Inclusivity: How to Use This Trend in Marketing

Inclusivity isn’t just good practice in everyday life – it can also boost your marketing.

In 2021 and beyond, we don’t need to tell you about the significance of  diversity and inclusiveness. But now, way beyond political discussion, being inclusive has actually been proven to drive real sales.

How is this happening? And why? Let’s find out.

What is inclusive marketing?

Diverse and inclusive marketing is simply any marketing effort that aims to speak to a larger audience by eschewing preconceived notions of gender, age, race, ability, income, sexuality, language, and religion (among other things).

It’s marketing that makes a conscious effort to include everyone.

Let’s face it, in the past advertising has been a bit… one note. You’d only see certain kinds of families on TV. One type of couple in jewelry store promos. Models – albeit beautiful – were cookie-cutter, all the same.

Now, thanks to the explosion of the internet and the fact that the playing field has been truly leveled allowing advertisers from different backgrounds and with different budgets the opportunity to go up against the big players, we’re seeing a lot of new – and yet familiar – faces on our screens.

And companies are waking up to the fact that this kind of marketing isn’t just socially responsible, it’s better for profits, too.

How does inclusive marketing work?

You see, younger audiences and marginalized groups want to see optimism and equality in the content and products they consume – or, more accurately, they don’t want to see the same ol’ stuff they cannot relate with.

And, as it turns out, youth and marginalized groups have a lot more spending power than companies may have previously thought.

In order to keep their custom, these businesses have been forced to change their strategies.

According to Accenture, the cultural shift we’re living in is already affecting purchasing behavior: 41% of shoppers “have shifted… their business away from a retailer that does not reflect how important [identity and diversity] is to them.” The same study showed that 29% of consumers are willing to switch brands completely if they don’t showcase enough diversity—and that percentage just goes up for ethnic minorities and the LGBT+ community.

Inclusive marketing targets individuals from all walks of life, by seeking what they have in common outside of social labels, or “the norm”.

For example, let’s say you own a makeup brand. If you didn’t do thorough audience research, you may assume that the only people buying and using your products were teenage girls and young women. In actual fact, more people buy it for different reasons – but you wouldn’t know unless you did more research, or piloted a campaign to target and reveal this under-represented segment of your customer base.

Maybe young men buy makeup, either for their girlfriends or to wear themselves. Maybe more older women like your makeup. Maybe drag queens are your biggest fan. Or you could put out a video campaign showcasing an older gentleman who moonlights as Gene Simmons in a Kiss cover band after his 9-to-5.

Unexpected? Definitely, in the traditional advertising landscape – but not necessarily inaccurate.

How to use inclusive marketing

But is it really necessary to include a variety of races, sexualities, religions and abilities in your imagery and videos?

Actually, yes. 70% of Gen Z consumers are more trusting of brands that represent diversity in ads, (Microsoft Advertising) and in more than 90% of the simulations run by Facebook, diverse representation was the winning strategy for ad recall lift (Facebook Advertising).

Inclusivity is important, for everyone. So how can you keep your brand moving forwards into the future?

Represent as many people as you can, not only in your imagery and videos, but also the topics you discuss in social media and blogs, or even the line of products you offer. Consider their diet, age, income, race, ability, gender, sexuality, and more. Educate yourself on these topics, and relate to your audience on an authentic level.

You can do this in a few ways:

Know your inclusive traits

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) isn’t just about the color of someone’s skin. There’s a plethora of ways we’re different from one another, including:

• Race
• Ethnicity
• Age
• Gender
• Sexual Orientation
• Language
• Nationality
• Education
• Income
• Beliefs/Faith
• Upbringing

All of these things can affect how someone may perceive and use your product.

2. Use diverse images and video

While showing people from all walks of life shouldn’t be your only inclusive marketing effort, it is the most important one. Review your website for opportunities to include a video or image that helps to represent underserved minorities.

There are some great free stock photo resources at Pixabay and Unsplash.

3. Upgrade your website accessibility

Your website needs to be inclusive, in itself. Many people have sensory issues which prevents them from easily navigating older or less-developed sites, so making your website as easy to get around as possible will only help boost sales.

Add all the meta information you can to images, and write in an easy-to-understand way with no spelling errors for people using text-to-speech software. Don’t use too bright or clashing colors, or hard-to-read fonts.

4. Avoid stereotypes

When tackling diverse and inclusive marketing, it can feel like you’re stepping on eggshells – but simply put, all you need to do is avoid stereotypes. If your first thought when marketing your weight loss product is to tell the story of a young woman who wants to fit in her wedding dress, for example, this may be appropriate, but is it truly the story that will engage your customers the most?

Instead, tell universal stories that discuss pain points and experiences that anyone using your product or service would have regardless of who they are or where they come from.

5. Keep learning

It’s never easy, but so worth doing. At the end of the day, the most effective way to build a strong inclusive marketing strategy is to open yourself up to ongoing education and working with others with diverse backgrounds to help you understand wider variety of perspectives.

It’s a fascinating topic, and once you’re in the swing of things you’ll find you’ll be marketing more inclusively without even trying. Bear in mind the argumentative nature of the internet – beware fake news, outrage culture and all that jazz, and steer yourself instead by the one principle that guides inclusive marketing above all else:

Be excellent to each other.

Do you use inclusive marketing? Have any great examples to share? Let us know!