The world is hanging in economic uncertainty. From the supply chain interruptions of the pandemic to the current interest rate and everything in between, now is an important times for brands to develop resilience.
You never know when a supplier might go under, or a key material might suddenly become scarce. Changes might be in your favour, or not, and sometimes there’s very little way to predict the next economic turn. Fortunately, building resilience is natural for small businesses. There are more than a few strategies that can help you create stability where you need it most.
The Principles of Business Resilience
At the core of business resilience are the principles of adaptability, innovation, and community support. If your goal is to foster resilience that can weather disruptions and unexpected setbacks, these three principles will carry you through.
You must be prepared to adapt to changing circumstances, innovate with whatever is available, and share mutual support with your community to make it through uncertain times.
Diversify Your Supply Chain
Never rely on just one or two suppliers. Between the rising bankruptcy rate and supply chain interruptions, you never know when a supplier might fall though – temporarily or permanently. Ensure you can always source what you need by diversifying. Cultivate relationships with several suppliers who, themselves, have different sources and supply chains. This way, one interruption cannot cut off your business.
Provide Employees with Stability
Offering stability in times of uncertainty is one of the best ways to keep good workers on your staff. Provide steady hours, reliable paychecks, and continue to foster professional growth so that your internal talent becomes more skilled and valuable over time. This reduces the risk of turnover and the uncertainty of hiring.
Connect with a Broader Audience
Expand your audience. If your brand has traditionally appealed to just one niche or segment of the population, branch out. Brands often realise that they can relate to a wider audience when they look at the value of their products, not just the style or the original group that boosted their visibility.
Develop a Low-Cost Product Tier
As prices rise, especially housing and grocery prices, people are looking to spend less. Businesses that develop low-cost products are more likely to survive lean times because people will still buy necessities and small treats even when they are generally budgeting and spending less. This strategy also helps you relate to your audience, showing that you understand the belt-tightening that comes with uncertainty and that your brand isn’t so corporate that you ignore important community trends.
Innovate with Available Materials
If a material or resource becomes scarce, innovate with what you can source and what you can sell at a reasonable price. For example, if the price of cotton spikes, sell cloth items of hemp or linen instead. If you can’t get hardwoods, switch to resin casting for a while. This resilience can help brands survive supply chain interruptions and massive changes in resource pricing.
Outsource When Necessary
Small businesses can’t always do everything in-house, and that’s okay. If you need a service that is impractical to hire internally, outsource instead. Keep your internal team focused on your core business model. You can save time and money on high-performance business operations by outsourcing.
Here’s why it works: Highly capable outsource teams like IT or marketing are made up of full-time specialists. Any one small business only needs a few hours of work each week, and and budgeting a whole department is inefficient. Outsourcing teams split their time, providing the full force of their department-sized expertise between several clients for the optimal use of money, time, and talent.
In other words, outsourcing provides resilience for everyone involved.
Gain the Support of Your Community
Lastly, connect with your community, both local and online. Get involved with your local community by sponsoring events, participating in festivals, and becoming a known local business. Connect with your online community through social media events and a supportive brand image. Your community can carry you through hard times in return for your ongoing support in return.
Stay Resilient with Oracle Tree
As a digital marketing agency, Oracle Tree can help you build resilience through a growing online presence and affordable full-service marketing support. Small businesses can gain a great deal through thoughtful diversification, innovation, and outsourcing. We’re here to help. Contact Oracle Tree today to discover how we can support your small business in resilient brand development.
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