When it comes to digital marketing, more and more focus is being placed on inclusivity and the importance of being inclusive in your marketing strategies. Consumers have taken the reins and are no longer passive, which is forcing more and more businesses and organizations to revamp their marketing strategies. Inclusivity has become an increasingly important factor when it comes to consumers determining whether a brand stands for their values or not and can have a huge impact on where and how consumers choose to take their business.
With continually increasing diversity across Canada, inclusivity is a must when it comes to promoting your business and building a reputation with your clients and customers. Creating marketing campaigns that include people of all ages, genders, and socioeconomic classes is essential in today’s world.
So how exactly do you go about making your digital marketing inclusive? We’ve highlighted some essential tips that can help point you in the right direction when it comes to creating inclusive marketing campaigns and promoting inclusivity alongside your products and services.
Why Does Inclusivity in Marketing Matter?
One of the most prominent benefits of inclusive messaging is that it helps to expose your business or organization to a much larger audience. Not only will inclusivity help to retain existing customers, but it will also help you attract new ones as well. In today’s world, consumers hold the power, so appealing to their opinions and beliefs is a great way to solidify your brand’s reputation. Creating inclusivity in your digital marketing can also have an impact on your staff, with one study claiming that companies that encourage diversity and inclusivity in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity in the working environment are 35% more likely to outperform financially than others.
Brand reputation plays a huge role in whether a consumer decides to give a specific brand their business or not, so your digital marketing should cater towards bolstering your brand’s reputation. One of the best ways to build credibility as a brand or business is through word-of-mouth from current customers. If a consumer is impressed with what they see, they will be more likely to refer you to their friends, which in turn will help bolster your brand reputation.
Implementing Inclusivity in Your Marketing
When it comes to determining how you want to implement inclusivity into your digital marketing strategies, the first thing you want to take into consideration is your audience. Rather than clumping them together into one collective “audience”, instead, consider what makes your audience stand out. Here are a few things to remember when thinking about your target audience:
Another important factor to take into consideration is using inclusive and culturally sensitive language. Whether you’re curating social media marketing campaigns or are working on implementing inclusive branding, keeping language in mind is essential in avoiding certain expressions or habits that could be seen as derogatory to potential clients and customers.
One great way to gauge how your brand is being perceived through your digital marketing is to turn to consumer feedback. Social media has provided people with numerous different platforms where they can voice their opinions, so turning to their thoughts can be a great way to step back, look at how people are receiving your current marketing campaigns, and reevaluate to see where you can improve.
Recognize That Diversity and Inclusivity Are Not Synonymous
While it can be easy to lump diversity and inclusivity into the same box, it’s important to understand that the two aren’t synonymous. One easy way to differentiate the two is to think of diversity as being the ‘what’, while inclusivity is the ‘how’. Diversity focuses on the makeup of your audience; the range of individuals being showcased through different campaigns. Some demographics that fall into diversity include:
Inclusion is a measure of culture that enables diversity to thrive and requires that everyone’s contributions be valued. So, when discussing the importance of inclusivity in digital marketing, you need to look at diversity as well. Your brand or business might be showcasing diversity already, but if inclusion isn’t being embraced, then you aren’t truly promoting inclusivity.
Fostering An Inclusive Workplace Culture
It’s one thing to promote inclusivity in digital marketing, but it is equally as important to foster an inclusive workplace. Building an inclusive brand takes time and requires intentional effort. While that effort might only be directly seen by those in the workplace, it can expand and begin to bleed into other areas of your business, which can help to bolster your digital marketing. Brands and businesses are made up of people, so by promoting inclusivity in your workplace, you will continue to reinforce your brand as being inclusive and this will help build a brand reputation with both current and potential customers.
Diversity and inclusivity are both incredibly important in today’s society, so taking the time and making the effort to showcase and promote both in every aspect of your brand or business is essential to building a great brand reputation and appealing to a wide audience.
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