“Every day we are learning more and more about the importance of representation in products and experiences,” said Kelli Kemery, lead market researcher at Microsoft, in her presentation at SMX Next. “Inclusive marketing helps your brand connect authentically with customers to drive, love, loyalty, and trust.”
While many businesses once considered inclusivity to be an optional component of their marketing campaigns, it has become clear that customers want it at the heart of brand interactions. And for good reason: adopting inclusive marketing practices allows brands to reach out to those who have previously been excluded.
“Inclusive marketing invites underrepresented and marginalized people to experience and connect authentically with your brand,” Kemery said. “It elevates diverse voices and stories, questions assumptions and biases, and avoids stereotypes.”
According to her, inclusion is a “modern marketing imperative,” and brands that do not embrace inclusive marketing will be left behind as these trends continue. Here are four steps Kemery suggests marketers take to incorporate inclusive practices into their campaigns.
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Drive purchase intent with inclusive advertising
Kemery mentioned some research she conducted to see if inclusive advertising increased purchasing intent. Her team discovered how much intent is directly driven by inclusive elements through this research.
“The first ad felt homey in casual, the model was recognizable in the ad was considered very stylish,” Kemery said. “The second ad was appealing because it felt real. The individuals felt connected like a family. But most importantly, people noted how the ad showed diversity and when asked which ad was most inclusive, this was the clear winner.”
These findings were used by Kemery’s team to create brand inclusivity guidelines. However, marketing and advertising departments are encouraged to create frameworks in order to transform their campaigns.
Create an inclusive keyword strategy
Inclusivity should also apply to the keywords that brands use. These are the terms that audiences, particularly marginalized groups, are using to find trustworthy brands.
“Target potential customers based on their needs that map to the keywords that they use to satisfy their unique dimensions of diversity,” said Kemery. “For example, the LGBTQ community, when looking to source a retailer for any given product or service, tends to use the phrase ‘gay-friendly’ as a modifier. This unique phrase could be used as a proxy to help your efforts in personalizing messages or services for this community.”
“As marketers, it is our job to uncover these unique insights with diverse audiences and their unique consumer decision journeys,” she added.
Language-based cues are excellent for increasing audience trust, so remember to include inclusive terminology in your keyword lists.
“These could be used authentically in your ad copy, advertising, or content to help convey inclusion,” Kemery said.
Develop an inclusive image strategy
“Authentic representation in advertising is important. The images that you choose matter,” Kemery said. “In our research, we found out that there is a strong tie between trust, love, and loyalty. Once trust is established as a baseline, a brand can begin to build love and loyalty.
“To do this, the brand must go the extra mile to make someone feel understood through inclusion, and that means authentic imagery,” she added.
Images are excellent at eliciting emotions in order to increase consumer trust in your brand. Using inclusive imagery can increase this trust factor, attracting a larger audience and establishing strong relationships with them.
“Choosing imagery is an important part of constructing meaningful and inclusive customer experiences,” she said. “Inclusive brands don’t just want to reach people, they want people to see that the brand is built for them.”
Practice inclusive audience targeting
“Through the customer research that you conduct to better understand your customers’ values and investigate inclusive keyword strategies, the goal is to uncover audiences that you may have overlooked,” said Kemery. “It is imperative to understand audience insights from any of the platforms that you utilize.”
“You can use these insights to find ways to authentically market to unique audiences who index higher for attributes such as valuing contributing to the community, and individuals who often look for brands that engage in their communities as well,” she added.
Building an audience through inclusive practices is a proactive task — marketers must gain insights from a wide range of platforms and markets to determine which communities they are overlooking. Expanding campaign reach in this manner demonstrates to these groups that your brand cares about them.
Kemery went on to emphasize the importance of inclusive marketing in developing long-term relationships with customers: “A responsible, values-based and inclusive approach to marketing isn’t just about targeting niche segments, providing product value or policy components. It’s about building genuine relationships with people that celebrate diversity and a wide range of human experiences. Intentional inclusion with purpose woven throughout your brand experience conjures up feelings of acceptance, contentment, confidence, certainty, hope, and safety.”
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