The Importance of Diversity in Marketing

The year is now 2022 and brands still struggle (or refuse) to be inclusive in their marketing efforts. It is very important to show diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in your marketing campaigns, in your communications, and in your organization. It is not enough just to say you support the “Black Lives Matters'' movement or post “Stop Asian Hate” on your social media profiles. While these efforts can be meaningful to some, they are not enough to many. You want to make sure that you truly know what it means to be inclusive. This involves race, color, gender, sexuality, marital status, disability status, and more! Think of all of the ways that people are different. The list is endless.

Start With Your Team

Is the inside of your company diverse? How can you prove it to be? It is very beneficial to expand your company in order to get real insights from a variety of people from all sorts of backgrounds. This also allows you to provide opportunities for underrepresented individuals to build their skills and enhance their careers. You would want to be a company that receives great feedback from your employees notifying that your company is a diverse and comfortable place to work. It also allows the organization to be credible when presenting themselves as a diverse company. You would have firsthand knowledge on what it is to see and experience diversity in the workplace.

Educate Your Team

Education helps the organization to always be aware of what it means to be and to show DEI. You want your employees to be well-rounded individuals and well-informed on DEI not only in the workplace but outside of the workplace as well. One way to implement change is to conduct and/or present workshops on DEI and how it relates to their positions. Some may have misconceptions about what it means to be diverse and to be a part of a diverse community. This is where stereotypes in marketing and marketing campaigns can show up and become offensive, causing backlash.

Analyze Your Marketing Campaigns

Now that you have identified and improved your company’s view and education on DEI, it is time to implement what you have learned into your marketing campaigns. Take a look at your business as a whole and see who else could benefit from your products and/or services. Get the insights from your employees, do further research, and be creative. During your research, you may want to showcase your ad campaigns privately with test groups before they go public. The reasoning behind this research is to make sure they are appropriate, effective, and non exclusionary or offensive.

Speak to the Community

If you really want to make a difference outside of your organization, you’re going to want to put some real action behind your efforts. Get your team together and think of some ways that you can give back to your local communities and communities that are overlooked and underrepresented. Ask your team and even your test audiences, about the needs of the communities that you are trying to represent? They want to feel heard, seen, and understood; and you can’t do that unless you spend time with them, listen to their wants and needs.

Having diversity in your marketing is not just checking a box off to say, “we did it.” It takes constant effort all around the clock. There will always be something new to learn, something new to adapt to. As people change and evolve so will opinions and therefore changes are going to be made. Keeping what’s relevant inside of the organization is helpful because you are able to deal with it a little differently. Stand out from your competitors and make the necessary changes in your efforts where needed to truly connect with several audiences that can benefit from your business.