Three Things You Must Do to Show True Inclusion and Diversity in your Marketing
A majority of Americans feel underrepresented in media and marketing campaigns. This is why brands are more interested in how they are responding to the changing social landscape in America. Diversity marketing, which recognizes and actively includes all groups of people who come in contact with ads, is now a cornerstone.
Although the terms 'inclusion' or 'diversity' may seem to create an image of a broad audience, diversifying marketing strategies should be tailored to reach specific audiences and meet them where they will be most likely to come in contact with your brand. There are many ways that your brand can embrace diversity, even if it is not being acknowledged or appreciated. We'll be covering three of these in this post:
- Diversify your team
- Conduct market research
- Your customers should be heard
Three ways diversity can be incorporated into your marketing strategies
It has become increasingly important that a company is socially aware and willing to include minorities and other groups of people that have, in the past, not typically been included in advertising. This is especially true as online marketing through social media continues to become more streamlined in targeting specific (and potentially sensitive) demographics such as weight and marital status.
Creating visibility and representation not only has a major impact on how potential clients see a company when choosing where to invest their money, but it also is the key to higher conversion rates.
These are three ways you can increase visibility and representation for your brand.
1. Diversifying your team is a good idea.
Let's begin by looking at some statistics to help us understand how diversifying our team can work.
The majority of the workforce is made up of white men
The majority of Americans are dominated by Caucasian men, which makes it difficult for many people of color to make a similar income.
The recovery from the pandemic is taking longer for female-owned businesses
Since the pandemic, this situation has gotten worse. Freshbooks' latest Women in the Independent Workforce survey found that industries with a majority of female-owned businesses were among the most affected.Most severely affected by COVID-19To the point where women own businessesIt takes three times as longOn average, businesses owned by women are more likely to recover financially than those that are owned by men.
It takes three times longer for female-owned businesses to recover financially from the pandemic than it does for male-owned ones
A team that represents your audience is the best way to make sure your customers see you as a brand. In order to relate to and understand what consumers are looking for, you have to have a team that can take their own life experience and craft messaging and imagery that is meaningful to hyper-specific demographics. People who are similar to you will naturally attract your audience. This can naturally diversify your brand's followers.
Diverse teams attract diverse followers, which can help you gain more insight and ideas to improve your initiatives.
Diversity is a win-win situation
A diverse marketing team can give your brand valuable insights into the needs of people you want to reach. A diverse team can bring out creativity and expand in ways that are not possible with a group that has similar experiences and backgrounds.
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This also allows brands to build resilience and adaptability in a global market that sometimes changes in the blink of an eye. Your marketing strategy will have more impact if you include more perspectives.
Diversifying your staff is not only beneficial for customers, but it also helps strengthen various aspects of your company.
2. 2. Gather your data and listen!
Data analytics and market research allow you to identify marketing pitfalls and observe advertising responses.
Take a critical look at the data and make sure you are objective.
The importance of thorough market research is only increasing as social awareness spreads. If you intend to connect to people with specific beliefs and backgrounds, you must build relevant marketing strategies, and the only way to do this is to study the data with an unbiased eye.
Move out of your comfort zone
The pandemic has thrown off the rules in terms of how and where we do business. It's given us a wider perspective and taught us how important it is for us to collaborate towards finding new solutions. Marketing strategies are not the same as before.
Don't ignore new information and opt for traditional marketing methods. This is your chance to be different. Many missteps can be averted simply by taking an honest look at the right data and asking questions about the types of people you intend to reach. You may need to adjust your customer personas in some cases.
Don't ignore new information. Now is the time to stand out from the crowd.
Directly approach your audience
Not only should you be asking questions about your target audience, but you should also be asking them questions directly. Brand messaging may not be effective if it isn't conducted through focus groups, surveys, or field trials with individuals from your target market. To extract meaningful information from data collected, brands must go to the source of hyper-specific demographics.
3. 3.
A brand could choose all the right influencers and imagery and still lose credibility with audiences by choosing inauthentic and exclusive messaging. The art of incorporating inclusivity into your brand requires confronting your own traditional messaging by actively creating a foothold for minority groups.
Instead of adapting current brand messaging, marketing agencies should choose organic messaging and imagery that is created to be welcoming, target-specific, and attractive.
Consumers no longer believe that claims of transparency or diversity are true. Tech, healthcare, fintech, and other major industries still struggle to create inclusive environments at work. This is evident in their marketing materials. It is important for a brand to be seen as inclusive by its customers.
To be considered authentic, you have to be authentic.
Trying to be inclusive and diverse does not guarantee that your brand will be viewed as such by your target audience.
The hiring process is the first step in making practices more authentic and inclusive. They then flow into the workplace and business policies. Branding helps to make these things visible and can be perceived by the public through marketing and ad campaign.
Let your customers and potential customers speak out at the end of each day. Let their language be infused into yours, so you can truly represent them and stand apart from your competitors. Your brand can make space for diversity by listening to their feedback and building an awareness that will allow you to create messaging that is authentic and relatable.
Marketing diversity is becoming more important than ever
The economic and social effects of the pandemic have only made the problems of gender and racial income disparity worse. Potential customers are becoming more aware of the social challenges faced by people from all walks of life, regardless of their backgrounds or philosophies.
People find it valuable that advertising shows them not only themselves, but also a range of people. Embracing the diversity of consumers will impact marketing from now on, and staying on the cutting edge of advertising with this in mind will allow audiences to see how brands are leading the way toward awareness and inclusivity.
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