Crayons & Marketers Launches New Diversity & Inclusion Marketing Assessment For Brands

Tool Identifies Opportunities to Engage Diverse Populations and Abilities Authentically and Improve Representation in Marketing

Nashville, Tenn. – October 11, 2022 – Culturally sensitive content marketing firm, Crayons & Marketers, announces today the launch of its enterprise-level Diversity & Inclusion Marketing Assessment to help brands identify opportunities for increasing inclusion of and engagement with diverse audiences.  The online self-assessment tool measures four key areas to reveal barriers in consumer and business-to-business marketing: Talent, Branding and Marketing Strategies, Marketing Collateral and Supplier Diversity. This survey is ideal for organizations that want to build cultural awareness, improve representation in marketing, and avoid creating content that unintentionally perpetuates exclusionary and prejudicial practices.

The insights gathered from the assessment help marketers evaluate the readiness of culturally responsible marketing and gain perspective for strategic planning. The survey provides a benchmark report for marketers to see where they are making progress and identifies “opportunity zones” or where they need to further develop inclusive marketing practices. The Crayons & Marketers team conducts a follow-up consultation to discuss recommendations including investing in staff training, rebranding, re-messaging and reimagining their marketing strategy to engage broader audiences. The self-assessment serves as a launching pad for organizations to build cultural competence to inform more effective marketing.

Crayons & Marketers has been working in the multicultural marketing space for a decade leading client strategy on content marketing. Studies confirm that consumers want to do business with brands that prioritize diversity and inclusion.

“We have seen good intentions fall flat because marketers don’t know what they don’t know,” says Jacqueline Hayes, founder and chief marketing strategist, Crayons & Marketers. “We developed this tool to help organizations, particularly higher education, small businesses and marketing agencies, assess their current marketing environment, from the diversity of the people they hire to the context of messaging they create and the imagery chosen to visualize it. Our goal is to uncover blind spots, not to assign blame. Marketers have the power to do good or to do harm through their efforts. As we all learn, we hope to do a lot of good and uplift diverse communities.”

The Diversity & Inclusion Marketing Assessment was developed during Crayons & Marketers’ participation in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, where leveraging the company’s multicultural competencies was encouraged. It was created with the premise “when you know better, you do better” and joins a suite of two inclusive products offered by the firm. Crayons & Marketers recently partnered with AI-powered market leader accessiBe to make websites accessible and ADA-compliant for people with various disabilities.  

The Diversity & Inclusion Marketing Assessment was developed with guidance from women-owned firms including product development and survey design by Dr. Heather Walker, CEO, Lead with Levity and diversity and inclusion training, research and consulting firm people3, founded by Dr. Candace Warner. “People3 works with organizations beginning their D&I and inclusive culture journeys, and marketing is a part of the overall D&I strategy. Using Crayons & Marketers’ Diversity & Inclusion Marketing Assessment, companies can identify trouble spots so they can market more inclusively,” says Dr. Warner.

The Crayons & Marketers Diversity & Inclusion Marketing Assessment is available now. Take the assessment here.

About Crayons & Marketers

Based in Nashville, Tenn., Crayons & Marketers is a culturally sensitive content marketing company founded in 2013. A nationally certified minority and woman-owned enterprise (MWBE), we are passionate about developing inclusive marketing strategies for businesses, nonprofits and governments seeking to meaningfully connect with multicultural and multigenerational consumers. Learn more at https://crayonsandmarketers.com/.