Communication and cooperation are how we beat this thing, but our words must be measured. Our inboxes are flooding with brand updates from airlines to rubber stamp companies (ok, maybe the stamps are just me), but the truth of the matter is that some industries and their responses are more vital than others. I don’t need to hear about how an online stamp company is transitioning, but I do need to hear how transportation companies are curbing virus transmission.

As a brand, it’s up to you to decide if you’re helping the situation or adding needless—even damaging—noise to the COVID conversation. Here are some handy questions to determine if your brand/agency can provide value, so you don’t end up sounding like this:

1. Should people be hearing from us or our clients right now?
2. Is our brand relevant at this time? I.e. can our core competencies contribute to bettering our consumers’ situations?
3. Does our messaging appear opportunistic or exploitative?
4. Does our messaging promote unsafe habits, like social gathering?
5. Is our messaging realistic, while not panic-inducing? Or even better, is it hopeful?

Keep these things in mind, and you’ll be a positive force in spite of a lot of negativity.

And, as a reminder, help yourself before helping others. You know, the whole oxygen mask on a plane thing. First and foremost, make sure your team is healthy and safe, then make sure they have the resources they need to work effectively. Otherwise, if your team isn’t situated, you’ll sink with everyone else.

If you can do video calls, do them! It’s really more about physical distancing than social distancing. As we stay quarantined it’s important to maintain any shred of humanity, even if it’s through a pixelated, laggy Zoom call with kids and roommates tramping through the background. Keeping human and client relationships close is the key to maintaining sanity and stability through these turbulent times.

Life is difficult now, but let these situations guide us as to how we can be more prepared day-to-day in our operations. Let them build our resolve and strengthen our flexibility. Let us laugh at the weird tech hiccups and pant-less video conferences. But most of all, please, please let us stop separating our logos.