Obviously you shouldn’t be aiming to profit from the loses of others, however hurricanes do offer a unique opportunity for marketing and helping others at the same time. Check out the following six ideas.

1. Branded Bottled Water
Water is one of the essentials that no one can have enough of. In fact it is one of the most needed items for hurricane victims. Why not do your part by showing up and giving out free water? Companies like Glas Water offer private label water bottles than can feature your branding and toll free number and can become great marketing pieces.

2. BBQs
The ensuing weeks or even months without power and air conditioning after a hurricane mean it is hard to store food and even find open stores, not to mention families who have run out of funds. Why not throw a community BBQ sponsored by your business? Give everyone a great meal, enjoy additional marketing opportunities and get some face to face networking time in.

3. Plywood
Plywood is one of the most in demand of hurricane supplies used for boarding up homes and businesses. What better marketing opportunity could you ask for than having your company’s name branded on dozens or even hundreds of local businesses and homes? Offer them at a discount or give them away. It is the ultimate marketing opportunity for raising brand visibility and saturating your market.

4.  Help Lines
Hurricane information hot lines can get overwhelmed and mean lengthy waiting times for callers who are low on cell phone battery or can result in them not getting through at all. Perhaps you could dedicate one of your toll free numbers to providing additional assistance and information for locals or those worried about family and friends in the area. Or perhaps bulk SMS messages are the solution for sending out helpful info and marketing your business at the same time.

5. Press Opportunities
If you were prepared for the hurricane by having cloud computing data and collaboration solutions set up as well as toll free numbers which you were easily able to forward in order to keep operating perhaps you can get out some press releases letting everyone know you are still in business. While you competition is scrambling to figure out how to put their company back together you can get in the news and grab up their market share.

6. Using Your Office For Assistance
If your place of business was unaffected by the hurricane while other homes and companies nearby took heavy damage perhaps there are other powerful opportunities to be found while helping others. What about offering your Internet connection for an hour at lunch to those who need to connect with loved ones? Or perhaps your phones or even subletting some of your space to a strategic partner?