Smart marketers look for ways to get their products, services, and experiences into the hands of as many of their ideal customers as they can.
Netflix has paying customers in 190 countries around the world, and has it’s content available in 62 languages. The driver behind this massive reach is it makes good business sense. The more people who can access and enjoy content that is relevant to them on the platform, the more subscriptions they sell, and the more money Netflix makes.
When Walmart, the world’s largest retailer decided to implement sensory friendly hours every day in all of its stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, they did it because it makes more of their ideal customers, including those who have sensory processing disorder feel like they belong. It also enables more of these customers to spend more time in their stores, which often correlates to increased sales.
Google takes a “build for everyone” approach to the products it creates. The company recognizes that the people that use their products come from different races, places, ethnicities, socio-economic positions, abilities, and more. As a result, to ensure they are able to reach as many people as possible who have the problem their brand solves, Google builds its products with those various identities in mind.
Rihanna’s ultra inclusive brands, Fenty Beauty, Savage X Fenty, and Fenty Skin, are also designed to reach as many people who identify with the ethos of the brands’ as possible. As such, both the products lines and the marketing for these brands lean into the ways in which people are different, and ensure that everyone who engages with the brand feels like they belong. The result — each of these brands continues to earn market share in very competitive markets.
When the craft beer market realized they had saturated their narrow customer group they’d been focusing on — young white males, they decided to brand out and market to women, African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. The result: sales for the industry overall increased.
All these are examples of brands and industries that engage in inclusive marketing.
Why So Many Brands Reject Inclusive Marketing
Inclusive marketing is growing in its usage and adoption among more brands. This is a newer term, that is meant to encompass a broader degree of consumers with differences, not just from a racial or ethnic diversity standpoint.
In the past, the terms multi-cultural marketing, diversity marketing, and even ethnic marketing have been used.
The premise of specifying this form of marketing, as it’s own thing, really comes from a desire to give it the proper focus and attention that it deserves. This was needed, because in many instances, consumers with identities that fall outside of what is considered to be “mainstream” are often left underrepresented and underserved.
The challenge we find with inclusive marketing, is that the prevailing mindset is that it is something “extra” to do, or something that isn’t necessary. Other times, when marketers and business leaders hear the word “inclusive,” personal biases immediately flare-up with regard to their own thoughts around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, that prevent them from considering inclusive marketing in the proper light.
As a result, inclusive marketing really isn’t getting the attention and focus it deserves. And unfortunately, because of this, too many consumers are still underrepresented and underserved.
Inclusive marketing is really just marketing. Marketing that is inclusive, is just good marketing.
Marketing that takes into account the many ways people are different isn’t just about serving more customers. It’s also about keeping and staying a relevant and viable option to the ones you have.
For instance, a colleague told me that as she looked to schedule a business retreat for her company, she looked for venues that were thoughtful in their menu options for people who follow vegan diets. If the options for vegans were limited, or non-existent, the hotel didn’t just lose out on the vegan consumer, they lost the entire group, of which more than 90% were not vegan.
Marketing that takes into account the many ways people are different, also means brands increase their rates of customer success.
The more customers you have that reach success, the more they buy from you. The more customers you have that reach success, the more they tell your friends. The more customers you have that reach success, the less refunds you will have. Everyone wins when your customers achieve success.
But in a lot of instances, customers with identities from underrepresented and underserved communities don’t achieve success at the same rates as customers from dominant groups.
Good marketers work to ensure the customers they serve have a positive experience after they purchase. I worked with a client that had data that showed that their African-American customers weren’t achieving success at the same rates as their other customers. As I dug into their marketing and the overall experience they were delivering, I was able to identify why, and provide a plan for how to close the gap in outcomes.
The love language of marketers is business results. And marketing that is inclusive drives sales, increases the number of customers that buy from you, increases customer retention, and increases customer success. That’s why Netflix, Google, Walmart, and so many others are doing it.
Marketing without an inclusive lens is quite frankly not good for business.
So if we need to change the language for more marketers and business leaders to fully embrace marketing to people from underrepresented and underserved communities, so be it.
Inclusive marketing is really just good marketing. Marketers that infuse inclusion into their work, and look to seize every opportunity to ensure all the people who are their ideal customer feel like they belong, will achieve better business results.