Inclusive marketing allows marginalized and underrepresented groups of people to connect with your brand. When marketing, it is vital to cater to all the diverse communities your business serves through the content you produce and the communication you use. This ensures that your customers will feel welcome and can create long-lasting relationships with you.
Why is inclusive marketing necessary?
- The millennial and Gen Z generations are the most diverse in history: only 56% of millennials are Caucasian compared to 72% of the baby boomer generation. (CNN Money)
- According to Adobe, 38% of consumers are more likely to trust brands that regularly show diversity in their ads, and this percentage is even higher among specific consumer groups, including Latinx+ (85%), Black (79%), Asian/Pacific Islander (79%), LGBTQIA+ (85%), millennial (77%)
- A 2019 consumer survey hosted by Google and The Female Quotient showed that 64% of all respondents took action after seeing an ad they considered diverse or inclusive
3 Ways to Be More Inclusive in Your Marketing
- Look Inward
Most people’s social and professional networks are comprised of individuals who share similar opinions, appearances, and backgrounds. Surrounding yourself with similar people can cause you to live in an echo chamber and makes it harder to empathize or be aware of others outside of your circle (Later). If you don’t have a diverse marketing team, take the time to focus on expanding your circle to include people with different backgrounds, educations, cultures, and languages. With a more diverse marketing team, you can:
– Better understand the cultural nuances of your audience
– Recognize subtleties in marketing efforts that might be off-putting to consumer groups (Economic Development Collaborative)
– Have a more robust emotional intelligence and empathy for different audiences (Forbes)
2. Create Comprehensive Buyer Personas
When focusing on inclusivity in your marketing, it is necessary to revisit your buyer personas and make sure they represent:
– Your customer population through all applicable demographics such as gender, age, education level, disabilities, and race
– How comfortable they are using your products
– Hurtles consumers may face when interacting with your business
– How your ideal clientele prefers to communicate with you
Use this data to ensure you are providing the best possible experience for all your customers.
Learn More About Inclusive Buyer Personas
3. Use Inviting and Diverse Marketing Materials
When customers recognize themselves in your marketing, they are more likely to respond. If your customer doesn’t feel represented, you will push them away (Maryville University). For example, if you only feature men in your marketing visuals, you indirectly let prospective female customers know that the product is not for them. Statista hosted a study in 2019 to discover the full impact of non-inclusive marketing. Their study found that 58% of LGBTQIA+ participants, 53% of African Americans, 40% of Hispanics, and 38% of Middle Eastern respondents stopped supporting a brand because their advertising did not represent them.
Discover How to Design More Inclusive Marketing Materials
What does your store do to be more inclusive? Share down below!
Sources: money.cnn.com, blog.adobe.com, thinkwithgoogle.com, edu.gcfglobal.org, later.com, edcollaborative.com, forbes.com, copyhackers.com, online.maryville.edu, statista.com
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