners, and early-stage founders through a practical framework for building a sustainable and measurable online growth system.

SCORE, a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration, supports small businesses through mentoring, education, and workshops designed to promote long-term success. Through its Los Angeles chapter, SCORE continues to offer business owners access to experienced professionals like Ines, whose work focuses on helping organizations move away from fragmented marketing tactics and toward clarity-driven growth systems.

Ines opened the session by addressing a challenge many business owners face today: marketing has become louder, faster, and more complex, yet results often remain unclear. Many businesses invest in content, social media, SEO, or automation tools without a connected strategy, leading to wasted time, misaligned budgets, and inconsistent outcomes. The webinar emphasized the importance of stepping back before investing further, so growth decisions are made with intention rather than guesswork.

The session introduced a systems-based approach to online growth, built around three core stages: Find You, Trust You, and Choose You. Ines explained how discoverability through search and local SEO plays a critical role in how customers first encounter a business, while trust is built through clear messaging, consistent content, reviews, and social proof. Finally, she highlighted how nurturing, follow-up, and conversion paths turn attention into action. Together, these stages form a connected journey rather than isolated marketing efforts.

Throughout the webinar, Ines highlighted common mistakes that limit growth, including outsourcing marketing without understanding the basics, chasing new platforms instead of building repeatable systems, measuring vanity metrics instead of meaningful outcomes, and using tools in isolation. She emphasized that these challenges are rarely caused by lack of effort, but rather by lack of structure and clarity across channels.

A key part of the session focused on a simple three-phase framework: Audit, Fix, and Measure, Automate & Grow.Participants learned how to audit their website, Google Business Profile, social presence, and discovery paths to understand how customers actually find and evaluate their business. From there, Ines walked through how to fix gaps in messaging, consistency, and trust signals, using free and accessible tools to improve clarity and alignment. The final phase focused on measuring what matters, running small experiments, using light automation, and building a realistic roadmap for long-term growth.

The webinar also addressed the growing role of AI in marketing. Rather than positioning AI as a replacement for strategy, Ines showed how it can support productivity, content clarity, review responses, and local visibility when used with intention and oversight. She emphasized that while AI adoption is widespread, effectiveness comes from having a clear framework and purpose, not simply using more tools.

Attendees responded positively to the session, noting the clarity of the frameworks, the practical examples shared, and the emphasis on sustainable systems over short-term tactics. Many participants shared that the webinar helped them better understand where their online efforts were misaligned and gave them confidence in what to prioritize next as they plan for 2026.

For business owners seeking personalized support, Ines encourages entrepreneurs to connect with her as a SCORE mentor, book her as a speaker for future workshops, or schedule a complimentary strategy session. These options allow businesses to apply the frameworks discussed during the webinar to their unique goals, challenges, and growth stage.

Next Steps for Entrepreneurs:

👉 Connect with Ines for Speaking or Mentoring

👉 Schedule a Complimentary 30-Minute Strategy Session (never put the link to Ines' calendar on the website)

👉 For an In-depth Program Designed to Help Your Business Grow: Explore the Online Growth Accelerator Program