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How to cultivate an inclusive marketing strategy and overcome stereotypes

February 19, 2021

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Inclusive marketing is often confused with diversity and inclusion within the workspace, but it actually refers to a brand’s efforts to remove the exclusion from its marketing. Customers want to make sure you get their needs, their pain points, their thoughts.

According to HubSpot, “inclusive marketing describes campaigns that embrace diversity by including people from different backgrounds or stories that unique audiences can relate to.” 

To stay competitive today, businesses need to take action and create diverse and inclusive offers to their customers. 

How can you get inclusive marketing right? Here are some tips that will help you get started in creating future-proof marketing strategies that will bring you benefits in the long run.

Learning about your customers should be a priority

Inclusive marketing is above all, creating content and experiences that reflect the diversity of customers your company serves. However, for this, learning about your clients should be on the top priority list.

If you are ready to serve your customers, you will need what is called “cultural intelligence”, which is one of the biggest challenges for inclusive marketing. Learn your customers’ points of view and pain points to truly understand their needs and make a difference.

Be ready to invest time and resources in learning about your audience. Additionally, consider surveying your customers and leads to find out more about their feedback on how you could better represent them through your marketing efforts.

Start celebrating more than just the major holidays 

Don’t stop at Valentine’s Day, Christmas, or Black Friday. Even though some major holidays and events are most commonly used by all marketers, make an effort to celebrate events around marginalized communities, like the LGBTQ+ community. 

It’s the little things that count and can bring value to your business, whether you change your social media avatars, or create educational content on lesser-known holidays.

Visuals are key when it comes to digital advertising 

The visual part of your marketing is oftentimes what hooks the customers and inspires them to learn more about your product or service. However, if your photos, graphics, or videos aren’t inclusive, you risk losing some customers.

It is important to pay attention to race, gender, age, ability, size, and social status in order to have positive outcomes from your marketing imagery.

Use inclusive language and avoid stereotyping

A language is an important tool in advertising, and it should be an inclusive one, not only for your marketing, but it can also be part of your job descriptions, website copy, and other materials.

Avoid using acronyms without an explanation or business jargon, as these can prevent people from understanding your content if they don’t get the references. Additionally, pay attention to stereotypes and appropriation. You don’t want to offend your customers. So, when brainstorming for your next initiatives in marketing, keep in mind empathy and context.

Diversity and inclusion should be part of your content team

By now, you have an idea about what it means to build inclusive marketing. It includes transformation and it isn’t a one-time project. 

To encourage a commitment to inclusion, you can create the right frameworks around your marketing processes and leverage real customer stories. You can also work to decrease the effects of stereotypes and preconceptions by hiring and training a diverse team of people that can provide unique perspectives and a comprehensive strategy of content creation.

Conclusion

Effective marketing means connecting people with products and services that can help solve their problems, and it also brings customers together through what they have in common. 

To remain competitive, businesses must prioritize inclusive marketing through visuals, language, and strategies that can help them reach wide audiences. And today, customers expect companies to be in tune with their needs as much as with their reality and everyday life.

Last, but not least, inclusive marketing should start with the way content creation teams are built.