Have you ever seen an advertisement and felt like it was meant for someone else and definitely not for you. You must have felt alienated like you were unimportant. Sadly, societal bias and stereotypes based on race, ethnicity, and religion are all too common and this is heavily reflected in marketing. This is where inclusive marketing is extremely important in your business. For instance, males are shown more in adverts than women are. On the other end of the spectrum, women appear more in revealing adverts than men. Very common for brands to fail to include all members of society, yet they expect everyone to purchase their products or services all the same. 

How to use Inclusive Marketing

Inclusive marketing is more than just including faces of minorities in adverts or changing the colours of your products. This is not all that is needed to get people to purchase products.

So where does your business even begin?

With Culture! That’s where. Dedicate your resources and research on understanding the political, social, and economic views of your target market. Understand the challenges they face. This will mean immersing yourself in the world of your target market and putting yourself into their shoes. This in turn will equip you with the information necessary to create your advertising content that appeals to your target customers and that will offend them.

Get the right team

And the right team represents the different cultures and ethnicities in the greater society. Look at it this way, can a man sell beauty products? Sure he can! But would it be better if there was a woman on the team Similarly, can women sell shaving products? Of course! But would it be better if there was a man in the team who shaves on a regular? This same concept should be considered with different ethnicities. A Mexican knows more about his people and understands their perceptions more than a black man. Similarly, a black man knows more about the black community and its challenges more than a white man.

You get it!

Understanding the role of a women

Women for instance make up the female economy. Last year alone, women spent over 24 trillion dollars. What’s more, it is expected that as more and more women enter the workforce, this number will continue to grow. Savvy marketers are aware of this and are now representing women more in their marketing campaigns. This can be an excellent way to ensure your marketing budget goes even further. Many businesses are now realizing the potential and are changing their marketing tactics to appeal to more women.

Inclusive marketing and its effects on consumer behaviour

Consumers are much more likely to buy products from brands that make them feel recognized and appreciated as a valuable part of the community. For instance, black consumers are more likely to buy products from a brand that shows black people in their adverts. With inclusive marketing, your campaigns can have more impact and persuade more people to choose your products. A great example of inclusive marketing is Rhianna’s Fenty Beauty. It markets to different races and ethnicities in over 137 countries. One of the adverts showed a Muslim girl with a hijab to show the brand as inclusive. 

Ultimately inclusion is for all

When it is all said and done, inclusion is not about creating ads that target a certain ethnicity or group of people. It is about creating a successful campaign that takes into consideration the feelings, emotions, and views of everyone in society. The goal is to make everyone feel appreciated without alienating people.

Inclusion marketing is an ongoing process of evaluating and re-evaluating societal concepts.

Final word

Inclusive marketing goes beyond selling products. It can be a powerful tool to help fight biases in society. It makes everyone feel part of the same community which ultimately also brings people together.