Your marketing needs more than one perspective: the importance of diversification in marketing
It’s no surprise that consumers expect more from the brands they’re supporting.
Recent years have shone a light on the broken and unethical systems that are in place in our society and the general public, particularly younger generations, want to support brands who are instead demonstrating values like diversity, accessibility and inclusion.
As business owners, it’s our job to respond to this public demand, and ensure we’re making authentic diversity and accessibility a priority in our marketing. (Not just because it’s being demanded, but because it’s the right thing to do).
That means not only promising to address inequalities or to make changes in support of a more inclusive experience for consumers, but actually committing to seeing this change through.
Here are a few common issues that I see far too often in marketing.
Lack of understanding and/or research of inappropriate symbols, words, and practices
It’s imperative to do your due diligence when creating marketing materials. There shouldn’t be just one set of eyes running over content!
Especially if you’re making reference to something that you don’t have first-hand experience with, it’s your responsibility to ensure that what you’re sharing is appropriate and will be well-received by the group impacted.
A clear example of this is the unfortunate use of the puzzle piece symbol in autism awareness marketing. This symbol was adopted by numerous organizations, most notably Autism Speaks, to “represent” autism.
However, the puzzle piece symbol is often seen negatively by autistic people, as it indicates that there is something puzzling or mysterious about autism.
Beyond that, Autism Speaks as a corporation has somewhat of a history of questionable actions related to autism. The puzzle piece symbol therefore is often a reminder of this organization and the inappropriate and tone-deaf messaging they disseminated through much of their past marketing, framing autism as a tragic condition and autistic people as a burden on those around them.
In a similar way, those involved in or knowledgeable about the autistic community would likely know the importance of using identity-first language in messaging, rather than person-first language.
Identity-first language is that which puts a person’s condition or disability before the person, like “autistic child,” rather than, “children with autism.”
While for a period of time person-first language was being pushed, the majority of autistic people, experts, and advocates now prefer identity-first language because,
While people’s individual preferences are always the priority, using person-first language or a puzzle piece symbol when creating public marketing campaigns centered around autism is an indication to the larger community that you aren’t knowledgeable about the group you claim to be speaking to.
Of course, we’re simply using autism here as an example of the variety of intricacies and potential perceptions that can be communicated through content among groups of different abilities, cultures, and backgrounds.
If you don’t have first-hand knowledge of the group you are trying to speak to in a campaign or messaging, it’s up to you to do the appropriate research to ensure you’re presenting the information in appropriate ways.
Surface-level campaigns that don’t represent real impact or change
It’s not enough to simply talk about creating change or impact.
Consumers are incredibly smart, intuitive, and resourceful, and don’t want to be supporting companies who are making empty promises about inclusiveness or diversity.
In fact, results from a recent Deloitte study show that, “57% of consumers are more loyal to brands that commit to addressing social inequities in their actions.”
That means not going “full rainbow” every June for Pride month if you’re not walking that talk behind the scenes, or talking about how Black Lives Matter if you’re not practicing diverse hiring and promotion, including outsourcing vendors, changing your policies, donating to relevant organizations, and establishing metrics for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
I spoke about this more in my blog, authentic inclusion and activism aren’t tied to a calendar, but the bottom line is that inclusion and activism aren’t marketing strategies.
They’re either done for real because they’re at the core of your company values and you’re dedicated to committing appropriate time, energy, and resources towards them, or they’re not done at all.
Lack of flexibility and accessibility in marketing content and service delivery
Beyond careful planning, research, and intention when it comes to what’s included in the content itself, it’s also important to mention the importance of being flexible and accessible in marketing and service delivery.
For example, although it’s a big job and will take time and resources to complete, website and content accessibility standards need to be taken into consideration when building out your marketing.
While in general the introduction of the internet has enabled more people to access information, not everyone’s experience has been the same.
Digital accessibility is the principle of designing websites and information to ensure that users with diverse abilities have an easy and enjoyable online experience.
Those standards include everything from using the right amount of colour contrast so your content is readable, to providing alt text for images on your website so they can be interpreted by screen readers, to including transcripts for media content, to choosing simple-to-read fonts and providing the option to increase font size and spacing.
This also extends to having flexibility in how you deliver information through the process of working with clients.
From offering to record sessions and generate transcripts, to being transparent in and communicating how you work and the expectations you hold, to asking your clients what their expectations are and how they best receive information, your clients deserve accommodation based on their needs and abilities.
While you may not be able to predict and adequately prepare for every potential user or client experience, it’s your responsibility to do your due diligence in the initial creation of your campaigns and content, and then to have an openness to shift your practices as needed for the good of your reader(s) and/or client(s).
Right now, there isn’t an adequate understanding of accessibility needs or how to address them, especially for the smallest businesses and organizations (this includes me). However, I do believe this is going to be increasingly important for maintaining your place in search results as technology gets better at enabling us to provide accessible accommodations to our audiences.
Your marketing needs more than one perspective
Above all, anything that happens in a marketing context should include input from the groups affected. If you aren’t that person, then you need to be resourceful about finding someone (or a group of people) who is/ are.
It’s also your responsibility to make sure employees don't feel coerced to participate if they're uncomfortable!
Utilize your network, hire appropriately, spend time researching, learning, and unlearning where you need to, and don’t put out any content that you haven’t done your due diligence with.
Not only is a lack of accessibility, diversity, and inclusion in your marketing disrespectful on a basic human-level, but it’s also going to negatively impact your business and bottom line.