How to Know When to Mention Covid-19 in Your Marketing, Sometimes it’s better not to do anything than to be perceived as capitalizing on the misfortune of others.

File this column under: “Things that should never have to be written but unfortunately there is no choice.” If I had a dime for every coronavirus email or text I got from a company this week that actually had nothing to do with the current crisis, I would probably be able to fund the development of a vaccine myself.

The problem is the entire world’s attention is on Covid-19, so all the amateur marketers out there are independently coming up with the brilliant idea to leverage that attention and jump on the coronavirus bandwagon. If you are at that point and are contemplating whether to pull that trigger, here is my advice to you: don’t do it.

The following are five guidelines to help you decide whether your marketing should be referencing a current global crisis or whether you should sit this one out:

Can you help solve the crisis or get one step closer? If not, step back.

I mean, really, there is no justification for my local pizza store to be sending me corona-related sales pitches by text. There just isn’t. Just because Covid-19 is all anyone is talking about, leveraging it to sell more pizza is just truly transparent and cheap, if I am being nice.

Of course, if your product can bring the world closer to a resolution, then yes, now is the time to put your marketing team to work. But if your business has zero relevancy to the current crisis, do us all a favor and stay on the bench for this one.

If you want to increase sales by riding the traffic wave, think twice.

This just makes my blood boil. In fact, not to get to meta here, even writing this article knowing it addresses Covid-19 felt a little off to me, but after receiving so many spammy emails and messages, I figured someone has to write it.

Read more: inc