Back in the day, any business would be successful in its marketing to White America because the group was representing the majority of consumers in the market. Along the way, companies realized there was business potential by marketing to African-Americans. In the video, The Secret of Selling the Negro, it outlines why and how African-Americans became an ideal consumer base. One can assume these tested methods applied to Blacks were applied to other ethnic groups on various multicultural marketing strategies. Nevertheless, companies have still experienced success, even when neglecting inclusive or multicultural marketing techniques. Therefore, what is diversity marketing and how does it pertain to diversity and inclusion.
In the current market, things have turned different. William Frey, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, told the Associated Press, “we are browning from bottom up in our age structure.” According to statistics, the growth rate over the last 10 years among racial backgrounds is led by Asians at 30 percent, followed by Hispanics at 20 percent, Blacks at 12 percent, and White folks at 4.3 percent.
As America remains diverse, the minorities will become the majority in the near future. Therefore, using a general “white” market as your strategy will no longer be valid. As we see right now companies will get it right or miss the mark when it comes to diversity in their marketing strategies.
What does Diversity Marketing mean?
Diversity marketing is defined as any marketing strategy used to recognize there are different subgroups in the target market, such as gender, age, ethnicity, sexual identity, disability, religion, among others.
Customers from various subgroups have different experiences, values, ways of interacting, and expectations. In some cultures, some differences are apparent, such as between age, profession, gender, religion, physical environment, family, and more. We don’t assume two White people have the same experience; therefore, we should not assume two Muslims do as well. No group is a monolith.
In diversity marketing, it acknowledges that advertising and marketing should offer alternative means of communication within the diverse groups. If you have that knowledge, you should mix different communication methods to enable you to reach more people from specific diverse groups.
What does equity mean in marketing?
It is fair treatment, advancement, opportunity, and access for all people. It aims to locate and remove those barriers preventing the full participation of all groups.
If you need to improve equity, you should increase justice and fairness. And to tackle equity issues, then you have to be understanding the causes of disparities in a specific society.
What does inclusion mean in marketing?
Inclusion means creating an environment such that an individual or a group will feel respected, welcomed, valued, and supported to participate. It, therefore, offers respect in actions and words to all people. For an organization to deliberately address inclusivity issues, it has to focus on recognizing unconscious, increasingly, or implicit bias.
What does unconscious bias mean in marketing?
Unconscious bias refers to navigating marketing strategy only to those people who have something in common. This is well explained by an idiom that says, “birds of the same feather will fly together.” It is, therefore, means all people have unconscious biases. That results from the social identity people see and evaluate in the world, which results in prejudices and stereotypes, although they are unaware. Some of the unintentional preferences and biases can be anything like gender, race, previous job experience, or even management style.
Biases will affect people’s perceptions and can trap them without knowing. That can deny marketers an opportunity for embracing diversity, learning new things, or sharing different ideas. The first step to understand potential biases is conducting a self-evaluation where you learn to question your reactions and decisions in areas that bias could arise.
What does stereotyping mean in marketing?
Stereotyping refers to the oversimplification of a complicated thing as it is portrayed. However, stereotypes apply to people and things that are commonly used in an advertisement. People are usually sophisticated; therefore, they can’t be defined using a single role. That is why, in an ad, labels help to portray a person or a group of people within a particular light. Gender stereotypes are the most used in advertisements. Stereotypes play a vital role as marketing is targeted to a specific demographic.
What Are The Roles of Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion?
After learning and understanding what diversity, equity, and inclusion mean in marketing, let’s dive into their roles.
If your organization will prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion, it should create an environment respecting and valuing individual differences. Inclusive organizations have to foster cultures because it will minimize bias and address inequalities. Whenever inequalities are left unaddressed, they usually bring disadvantages to various individuals.
These efforts are supposed to be reflected in your firm’s values, visions, and missions. That is because they are not human resources issues but strategic marketing issues.
However, don’t consider diversity and inclusion as something you have to accomplish once or as a lofty goal. You have to keep open and questioning in your mind because it will help your content to reflect on the evolving audience.
Most importantly, it is to dig into your audience. Despite having to respect everybody, it does not mean you should address groups without interests or relevance in your products. A good example is where women should not be the primary audience when advertising a beard-care company. Another example is college students are not allowed to be a member of AARP.
In the global marketplace, diversity marketing is also among the best types of marketing. Others include content marketing, email marketing, and affiliate marketing. For traditional marketing, they include television advertisements, direct mail, telemarketing, and print advertisement. In diversity and inclusive marketing, it is about message delivery and representation. Organizations should want the intent and motivation of the marketing message to be accepted.
Conclusion
The current generation is dominating the consumers’ expenditure. With the growth of ethnic populations, it means diversity marketing will become a crucial strategy for brands and marketers. If avoided, it might become impossible for companies to connect with consumers for them to become loyal customers or brand ambassadors.
If you want your brand to succeed, start considering diversity marketing in your future planning. Place the right people in a position to craft the right message. Start implementing strategies that will support your efforts because it is a worthwhile endeavor for your brand.
If you are unsure of your organization’s diversity and inclusive marketing initiatives, schedule a free 15-minute discovery call for an inclusive marketing audit or strategy session.
