The Journey to Inclusive Marketing Starts With Understanding Your Audience

Identifying your target audience is one of the most challenging aspects of developing an effective marketing strategy. But it’s essential. If you are unsure about who your buyers are, it’s impossible to know what’s important to them, what motivates them, and why. Behind every need and want are cultural influences that help shape who we are. Marketers today are tasked with understanding the nuances that weave the fabric of consumer behavior.

According to a 2019 Microsoft Advertising Research study, 85% of consumers say they’ll only consider a brand if they trust the brand. But how do you build trust if there is no relationship? If there’s no relationship, there’s no sale.

So how do you build relationships with consumers and earn their trust? By adopting an inclusive marketing strategy.

What Is Inclusive Marketing?

Salesforce defines inclusive marketing as “creating content that truly reflects the diverse communities that our companies serve… elevating diverse voices and role models, decreasing cultural bias, and leading positive social change through thoughtful and respectful content.”

Accenture sees it as the “messaging, people, processes and technologies that enable marginalized or underrepresented groups to fully experience and connect with brands.” 

Put plainly, inclusive marketing is an intentional approach that ensures no one feels left out of the conversation. Consumers want to see themselves and how they live their lives reflected in the content they consume, including advertising. They want to feel seen, heard, and valued, not alienated and forgotten.

Consumer Research

Underinvesting in market research may save you on the front end, but it will cost you in the long run. We’ve long since realized that a general market approach may reach many but touches few. Consumers are not a monolith. There are commonalities among us and visible and invisible differences. Our perspectives are also fundamentally different because of a variety of experiences.

Inclusive marketing considers how consumers choose to identify, i.e., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, etc. It also considers common cultural values that connect all of us, such as loving our families, wanting to succeed in life, and desiring to belong. Individual preferences and behaviors and those shared by similar groups are also considered.

Thus the need for consumer research, and perhaps more specifically, cultural research that goes beyond traditional demographic and psychographic data to reveal the full story of what the data is trying to tell about a consumer or consumer group.

Products and Platform

Starting the journey toward more inclusive marketing doesn’t end with your audience. Being inclusive also involves your approach to product development. At Google, teams are encouraged to follow the ABC’s of product inclusion which states to “address the diverse needs of current and future users, build for everyone, with everyone, and constantly test and improve for inclusion.”

And finally, consider the platforms and practices you use to deploy your strategies. Are you building an inclusive customer journey? Are activations and campaigns inclusive in principle and practice?

Company Commitment

Ultimately, inclusive marketing starts with a firm-wide commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, from the boardroom to the c-suite, middle management to the creative team, and everywhere in between. Poor representation internally plays out externally, and consumers will use their considerable influence to upvote or downvote your brand.