I don’t believe in stopping work altogether during this crisis. Even if your business has to shut its doors for a while, you can still use this opportunity to get ahead on your content marketing, or audit your website.
I also believe companies should still be blogging and posting on social media per their normal schedules – you don’t want people to forget you exist, or to wonder if you went out of business. Everyone is online more than ever, so if your company isn’t online, you’re missing every opportunity to get in front of your customers who are now staying home as much as possible.
You can absolutely mention COVID-19 in your marketing materials, but keep in mind that it’s a sensitive subject, so there’s a right way and a wrong way to talk about it to your customers. If you’re not sure what those best practices are, we’ll take the guesswork out of it for you by providing our top tips here:
Table of Contents
Do’s
1) Keep It Light … But Not Too Light
A lot of people are panicking. Even those who have not been directly affected by the virus are afraid that they or someone they love could get sick – or might already be sick – and there’s nothing they can do about it. The fact that this virus can be spread by people who don’t even know they’re sick because they aren’t experiencing any symptoms makes it that much more terrifying.
So find a way to lighten the mood (while still being respectful of the seriousness of the situation). People need a break from the bleak news that’s coming from their TVs and social media feeds, so give them something to laugh at. It could be a cute or funny animal photo/video (always a winner), it could be something funny someone said to you, or a particularly great meme that’s sure to get everyone laughing. Just be sure to run it by your team first to make sure you aren’t accidentally offending anyone or making too light of the situation at hand.
2) Update Your Marketing and Advertising Efforts
A certain company that sells over-the-counter medicine to help people manage their cold and flu symptoms so they can get back to work is still running ads talking about how their product can keep people working while they’re sick. Since all the recommendations right now are to stay home if you’re sick, that’s a very poorly timed advertisement. It was released a few months ago, before anyone had heard of COVID-19, but it’s still playing on some streaming devices during this pandemic, which is a terrible idea.
If you have any advertisements – whether they’re TV commercials, billboards, or Google Ad campaigns – that were fine a few months ago, but might send a bad message now, cancel them ASAP. They could end up doing your brand much more harm than good, and it can be tough to come back from that.
If you have old content on your website that could be construed as being insensitive to the current crisis, you can unpublish that page or post. That way you don’t have to delete the content, but you can make sure no one stumbles upon it, even by accident. After we’ve gotten through this and you’re sure to be safe from offending anyone, you can republish your content.
3) Be Uplifting
If humor isn’t your thing, or if you’re afraid of getting it wrong (which is a completely valid fear when it comes to humor), then forget the jokes and find ways to be uplifting instead. Celebrate your customers. Feature your employees. Acknowledge that these are tough times, but that we’ll get through them because we’re resilient and this is what we do.
As a marketing professional, I have to say that, ideally, you should find a way to tie it all into your products/services, but be subtle about it. You want to make it clear what you’re advertising, but you don’t want to come off as crass or give the impression you’re trying to take advantage of the situation.
4) Be Careful About Keywords
A lot of people are talking about the coronavirus and COVID-19 and even more people are using search terms that include one or both of those words as they look for more information on the disease.
As a result, there are bound to be people taking advantage of the situation by using related keywords to promote products or services that have nothing to do with the virus – or worse, to spread misinformation.
Google and the various social media channels have all gotten very good at cracking down on these kinds of sites, but sometimes they go a little too far and blacklist harmless content with certain keywords. In order to make sure you don’t become a casualty, you’ll want to make sure you avoid – or at least limit – your use of keywords directly related to the virus.
Don’ts
1) Make Fun of COVID-19 or Those Who Get Sick
While we’re all for providing a little levity during a stressful time, there’s a difference between lightening the mood and making fun of a very serious illness or those who fall ill. Any time you write a piece of content, you should always take into account the human element. That’s true even when there isn’t a global crisis, but it’s even more important when we are in crisis mode. Remember that real people are getting sick, dying, losing loved ones, losing their jobs.
You can make fun of the fact that most of us are stuck at home and some of the stress that’s causing many people, as well as how some people are choosing to deal with it, but don’t make fun of the virus itself or those who are getting sick. It’s also best to keep politics out of your marketing materials, but that one is up to you. There is always humor to be found in every situation, but only if you tread carefully.
2) Give Bad Advice
The point of content marketing is to position yourself as an authority in your industry by providing valuable tips people can actually use in their day-to-day lives. It’s a great way to get that buy-in from prospects by convincing them you actually know what you’re talking about and can deliver real results.
No matter how hard you work to build a reputation of reliability and authority, it doesn’t take much do undo all that work. One false statistic can be enough to destroy a lifetime of credibility, so be very careful about everything you say online and to your customers. If you aren’t 100% certain that something is factual, don’t include it in your content.
With all the new information we’re getting on COVID-19, it’s best not to say anything directly about the disease in your marketing material, because something we all think is true right now might be disproven later. For example, if you published content a few weeks ago assuirng your audience they don’t need to go out and buy masks if they’re not already sick or working in healthcare, now that same piece of content will make you look pretty foolish as the CDC has since backtracked on their original recommendations.
This is also why it’s always a good practice to review and edit old content throughout the year, even when we aren’t in the middle of a global crisis. If you previously wrote something that is no longer true, go back and update that content. If it’s an old blog post, you can even republish it with a note at the top saying that the post has been updated and republished. The new publication date will fool Google into thinking it’s brand-new content to be indexed for your website, and viewers will see the note that it’s been updated and know you care enough about your content to make sure it stays relevant – all of which reflects well on your brand.
3) Spread Misinformation
The nature of the internet (and social media in particular) is to spread and share information as soon as we see it or think of it. You can write a blog post about whatever comes to mind and publish it as soon as you’re done writing it without bothering to fact check it, but that’s never a good blogging strategy, and in times like these, it can be downright harmful.
A good content marketer needs to think like a good journalist. Consider the facts. Consider the sources. Are you getting your information from reliable sources or some random person you follow on Twitter? Can they back up what they’re saying? Can you back up what you’re saying?
This is content marketing advice you should always live by, but it’s even more important to practice good journalistic techniques during a public health crisis because there is so much misinformation out there. Remember that everything you say (including information you share from third parties) reflects on your brand. Make sure it all says that you are a reliable source of good information and that you make sure you know what you’re talking about before you say anything.
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