Politics haven’t been business as usual lately. That’s something we can all agree on, whether you think the recent developments in Washington are refreshing or worrisome.
And it’s pretty hard to escape. I’ve heard from a few leaders who are shocked by the political discourse flying around on formerly politics-free zones like LinkedIn and “business Twitter.” But while staying completely out of politics used to be a safe path, it might not be so smart for businesses in 2017.
So what should marketers and company leaders be doing? Should we acknowledge the state of politics in the U.S.? If so, how do we have those conversations in a way that’s respectful of our brands, employees and customers? I talked to two politically active agency founders to find out how they are managing this political landscape in a way that makes sense for their businesses.
When your audience speaks up, listen
Kristina Halvorson, founder of Minneapolis-based content strategy consultancy Brain Traffic and the organizer of Confab, an annual series of content events, says she’s been thinking about the intersection between business and politics a lot in the past few weeks.
Her team has been promoting their upcoming conference in June. Despite the swirling political conversation, they kept their communication on-brand, which Halvorson describes as “cheerful, irreverent, inspirational and focused on community.”
But her team started getting feedback from longtime supporters who thought sending typical marketing emails during this tumultuous time felt off.
At first, Halvorson says, her gut reaction was to keep pushing ahead, without addressing the elephant in the room. While she has chosen to be politically vocal on Twitter, she didn’t want to alienate anyone in the Confab community.
So she reached out to a few trusted colleagues for advice. Their feedback was overwhelming: Address it head-on. “Part of the reason people love our conference is that we pull no punches,” she says. “We’re not about hype.”
Stay consistent with your brand 
In response to that feedback, Halvorson decided to write a personal email to the Confab list. Here’s the email. When it landed in my inbox, I was immediately impressed by the tone. She was addressing how her audience was feeling and acknowledging the issues that affect them, without pushing her personal values on anyone else.
That’s a hard tightrope to walk, especially when you’re passionate about your own views. In my eyes, the email succeeded because she focused on one of the Confab brand tenets: community.
Halvorson says the overwhelming feedback she received about the email was “Oh, thank God you said something. It’s not just me.”
Consider your own business practices
Eileen Webb, a content strategist and co-founder of New Hampshire-based content firm Webmeadow, is politically active and open about her opinions online. She says she sees a clear overlap between business and politics. “If the personal is political, then business is even more political,” she says. “It seems naive to pretend that how we employ people, make money and therefore pay taxes is somehow separate from political concerns.” Just like individual citizens contribute to building the public good, she says, companies have an important role to play. And that applies to what you do every day, not just what you say online.
If you’re considering ways your business can drive political good and shape better communities, consider these next steps:
- Take a hard look at your own business. Look at where your revenue comes from, and make sure you can support the values and practices of your clients. “You can’t vet the ethics of every client, but if you’re directly profiting from products that are hurting people, that’s being a bad citizen, and that’s poor business,” Webb says. “Are you building the kind of company you’re proud of? Are you making choices employees will be proud to tell their children about?”
- Actively work on driving the positive changes you want to see. For example, if you’re a tech leader and you’re discouraged about the lack of diversity in tech, get active, Webb says. ”If your company is all white and all male, you can either wait for the pipeline to fix itself, or you can change your hiring practices. Vet the way you write job descriptions to make sure you’re not shutting people out.”
- Think about your employees. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has been very vocal about the company’s positions as a reflection of employees’ shared values, but your employees’ values might not be the same as a West Coast tech brand’s. Consider your employees’ values and sensitivities before you speak out.