In many respects, the coronavirus has been the most disruptive phenomenon of the 21^st century. While major catastrophes and economic upheavals have occurred in recent memory, the sheer scope of this disaster is far-reaching unlike any other. Its effect on freedom of movement, healthcare, economics and even social behavior have forced brands to rethink their day-to-day actions.

As such, brands and businesses have had to get creative with respect to handling employees, attracting visitors and being responsible social stewards during such a difficult time. Here are a few examples of how brands have responded to the COVID crisis – which may provide you with some ideas on how to better position your own brand for the foreseeable future.

Incorporating COVID Into Digital Marketing

Perhaps the easiest aspect of responding to the crisis for online brands is incorporating the COVID messaging into your own digital marketing. While it seems everybody is hearing from everyone about the pandemic, many brands are finding that their digital marketing campaigns are producing better results when incorporating helpful advice and tips for their audiences about COVID.

In particular, brands can benefit substantially on social media platforms. This is because the element of virality exists here: not to be confused with the viral nature of coronavirus itself, COVID-related Facebook posts, Twitter videos and other forms of social media content providing helpful information, personal stories and advice for audiences ensures you’re pinging links and content more widely during this time.

Acknowledging the Desire for Social Distancing

With so many stores and retailers closing their doors or reducing hours, the difficulty of shopping is palpable. Likewise, many shoppers are distancing themselves from crowded areas in an attempt to avoid contracting COVID. Online brands that sell services or products to the public are benefiting in major ways currently.

Online brands that are incorporating the safety, speed and efficiency of online ordering to those who would otherwise purchase in-store are seeing increases in sales. Likewise, brands that operate on a subscription-based service are seeing some growth as well; media subscriptions are increasing, due likely to the fact that so many are cooped up at home rather than working and socializing.

Inspiring Individuals to Take Action

Online brands have found it necessary to use their platforms to improve both the chances of COVID abating and their own images by inspiring people to take action. This involves any number of actions (or, in many cases, inactions) that individuals can do from home. Some examples include donating to a medical non-profit working on the front-lines of the illness, organizing any necessary out-of-the-home excursions to coincide with lower densities of people being present, and pinging links to vital health services and information portals covering the coronavirus.

There’s a fine line between self-promotion and genuine assistance during difficult times, but online brands are finding options for helping others and themselves. Whether your online brand sells products or supplies information, using one or more of the broader tactics above during the COVID crisis may help avoid unnecessary transmission of the disease among your audience and help your brand in bolstering its visibility to boot.