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Knowing where to position your brand in an environment of changing technological and philosophical trends is a massive challenge. Almost no sector or industry remains untouched by modern controversies, large or small. Who should you side with? Should you pick a side at all? Maybe it’s an easy choice — until you think about your brand. How does choosing a side affect you and your advertising choices when you have a business to run?
The bad news is it’s tricky business no matter what. Below are methods you can use to advertise your brand in a world gone mad. At the very least, these ideas are good practice for when you’re getting started with marketing yourself as a brand.
Don’t Assume The Public Is With You
If you and your brand can’t take the hit of losing customers because of your views, a neutral position is a relatively safe choice. The exception, of course, being human rights issues. There’s no excuse for being on the wrong side there.
These are divisive political times. Just because the people in your immediate circle of relationships share the same views, the rest of society won’t.
Create advertising that appeals to your target audience and doesn’t alienate any of them. Most businesses need to sell across the political spectrum. If you (ahem, your business) appear to favor one group over another, you could wind up losing revenue and handing clients over to a competitor with more neutral advertising.
Get Your Brand Out On The Street
The online marketplace is jam-packed with companies trying to make a name for themselves, even without the COVID-19 crisis. Everyone wants to move their businesses onto the internet because of the uncertainty of in-person interactions.
The real world, though, is still here. And the companies that figure out how to utilize its resources best will thrive once the lockdowns and shutdowns end.
Flowcode has some exciting ideas on this subject. It wants to see more QR codes on in-person advertising, providing new digital marketing channels, bypassing other competitive areas, like organic search for website traffic. In theory, it should be cheaper for brands to get traction via this method than through conventional means.
Funny Advertising Doesn’t Offend
One of the positives of the changes we’re living through: the long-overdue hard look at offensive statements and content we’ve pretended is funny. Unfortunately, a great deal of racism is ingrained in our culture. Sometimes it’s deliberate. Other times, it’s an act of ignorance that spurs a drive to do and be better. When communicating as a business, a higher focus on sensitivity can be the difference between success and failure.
Ideally, you need to find timeless, politically, and philosophically neutral ways to lighten the mood. It reminds everyone that life isn’t as bad as they think it is. Lidl does an excellent job of this, playing on the fact that Lidl sounds like “little.” Other companies show humor on social media in a way that doesn’t look forced or make too strong a statement about our society’s current state.
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