Tips For Blending Personal Politics + Business
It's the day after the election but we're still talking politics. This entire election season has brought up an important question: How do we blend our personal politics into our business? Do we have to? Do we even want to? Tayler breaks it down and shares her best tips for incorporating your political beliefs and values into your marketing.
What can bringing politics into your business look like?
Your mission statement and the language you use!
Here is a blog post Gillian and I published
If you have a storefront, you can post signs
My friend JennyWenny Cakes has a couple of signs at the entrance to her bakery about LGBTQ rights
Jason Rhee installed a Say Their Names memorial on his studio windows
You can pull your values into your brand photography or headshots
Gillian and I did this with the t-shirts we wore
Make sure that the images you choose are diverse because that in and of itself shows a strong point of view
You can hire other pros who have minority-owned businesses when you need to hire out services
You can write captions or repost articles about topics and issues you are passionate about
Always be sure to vet the source in an effort to not spread mis or disinformation
You can donate a portion of your sales to organizations that are doing the ground-level work for issues you care about
Messaging tips
Keep your messaging rooted in education and try and avoid opinions or opinion pieces
Encourage action steps
Try to share/quote non-partisan sources
How to handle it if someone gives you shit about it
Your brand and business are yours and if someone unfollows you, they are not your people
You can respond but do not engage (these people are usually looking for a fight)
Along those same lines, don't take it personally