Improve Race Relations with Successful Marketing Strategies

If we applied some basic but effective marketing strategies to race relations, we could go a long way toward healing some of the divisions that plague our society.

This simple approach to building relationships never occurred to me until Courtney Rhodes, co-founder of C and D | The Agency (an Atlanta-based national marketing firm) and a fellow trustee at Bethune Cookman University, was my guest on The Crossman Conversation.

Talking about people who complained that their marketing campaigns didn’t work, she said, “Marketing will always work, but it’s a balance of art and science. You have to understand who you are as a brand and who you’re talking to. Who are going to be those loyal people who are going to continue to use your products and services? Then understand how to connect the dots between what’s really important to those people and what your brand has to offer.”

That’s some good business advice and we continued our conversation, talking about her marketing firm, her jewelry and clothing boutique, her upbringing in South Carolina, her faith, and her appreciation and support of HBCUs (she’s a graduate of Morgan State, Maryland’s largest HBCU).

Then I asked the question I ask many of my Black guests: You’re in a room with 60 white middle-aged male CEOs. You’ve got a captive audience. What would you want them to hear about race and women?

Courtney said she wouldn’t speak to them as a group.

Instead, she would have one-on-one conversations with each of them. “Because you have to meet people where they are,” she said. “I can’t go into that room being like, ‘Hey, guys, this is what you need to do, we’re in 2022 and you need to get on board with diversity and inclusion.’ That’s not going to work. It’s not going to feel authentic to them.”

Instead, she would talk to each one individually to understand their mindset and experiences. “I’m going to respect where you are, you respect where I am, and let’s see what commonalities we can connect around to move forward together,” she said.

That’s effective marketing: Find out what your customers truly want and engage with them so they see how you can provide what’s important to them.

When you apply that strategy to race relations, most of us find that we’re far more alike than different. And that’s how we begin to erase the divisions.

Get some great marketing tips and hear more about Courtney’s amazing life here:

https://www.theshepherdradio.com/podcasts/the-crossman-conversation/episode/s1e17-courtney-rhodes-is-marketing-advertising-pro-entrepreneur-and-a-strong-believer-in-god-and-hbcus/

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Listen to what motivational speaker, author, and survivor Secily Wilson said about true diversity here:

https://www.theshepherdradio.com/podcasts/the-crossman-conversation/episode/s1e05-secily-wilson-well-known-broadcaster-speaker-and-best-selling-author-shares-on-the-real-race-issues-in-our-culture/

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John Crossman is the founder of Crossman Career Builders, the host of The Crossman Conversation, and the author of Career Killers Career Builders. Check out Crossman Career Builders on YouTube. Connect with John on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.