“Inclusive marketing is all about brands acknowledging the many ways that people are different,” says this marketing master.
Her voice drops to a conspiratorial tone.
“And this is the very important part: Choosing which identities you’re going to serve.”
Also important (to this Marvel fan, anyway): What does inclusive marketing have to do with the … MCU?
Meet the Master
Name: Sonia Thompson, Founder, Inclusion & Marketing
Job: Thompson consults with brands that want to use inclusive marketing to grow their business
Lesson 1: Toss out your checklist.
I can barely make myself breakfast without a checklist, but Thompson’s got me convinced to throw them out when it comes to inclusive marketing.
As a marketer, you have to choose which identities your product or service is serving, “and that’s where a lot of people are nervous,” Thompson says. “Sometimes people take a checkbox approach — like, ‘let’s get everybody in there.’” But inclusive marketing doesn’t mean “marketing to everybody.”
She gives an example of a recent commercial with a woman in a wheelchair. “You can’t see her face, and there’s no speaking role — she’s just there.”
Your reaction might be, “There’s someone with disabilities in the commercial. It’s inclusive!” But Thompson says that wheelchair users weren’t this brand’s target audience, and she cautions: “All representation isn’t created equal.”
If you’re checking identity boxes instead of thoughtfully choosing your audience(s) and thinking about their overall user experience, you’re not being inclusive at all.
Lesson 2: Be your own MCU.
And that, oddly enough, brings us to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Think about your marketing in the context of customer experience,” Thompson says, “and the ways in which people engage and interact with your brand.” They’re going to do it on a macro level — like the MCU’s 17-year reign over pop culture — and a micro level — say, Black Panther.
“I had seen zero Marvel movies before Black Panther,” says Thompson. But “I felt like it was designed for me and my community.” So she moved on to Infinity War (Note: I’d’ve recommended Thor: Ragnarok, personally). “Black Panther has a role in it, but as part of a cast — a whole ensemble.”
When she audits her clients’ overall user experiences, Thompson encounters a lot of promotional materials, and many times, brands have designed something for specific identities. But it’s separate from their general marketing materials, and that’s a problem.
Your Black Panther should fit comfortably within your multiverse — that is, the specific identities you serve should be an integral part of your marketing ensemble. And they should show up across your full marketing mix — your Instagram feed, your website, your commercials. Wakanda forever.
Lesson 3: Bring the main character energy.
A few years ago, Thompson conducted a survey on representation in marketing. She asked people what types of representation were most important to them and how they wanted to see themselves represented.
“We don’t want to feel like we’re in the back,” was the overwhelming sentiment, “or just placed there to say that we’ve been included.” (There’s that checklist again.) “We want a storyline. We want to be the main character.”
That’s not the only way that brands relegate identities to the supporting cast.
“Let’s say, for instance, that you want to reach Spanish speakers,” says Thompson. Say you’ve translated your website, “but the [Spanish translation] is buried in the footer somewhere.” Sure, you’ve done the work, but you’re also telling that segment of your audience that they’re less important.
Thompson suggests finding a way to get an external evaluation of your inclusive marketing strategies. “If you don’t have people on your team who have those identities or lived experience or areas of expertise,” she says, “Co-create or bring in partners to evaluate and to assess different areas for you.” That way you can bring the main character energy.
Lingering Questions
This Week’s Question
What’s a piece of marketing advice you would have given earlier in your career, but you would no longer give, due to how marketing has changed? —Heike Young, Head of content, social, & integrated marketing, Microsoft
This Week’s Answer
Thompson: Early in my career, I would have advised marketers to spend time focusing on a unique brand and really investing in what you could do to deliver a remarkable customer experience.
It‘s not that remarkable experiences and strong brands aren’t needed, but I find spending too much time there — especially up front — prevents brands from showing up consistently. Today’s world and consumer move fast — and quite frankly, consumers will be the ones that guide you on what makes a remarkable experience.
So, it’s more important now to show up and let your voice, point of view, and what you stand for be known. Refine your experience over time, based on feedback from your customers and the community you build. That community and the trust they need to have with you is hard to build if you don’t show up consistently. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking everything has to be perfect and super polished before it gets out into the world.
This isn’t a case for delivering poor quality, but rather a case for brands and marketers to do a better job of being active shapers and participants of culture as it is happening. Be relevant and remarkable to consumers in a way that is most valued and relevant to them. Your marketing and impact will be much more effective as a result.
Next Week’s Question
Thompson asks: How have you seen inclusion shape the way marketing has been done over the last five years, and how do you feel it will shape (if at all) the next five years of marketing?
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