The article is developed in partnership with BetterHelp.

A great company knows how to keep up and adapt to the times. This is often most evident in marketing, as many companies will create their ads and designs to appeal to their audience and their changing values. To do this, these companies will often take actions to make their values clear, change any branding that is no longer appropriate, and find ways to make the brand more personable to modern generations. 

If you want your brand to be successful, you need to adapt too. It seems like the world is changing every day, with significant events and social changes becoming more common. It can be challenging for anyone to keep up with, let alone an entire company. But adapting to and utilizing current events can not only make your brand more popular but also long-lasting. Here are some tips to utilize current events to promote your brand. 

Restating The Company’s Values

A company that doesn’t have modern values is doomed to lose its customers and fail. Look no further than Twitter for examples of companies getting canceled for not aligning with modern values. Therefore, during times of social unrest or political changes, it is crucial that your customer base understands your company’s values. You can do this with something as simple as a social media post. However, you may need to take a grander action depending on your situation. 

In some cases, you may need to make updates to your products and brand to realign your values. This most famously occurred to multiple companies during the Black Lives Matter protests. Many brands realized that their logo or products had racist undertones and reflected an outdated perspective. As a way to commit to the modern values of equality and social justice, they changed their logos and products to be more inclusive and global. 

If, for some reason, this happens to you (but you should certainly do everything you can to avoid any controversy in the first place), make the changes out of a genuine desire to improve your company, not just as a reaction to any public ire. Restate your company’s commitment to the value and take genuine action to resolve it. 

However, even if your company is not the target of controversy, you can still take action to ensure you are committing to your customer’s values. For example, many companies completely updated their hiring strategies to ensure more black candidates were considered and hired for various positions. This shows a genuine commitment to equality in the workplace that will only continue to improve the company down the line. 

Making A Statement

These days, many people expect major companies and figures to make a statement whenever something controversial or a great tragedy occurs. Failure to do so can ruin the public image of your brand, even if you and your company don’t hold any controversial opinions. 

Unfortunately, silence can speak more words than a statement, so you’ll want to make a statement as soon as possible. Create a carefully crafted post on social media or PR statement to assure your customers of your values and loyalties. However, don’t do it as a marketing ploy. When more somber or controversial events arise, it is important to focus more on the ethics than branding. Just make the statement and avoid doing or saying anything that would make it seem ingenuine. 

Promoting Relevant Products

One common way that companies react to current events is by piggybacking off of them. They use current situations to promote their products or services that may be relevant. This is called newsjacking, and it is becoming an increasingly popular form of marketing and connecting with the public. 

However, you want to be careful with this. You don’t want your company to come off as insensitive to a serious issue or world tragedy. For example, trying to link your products to a horrible event like genocide or war will probably end in backlash. Hiring a good marketing team that will know when to piggyback and when to keep silent will help you avoid crossing the line. 

Virgin Airlines is a perfect example of how to do this well. After same-sex marriage officially became legal, the airline tweeted out a celebratory image that celebrated the achievement while also promoting using the airline for honeymoons. This was a clever way to integrate the brand with the event in a way that didn’t seem desperate or ingenuine. 

Offering A Relevant Sale

A similar tactic is by offering a sale on relevant products. This will encourage more customers to buy your products but show your commitment to a current event or topic by offering the product at a discounted price.

You can also provide promo codes and discounts that connect with the event. You will see this most often during holidays. For example, a company that is offering an Easter sale may use send out a promo code EASTERPROMO to its customers. Or a shop commemorating its 25th anniversary may offer everything at 25% off. You can use similar tactics with current events to further spread your brand. 

Show Your Brand’s Fun Side

There was a time when Wendy’s was known just for its delicious food. But now, the famous burger joint is infamous for roasting its competitors in addition to its burgers. The brand has gained quite a bit of notoriety for its quips, comebacks, and insults, often getting millions of likes and thousands of retweets. The brand even created National Roast Day on Twitter, where it spends the entire day roasting its followers, competitors, and other brands. 

Though this has little to do with flipping burgers, Wendy’s unparalleled humor has helped it stand apart from its competitors. Millions of people have become loyal fans simply because they find the brand so funny. 

Many other brands have adopted similar tactics. They may be known for sending out savage tweets of their own or using memes to promote their products. Whatever the case, they integrate humor, current trends and events, and their products to create the perfect marketing strategy. 

If you really want to stand out, you might want to adopt a similar strategy. Adopting a sense of humor and fun persona will make your company more likable and approachable to the social media verse. Most people don’t expect companies to use social media or humor in such a perfect way. By mastering the art of marketing with humor, your brand will stand out amongst the thousands that don’t dare to try this tactic. 

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Final Thoughts

With more people caring about world events and trends, it’s important for companies to assert their values and live by them. It’s not enough for companies to just advertise their products; they must connect with the time and exhibit modern values. 

But with good marketing strategies, you can utilize current events to your advantage. Good marketing, timing, and connecting with your audience can help you utilize current events to promote your brand and expand your business. Hopefully, this article gave you a good idea of how to start doing this. For more information about current events that may be important to your customer base, head on over to BetterHelp.