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Marketing: Making it Inclusive

Marketing that resonates with our personal identities and experiences is more likely to capture our attention and influence our buying decisions. That kind of marketing is inclusive marketing.

Inclusive marketing is a strategy that recognizes and values the diversity of your audience. It considers age, appearance, ethnicity, gender identity, language, socioeconomic status, religion or spirituality, and physical or mental ability. 

In this blog, we will examine three key components of inclusive marketing and discuss how to implement them in your marketing campaigns to create more effective and meaningful marketing messages.

Key Components of Inclusive Marketing

Accessibility

Prioritize accessibility in all marketing collateral. Take the necessary steps to ensure your websites, social media, and digital advertisements follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). 

If you or your organization are new to accessibility or are short on resources, prioritizing your accessibility efforts will save you time and money and increase your chances for success. Start with the low-hanging fruit: alternative text, contrast, headings, links, lists, tables, video, and audio. At the University of Minnesota, these attributes are known as the " 7 Core Skills." 

Remember to use diverse, inclusive, and descriptive alternative text. Sometimes, it should include skin tone, race, ethnicity, and disability to be genuinely authentic and provide all users, especially screen reader users, with an equitable experience. 

And don't overlook the power of microscopy. Yes, microcopy needs to be accessible as well. It's not just about the big picture but also the tiny details. Microcopy plays a vital role in user experience. It can make the difference between establishing trust with your users or leaving them confused and frustrated, causing them to leave your website for someone else's resource or product.

Inclusivity & Authenticity

When creating marketing campaigns that resonate with diverse audiences, you must avoid stereotypes and clichés and represent people from various backgrounds, people of all ages, genders, races, and abilities, while considering cultural nuances.

Palo Creative offers these Actionable Tips for Creating Inclusive Marketing Campaigns:

Conduct Thorough Research : Deeply understand the cultural backgrounds, preferences, and sensitivities of your target demographics to ensure your messages are relevant and respectful.
Diversify Your Team : Hiring people from various backgrounds enriches your team’s perspective and enhances creativity, helping to prevent blind spots in campaigns and strategies.
Collaborate with Diverse Creators : Working with influencers and creators from different communities can help produce content that is genuinely representative and resonates with a broader audience.
Prioritize Authenticity : Ensure your campaigns avoid superficial diversity and reflect a sincere, ongoing commitment to inclusivity that aligns with your brand’s core values.
Listen and Learn: Regularly seek feedback from diverse audiences and be willing to adapt and learn from it. This dynamic approach helps keep your strategies fresh and relevant.

Social responsibility

When you use marketing to promote positive social change and address inequalities, you practice socially responsible marketing. This type of marketing engages with and can influence diverse communities. It encourages transparency, social responsibility, and a sincere connection with your users while improving public perception of you and your organization.

For example, in 2011, Patagonia ran a full-page ad in The New York Times on Black Friday, asking consumers not to buy their products unless they absolutely needed them. The campaign was known as "Don’t Buy This Jacket."

The ad aimed to raise awareness of the Common Threads Initiative, which says we all need to "lighten our environmental footprint, and everyone needs to consume less. Businesses need to make fewer things but of higher quality. Customers need to think twice before they buy."

This bold move solidified Patagonia's reputation as an environmentally conscious brand.

By adopting inclusive marketing practices, you can create more meaningful and effective marketing campaigns where everyone sees themselves authentically represented.

Consumers take notice! These statistics from the Purple Goat Agency, the 2022 winners of 'Diversity and Inclusion Company of the Year' at The Drum Marketing Awards, demonstrate that inclusive marketing efforts do make an impact:

Inclusive marketing isn’t just for the disabled community; we know it has widespread implications, and consumers across the board value inclusive and diverse marketing strategies above all else.  ~ 9 Brands That Got Their Inclusive Marketing Right

- 80% of consumers said they were more likely to engage with a brand that uses diverse and inclusive imagery in their campaigns.

- 64% of consumers take action after seeing an ad they believe to be diverse or inclusive.

- 62% of consumers said they are likely to purchase from a brand that prioritizes diversity and inclusion in its ads.

And who remembers this ad? This is probably one of the most iconic inclusive marketing campaigns ever.

By embracing inclusive marketing, businesses can improve their bottom lines but, more importantly, contribute to a more equitable and inclusive society by dismantling stereotypes and promoting understanding.

Resources

Maggie Vaughan, CPACC
Content Marketing Practitioner
DubBot