By Brett Thomas, Owner of Rhino Web Studios, New Orleans, LA
In the early 1930s, the world was a mess. The stock market had tanked, banks were folding like cheap lawn chairs, and the unemployment line stretched longer than a Mardi Gras parade. It was called the Great Depression for a reason—because everything kinda sucked.
Except Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola didn’t just survive the Great Depression. It grew.
Let me repeat that for the people in the back: while most companies were clenching their wallets like a gator clamping down on dinner, Coca-Cola was out there growing its business like it was springtime.
So what did they do? Did they have a secret stash of gold bars? A wormhole to the future? An ancient marketing scroll from Atlantis?
Nope. They just refused to disappear.
While others pulled back, Coca-Cola doubled down on being seen. They stayed in front of customers—on billboards, in print, in every shop window they could afford. They understood something that most business owners didn’t (and still don’t): people don’t buy from ghosts.
Visibility isn’t a luxury during tough times—it’s lifeblood.
Now, let’s fast forward to today. Modern-day businesses might not be peddling soda in a five-cent bottle, but they’re facing the same storm clouds. Inflation, instability, AI eating half the internet—it’s weird out there.
And yet, the same question lingers: disappear, or show up?
For Coca-Cola, showing up meant taking over the world. For a local business in 2025, it means making sure a potential customer can find a website that doesn’t look like it was coded on a flip phone. It means making sure that website actually says something. And I’m not talking about “Welcome to our homepage!” in 14 different shades of beige.
Look, let’s be honest. Some websites out there are like abandoned Waffle Houses. No signage, no lights, and if someone does stumble inside, there’s no menu—just a bunch of broken links and outdated photos from 2009. A potential customer lands on that? They’re hitting the back button so fast it registers on the Richter scale.
Meanwhile, the business owner is in the back office wondering why sales are down.
Coca-Cola didn’t wait for things to turn around. They made them turn around by refusing to be forgotten. And in 2025, the best way to avoid being forgotten is to control your online presence.
That doesn’t mean throwing cash into every trendy ad platform like a blackjack table in Biloxi. It means having a clear, clean website. One that’s fast. One that works on mobile. One that doesn’t make people squint or scroll sideways or guess what the business actually does.
It means showing up on Google when someone searches for your service. And yes, that takes SEO (search engine optimization for the uninitiated—or as I like to call it, “getting Google to notice you without buying it flowers”).
It means having content that tells a story—not just facts, but the reason people should care. News flash: people don’t care that a company was “founded in 2008 by a group of passionate innovators.” They care about whether the business can solve a problem and make life easier.
It means posting stuff now and then. Doesn’t have to be daily. Just… exist. Stay on the radar. Let people know the lights are still on and the business is still kicking.
Coca-Cola didn’t become an empire because they had the best recipe for sugar water. They became an empire because they refused to stop telling the world they were there.
So here’s the uncomfortable truth: the business that stays visible—even just a little—is going to outlast the one that doesn’t. The flashy billboard of 1933? That’s today’s homepage. The radio jingle? That’s your blog post or video. The store sign on Main Street? That’s your Google Business profile.
When things get tough, most people get quiet. That’s human nature. But business isn’t about nature—it’s about showing up anyway. Even when it feels pointless. Even when the economy is wobbling like a drunk uncle at Jazz Fest.
Because someone out there is still buying. Someone still needs help. And if a business is showing up while everyone else is hiding, guess who gets the call?
The digital landscape might be crowded, but silence is the fastest way to disappear in it. A business doesn’t have to be loud. Just consistent. Just clear. Just present.
That’s what Coca-Cola figured out almost a century ago. And if they could sell fizzy sugar water during the Great Depression, then today’s business can absolutely sell something useful—with a decent website and a little strategy.
So if it feels like the world’s tilting sideways and customers are disappearing like beads after Mardi Gras, take a breath. Then take a page out of Coca-Cola’s old playbook.
Stay visible. Tell the story. Keep showing up.
Because in the end, the companies that stand the test of time aren’t always the biggest or the flashiest.
They’re the ones that refuse to vanish.
