How To Prepare Your Ethical Business For Tough Times
Specific steps you can take to prepare your ethical business for the next recession, global pandemic, social media blackout, political unrest, platform scandal, A.I. shift, wars, sales slump, or whatever tough times come next.
Here’s what we’re discussing in this post:
things to consider when preparing your business for any type of change
why it's so important to be proactive now (when you have time to prepare) instead of reactive when shit hits the fan
which things to double down on for bigger results with less time/effort/money
clear steps and support resources for preparing your business in any of the following areas
how to save money, increase your traffic/lead gen sources, open more lines of communication, and deepen bonds between your brand and your audience
Tip: click on any embedded social media post to open the post in Bluesky and join the conversation!
In the past 5 years alone, small businesses have been on a roller coaster of ups and downs unlike any we've seen in the previous 20 years. A global pandemic, stock market crash, recession, Meta scandals that led to boycotts, wars, BLM protests, oligarch protests, tariffs, and oh so much more.
I've heard a lot of business owners saying that 2025 is the most difficult time they've experienced in the last decade or two. With sales at an all-time low and lead gen, traffic, (and marketing in general) feeling harder and more expensive than ever.
We're in "unprecedented times," but there are similarities as history repeats itself.
And we can learn from what worked (and what didn't) during those times so we can successfully prepare our businesses to thrive instead of nosedive.
We asked our audience of experts in marketing, business strategy, customer experience, and more, about their experiences, stories, tips, and advice. And then translated that conversation into an actionable plan you can put in place today so that your business is ready for any storm.
Tips For When The Shit Is Already Hitting The Fan
In a post on Bluesky, Sarah Moon describes what has helped her business thrive during the ups and downs of the past 17 years and reminds us "that all things are temporary."
Every global power outage that affects Meta apps, AWS, or Google Cloud Services can make a very temporary problem feel like an eternity!
So instead of hitting the refresh button every 5 minutes and going a little crazy when things aren't working when you need them, dig into your never ending to-do list and see if there's anything on there you could knock out while you wait for things to go back to normal.
If the problem is more life-or-death, like war hitting close to home, wildfire evacuations, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc., focus on your safety first.
Most businesses can go a day or 2 without you before things start to fall apart. And, as an ethical business owner, you've probably built up a lot of trust with your people who will be very understanding and forgiving when they finally hear from you again.
Whatever the situation, if the problem affects your people ~ your customers, team members, or social media followers ~ communicate with them as early as you're able and be as transparent as possible.
Now is not the time for finding who to blame, just admit there's a problem, give them enough details to know what to expect, and then update as often as you're able.
You don't have to send a message out on every channel, but definitely use the ones most likely to be seen by the majority of the people affected and they will help you spread the word.
Preparing Your Business For Riding Out Chaos
Think of this as "past you" taking care of "future you!"
Things to consider when preparing your business for anything:
How much time you have to work on the inner parts of your business
How much money you have to outsource some of it to get it done quickly and smoothly
How some of these steps can double as making your business greener or more ethical
How some of these steps can double as improving your tech stack or systems
How some of these steps can double as marketing and building a loyal following
In other words, most of these steps are simply good business practices that will help you grow a sustainable, ethical business with die-hard loyal fans and followers.
Even if it feels like a deep dive into your systems, tech, or foundational stuff.
Most of it could be outsourced, if that's better for you. All of it can be DIY'ed if you have more time than money (or desire to do so!)
What Will Save Your Business During Tough Times
It helps to know which areas will have the biggest impact on your ethical business so you know what to focus on first as you make preparations.
Four areas stand out above the rest:
Keeping costs as low as possible (and being as debt-free as possible)
Having a strong community, network, and existing customer/client base
Having more than one traffic/lead source in place
Having more than one communication channel in place
We go into more detail, with specific examples and support for each, in the sections below.
Reducing Business Expenses Without Impeding Your Growth
This tip comes from Stephanie V. Rubio of SoVerve Marketing Group:
Now, you might be able to cancel a bunch of apps/tools/subscriptions overnight to reduce costs in a pinch. Some tools are easy to drop and reup as needed and you can wait until things get tough before cutting them.
Others require a behemoth effort to give up, like migrating your site to a better/more cost-effective platform, moving all the files in your Google Drive to another app, or rebuilding all your email templates and automations in a different tool.
That's why it's better to plan ahead with enough time to set things up and get them working before they're needed.
Start by making a list of all your business expenses. Organize the list by how much time it would take to stop using that tool entirely (or switch to the free plan.)
For any tool you could ditch overnight, double check that you really need all of them and cancel any you don't. Put the rest aside for now.
Then go through the rest of your list and compare the cost of continuing to use those things vs the cost of eliminating them from your expenses.
If you currently pay $400/month for sending all your emails ~ automated, transactional, newsletters, and so on ~ and there's a tool that can do the same thing (or better!) for less than $150/month, then it's definitely worth the time, effort, and energy to make the switch.
Even though it feels like "too big" or "too much work," it'd be better to start taking steps now when you can afford to be proactive instead or reactive.
(This email example is based on a true story from one of our clients who stayed with their Email Service Provider for way to long, despite a big price increase, because it felt like too much work to move to another tool. When we showed her the cost breakdown of how she'd save $3000/year by switching just her email automations to Fern CRM, it became a no-brainer to spend part of that hiring us to do the migration for her.)
Heck, even we didn't migrate everything to Fern CRM when we first launched it!
We started with one area ~ new sales ~ and built that in Fern CRM first.
Then we simply swapped out the links for every button on every sales page to the new checkout pages. That gave us enough time and space to slowly move over the sales pages, website, emails, automations, and more.
Personally, I really wanted to stop using Google Drive for ethical reasons (eliminating protection of LGBTQIA2s+ from hate speech in YouTube's TOS, using the info in my private docs to train their LLMs, forcing Gemini into everything, raising prices for AI features I don't agree with, and their potentially illegal business practices.)
Since this was a HUGE move, I started by not adding anything new to my Google Drive and using other tools instead. Then I started downloading and/or copy/pasting the old stuff to new tools slowly over time.
It's a huge effort, but it was only going to get worse the longer I waited because I continue to add more and more files every week.
In addition to reducing expenses, it might help to pay off debts sooner rather than later (if you're able.)
If you use the tips above to reduce your expenses, put some of that savings into paying off debt and save part of it for an emergency fund or cash flow during tough times.
Diversifying Your Traffic & Lead Gen Sources
Sarah Moon says she likes to "double down on content marketing" during trying times.
Stephanie V. Rubio says to pay attention to cycles and organic reach:
At the bare minimum, make sure you have sales leads coming in from a minimum of 2 sources that you're confident will continue to work when times are tough.
This might be content marketing (SEO stuff like blog posts, YouTube videos, etc.) and social media. Or it might be SEO content and referrals. Or foot traffic, social media, and referrals.
The more sources you have and the more diversified they are, the better off your business will be.
For example, a lot of business owners panic whenever Facebook, Instagram, and Threads goes down, partly because it affects their ability to socialize during the day, but also because they're heavily reliant on social media and/or Meta ads for sales.
It's a LOT less stressful when your blog traffic provides a large chunk of your sales leads!
Same goes for when social media platforms are caught in a scandal that leads to a boycott of that platform (like what happened after the Cambridge Analytica scandal came to light in 2018.)
Some businesses were criticized for continuing to run ads like normal because it was seen as tone-deaf, enabling Facebook by continuing to give them money, and insensitive to the large populations of people affected by the data breach and manipulating political affairs.
At the same time, some of those companies would've gone out of business or been forced to fire all their team members if they stopped running ads on Meta's ad network.
Those companies lost a lot of brand trust as a result, something that could've been avoided if they weren't so dependent on a platform with questionable ethics.
There are also times when social media becomes a place where "business as usual" needs to pause while a current event is happening.
Like when the voices of POC (people of color, especially African Americans in this case) needed to be amplified and heard on all social media outlets during the Black Lives Matter protests that followed the senseless killing of George Floyd in 2020.
Once again all businesses were expected to be silent on social media (or speak up as an ally, not an advertiser) and a lot of small business owners didn't know when it was ok to start talking about their offers again. Some were even openly criticized for trying to go back to posting about business during this time.
Taking a break from talking about your business on social media doesn't mean you need to stop selling though!
It's a lot easier to choose where you stand and how you want to show your support when your sales aren't tied to any one source that can go through major shifts, upheavals, and outages.
For more help with creating a content marketing strategy that leads to sales, start with Sarah Moon's free SEO course (which helps you with WHAT to write, as well.)
Diversifying Your Communication Channels
In good times and in bad, it's always time to keep the communication lines open between you and your buyers, potential buyers, followers, team members, and peers.
Most experts agree that email has continued to be the most effective communication tool in any brand's toolbox for tough times.
But in order for your emails to stand out in overwhelmed inboxes (like during the Black Friday season), you need to lay the proper foundation of tech plus trust.
First, emails need to land in the inbox (with good practices, good tools, and good tech setup.)
Then, you need to build relationships with your subscribers so they open the emails and train the bots that these emails are trusted.
Of course, you'll need to be consistent so that your brand stays top of mind through thick and thin.
And you'll need a message that your audience looks forward to seeing in their inbox.
But email isn't nearly enough in the 2020's and beyond!
The people in your audience expect to receive the same high-quality, on-brand support whether they're reaching out via social media DM's, calling, texting, using the chat button on your site, or any other channel that gives them access to you and your team.
So there might be times when an SMS campaign would be more effective for the message you need to send. Which requires federal approval (A2P registration) before you send your first text.
And you'll need your audience to opt-in to receiving text messages in advance.
And text messages aren't only for sending discount coupons and flash sale updates! SMS has been known to save lives, spread info quickly during protests, and provide support on the front lines.
If you want a tool that helps more of your emails land in inboxes, saves you money, and offsets the carbon pollution of your email marketing efforts, check out Fern CRM.
If you want help with email marketing strategy and content to help your emails stand out in the inbox and keep your brand top of mind, check out SoVerve Marketing Group.
And if you never know what to write because it feels like your brand on the outside doesn't match who you've become on the inside, check out Rae Design for brand strategy and messaging help.
Growing A Strong Community Or Network
Every ethical business needs to be consistently growing and deepening the relationships they have ~ with existing customers, clients, peers, team members, journalists, community members, followers, and more.
People who believe in your brand and causes will want to see you succeed and they'll make an effort to help you succeed!
Your existing audience will MISS YOU if you've bonded with them and shown up for them regularly.
So if you switch social media platforms, email providers or websites or whatever, they will follow you and help you settle in.
If you provide an authentic buyer experience and people enjoy the things they buy from you, they will naturally refer your offers to others, leave reviews, and do a lot of the marketing for you.
They'll defend you against haters in the comments. They'll comment on your ads. They'll line up to buy everything you sell.
They'll GUSH about their experiences inside your offers so that others will line up to buy from you too!
And, like everything else we've mentioned in this article, these things don't happen overnight, so it's time to start planting the seeds and nourishing your audiences now.
Brand loyalty and brand champions are created by the experiences people have with your brand, so it's something you can influence by investing time/attention/money to your nurture assets.
To find out where your buyer experiences and nurture assets bring people closer (and where they might be chasing them away), book a CX Starter Kit session and get clear steps to create deeper bonds with your brand.
Have An Online Option When Offline Isn't One (& Vice Versa!)
As Kirstin of Rae Design points out, sometimes the best source of online sales is to go offline:
And on the flip side, if most of your sales happen offline (brick & mortar businesses), the 2020 pandemic showed us that having an online option is the best backup plan.
If you sell products offline, then consider having an online store where people can purchase (whether you're willing to ship the products or they have to pick it up in the store is up to you.)
If you sell services offline (like a restaurant, hair salon, etc.), you don't need to be selling anything online right now, but get the foundation done now so it's easier to pivot quickly if something happens.
For example, a restaurant can offer online cooking classes if we ever end up in another lockdown situation. You don't have to offer classes now. You don't need to buy a camera or start a YouTube channel now (unless you want to.)
But if you have a website and you're actively collecting email addresses for the people who dine with you most often, then it will be easier to start offering online cooking classes when you need to.
Links For Further Reading And Support
Read the entire conversation that this blog post is based on at #FernTalk on Bluesky and/or join us every 2nd & 4th Wednesday to be part of the discussion ~ https://bsky.app/hashtag/FernTalk
For help with diversifying your traffic and lead sources, start with Sarah's free SEO course and/or read her blog and/or hire her to help your business be discovered by best-fit clients/customers ~ https://sarahmoon.net/
For help with your email marketing strategy and content, start with SoVerve's blog and/or hire Stephanie to help you stay top of mind in the inbox ~ https://soverve.com/
For help with your email tech and reducing expenses, check out Fern CRM and get a 15-day free trial ~ https://ferncrm.com/
If you're not sure your brand visuals and message are strong enough to stand out and survive tough times, start with the blog on Rae Design and/or hire Kirstin to fast track your brand's glow-up ~ https://rae.design/
If you want an audience of raving fans and repeat buyers who buy everything you sell and refer everyone they know, check out the Fern CX blog and/or book a CX audit to get expert eyes on your customer/client nurturing systems ~ https://ferncx.com/
Or, if you want to join a free community of ethical business owners helping each other prepare for whatever happens next, check out the Grassroots business community where we can help you grow your ethical business (without Meta!) in just 15 minutes per week ~ https://ferncrm.com/grassroots
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