It’s all good!

Bad news is everywhere. Turn on the television, log into social media or browse your news feed. There they are. Journalists shouting negative stories at you. Panels of talking heads beating the life out of every contentious topic.

About the only safe haven from the weight of the world’s negativity is to blanket yourself in bubble wrap and bury yourself in the backyard. Or so it may seem.

The good news is that certain outlets have developed platforms that serve to highlight positives. Those inspirational stories often get overlooked by major news sources.

John Krasinski (of Jack Ryan fame) recently started a YouTube channel called “Some Good News.” Each episode highlights a variety of positive stories and events. For over two decades, Goodnewsnetwork.org has been publishing uplifting content. “Yes! Magazine” touts itself as “Journalism for People Building a Better World.”

This “good news only” approach is extending to marketing. We often become sanitized by monotony. As entrepreneurs, we try to learn as much as we can about our audience’s rational preferences. We study their logical/logistical needs and transactional behaviors. But their feelings? That’s something we don’t always take the time to consider - let alone factor into our strategies. It’s easy to lose sight of our own ability to promote solutions, progress, and good old positivity.

And yet with everything we’ve been surrounded with during the last few months, it’s probably the most important information we can extend right now. We have an opportunity to rethink the way that we offer our products. How can we make them stand out and change the whole dialogue around them? The more we can do to achieve that, the more trust we’re gathering.

More often, the best way to gain your customers’ trust is by understanding what positive emotional outcomes they’re hoping to achieve. It’s important in difficult times to reframe the value of your brand to display how it can benefit “in the now.” We’re beyond the point of only highlighting how your company can fill a void. The new normal is not only to fill that void, but also craft positive emotional experiences along the way.

For example, many distilleries are now producing hand sanitizer. Intel has been operating on 100% renewable energy for the last two years. UberEats and DoorDash have both waived commission fees for independent restaurant partners. Even Walmart is doing things like giving cash bonuses to employees of over $390 million dollars. That from a company rarely considered a paragon of caring employers. All these gestures go a long way toward giving off positive vibes and touching emotion.

Remember that emotion creates personal connections. Producing positive content that’s personally relevant to your customer base is a sure-fire way of forging meaningful, ongoing relationships.