Inclusive Marketing

In 2022, all brands should aim to be as inclusive as possible. Even if you have the best of intentions, is your product or service excluding a group of people? Through inclusive marketing, you'll have the opportunity to double-down your focus on this. Here are some tips on how to get started:

Dig into your audience – all of them!

Study your customer data to truly understand things such as gender, income level, geography and race – then go deeper. Conduct surveys to understand characteristics that aren't as easily tracked, such as someone's point of view (why not get your team involved in this, too?). Conduct research to learn the cultural background of your audience and what's important to them, along with how their purchase journey is different from other groups. Freshen up your audience personas to ensure they reflect the diverse characteristics of your audience.

Ensure representation... but avoid appropriation and stereotypes.

People want to see themselves reflected in marketing images, stories and more – and to do that, you need a deep understanding and empathy for the people you want to reach. But stereotypes are a quick way to show your audience that you don’t really understand them. Really take the time and effort to avoid them at all costs. Marketers actually have an important role to dismantle stereotypes and help make society more representative as a whole.

Edit for inclusion and always think of the context.

Carefully think about the subject, topic and message when you're in the content planning stages to make sure you achieve the right and respectful tone. Be intentional with language!

Adopt a review process before making your campaign live.

Before you push 'publish', put on inclusion glasses and examine everything through the lens of your diverse audience. Create a review process and a diverse panel you can turn to for input when you're in doubt – or ask for anonymous feedback.

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