• by Megan Boveri , April 22, 2025

A familiar adage always comes to mind during economic turbulence: "Tough times never last, but tough people do." Resilience in business isn’t about waiting out the storm. It’s about steering directly into it with clear eyes, decisiveness and focus.

As someone who has led through downturns and slowdowns, these are the five strategies I’ve seen work firsthand when times get tight.

Focus on your new business pipeline and organic growth. Growth is a long game, but when you’re in survival mode, get hyper-focused on prospecting and visiting dormant leads. Investing in marketing for your brand during recession periods is strongly associated with positive shareholder value, customer loyalty, and superior long-term profitability.

Just as important is the organic growth you can achieve by investing in the clients you already have and delivering results. Retention isn’t just cheaper than acquisition, it's a sign of strength.

Create new revenue sources. Downturns force teams to think differently and get creative. This is a good time to develop new offerings tailored to your customers' emerging pain points. With tighter purse strings comes a heightened emphasis on more efficient, targeted, measurable, and proven media. The pressure of a recession often leads to fresh, efficient ideas to maximize ad spend.

Expand innovative offerings. Proactively help your customers navigate economic uncertainty by leaning into innovative solutions such as media automation, AI-driven optimization, and performance media products that can show real ROI. These solutions can support an adjusted portfolio mix based on consumers’ recession shopping habits.

Retain and reward talent. Recession-proof your business by protecting the people who power it. And build trust not only with your customers, but also internally with your team to support the creative rigor needed to innovate and compete. This means rewarding high performers, recognizing potential, and being transparent about tough calls.

Keep a steady hand and right the ship. There’s nothing more important than leadership with conviction. When the environment is shaky, teams need a sense of direction and a reason to believe. It’s crucial to overcommunicate, celebrate small wins, and keep everyone focused on what they can control. Clarity is calming. And calm is contagious.

No one can predict a downturn, but you can avoid knee-jerk reactions that give in to short-term impulses. How you manage your business through an economic slowdown largely determines how it comes out on the other side.