Navigating Economic Uncertainty:
Five Strategies for Strengthening Your Business

The headlines are grim regarding the health of most industries right now. High interest rates, inflation, a drama-rich election cycle, etc. Yet many business owners, including myself, don’t want to simply hit the pause button on growing and nurturing the business simply because we face another round of uncertainty. It feels like the one thing we can count on is some form of uncertainty these days.

I wanted to share some things we’ve learned over the last 25 years of delivering web solutions for our clients. Some of these insights are specific to our service offerings, and some are related to moves we’ve made ourselves or for our clients that appeared rock solid in hindsight. We’ll leave all those terrible decisions for another day.

At each downturn, we learned valuable lessons that helped Cascade and our clients position themselves for success during and following the disruptions. Here are five strategies that have proven effective:

 

1. Overhaul Processes

Socrates once said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” The same could be said about a business. Giving internal processes a thorough scrub down when times are lean and the team is light on work can pay significant dividends almost immediately. We are currently evaluating our processes from the initial interaction, to project outlines, often resulting in project proposals, which translate to clear tasks and milestones for project management, making client communications go smoothly, all the way to delivering the site and issuing invoices to settle up. This applies to tools used in the operation of the business as well. Maybe you need to get rid of some aging equipment or eliminate unnecessary software subscriptions or redundancies. We’re happy to share how we went about this, but we find the process is as unique as any business.
 

2. Brand Update

It’s always exciting and often challenging to engage in a brand refresh or complete rebrand effort. We’re currently involved in a rather robust effort now to update our brand mark and messaging. This rolls into a new website, updates to all our social channels, internal assets, marketing materials, as well as some fun new branded items. Stay tuned! There are few better ways to reassure the market that you are moving forward than by refreshing how you show up and what you stand for in a visual way. If it’s been a number of years since you’ve considered a brand update, I highly recommend you consider this investment to clearly show all stakeholders that you are in it for the long haul.
 

3. Future Proof Website with Audits

Following the pandemic, many clients came to us looking for suggestions on how to boost their websites without breaking the bank. From that, we began a more formal audit service with five key areas of focus: security, accessibility, Google PageSpeed Insights, design, and marketing. The first three are pretty objective requirements in this day and age. All three are evolving quickly and have stiff consequences (financial, legal, and visibility wise) if you fail to meet or exceed standards. We recommend clients engage in these every 12-18 months. While marketing and design are more subjective, it’s amazing what relatively small investments can contribute to the shelf life of a website.
 

4. Innovate!

What got you here won’t get you there. This mantra has been a constant at Cascade. We're in the software business, and fortune favors the curious. We are currently making updates to the administrative UI and UX on the Evergreen platform, migrating to new servers for hosted client sites, and prioritizing product roadmap goals. It’s meaningful work that results in good vibes and new offerings. We have good news to share with clients at each step. All companies are unique, but it's always proven valuable to make the most of these opportunities where idle hands can be applied to important innovations within the business.
 

5. Solidify Partnerships

Cascade has some incredible design, development, and marketing partnerships. Some go back over 20 years! Now is a great time to check in with your partners, evaluate what is working and not working, and explore how you can help each other navigate lean times. Innovate together. I have really enjoyed meeting with partners to learn more about their wins and challenges. We’ve identified some exciting ways to ensure success and benefited from mentoring each other through these strange times.
 

I hope these ideas spark areas where you can make wise investments in the future of your company. Are there others that did not make my list that have worked for you? I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share in the comments or reach out to me directly.

Onward!

Ben McKinley, CEO & Founder, Cascade Web Development