10 Best Practices for Inclusive Marketing in Corporate Branding

Intro

In the 21st century, every brand should be aware of the power of inclusive branding. Some companies are motivated to curate an image of inclusivity to add value to their brands. Others simply want to do right by their customers with diverse backgrounds and identities.

In this article, we’ll discuss some best practices you can use for inclusive marketing in corporate branding. We’ll also review some examples of brands that do a great job of keeping their marketing inclusive for all.

10 Approaches to Inclusive Marketing

There are many ways to foster inclusivity in your marketing campaigns. How you implement each technique will depend on your company’s values, brand persona, and available resources.

The approaches we’ve rounded up are meant to guide you as you take a step toward inclusivity and accessibility in your brand.

Without further ado, here are ten inclusive marketing approaches for your corporate brand.

1. Use Inclusive Language

One of the easiest ways to make your marketing more inclusive is to use more inclusive language.

Some examples of shifts you can make to make your language more inclusive include:

• Avoiding appropriating language from other cultures (i.e., using African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) unless you’re a Black-owned and operated company)
• Using health descriptors only when speaking of an actual medical condition (i.e., don’t use “lame,” “crazy,” or “psycho” casually)
• Avoiding gendered terms when possible (i.e., use “salesperson” instead of “salesman,” or “firefighter” instead of “fireman”)
• Being careful to avoid derogatory terms (even if the intent isn’t to offend)
• Using acronyms carefully so as not to create confusion
• Avoiding generalizations

By crafting your messaging carefully and inclusively, you can ensure your audience feels seen and isn’t offended.

2. Prioritize Representation of Diverse Groups

Another simple way to bring inclusivity to your marketing campaigns is to ensure that diverse groups are represented in your assets.

For example, if you have a clothing brand, it’s important to use models of different ethnicities and with different body types. You can also include people who present with different religious items, such as a hijab, and people with visual disabilities, as well.

(Image Source)

By breaking the mold of the typical thin, white model that was the standard in the fashion industry in the past, you’re telling your audience that people of all shapes, sizes, and colors are beautiful.

3. Hire a Diverse Marketing Team

Hiring a diverse marketing team is a great way to ensure that your marketing materials include diversity.

Including people of different ages, genders, races, religions, and so forth will help keep your efforts inclusive since people with different perspectives can weigh in.

For example, suppose someone on your team uses a derogatory term in their copy without realizing it. In that case, another group member from a different background may quickly recognize this misuse of language and explain why it’s not appropriate for the campaign.

4. Be Mindful of Holidays

Many brands are quick to send memos and create content around holidays like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Halloween. Whether they're sending traditional emails or even exploring newer formats like voice memos, which leads to questions such as how long can voice memos record, these methods have become highly effective in marketing. While these holidays have religious roots, they’ve become relatively secularized, which has led to their popularity.

However, plenty of other holidays on the calendar are likely significant to at least some of your target audience, and they’re worth recognizing. For example, the Jewish members of your audience would probably appreciate the recognition of Rosh Hashanah or Hanukkah, the Black members would likely appreciate the recognition of Juneteenth, and local communities might value acknowledging events hosted by a Harlingen church or similar faith-based organizations.

5. Create Inclusive Products

Although product development isn’t the same as marketing, it’s very much related. If you sell products necessary for everyone but inaccessible to some, that isn’t a good look for your brand.

Take inspiration from Fenty Beauty, which prioritizes inclusivity (beauty for all). Doing so helped skyrocket it to a $2.8 billion valuation.

(Image Source)

Don’t underestimate the power of an inclusive brand whose core mission is creating accessible products. It might take some additional effort for research and development, but it’s worth it to accommodate those who aren’t adequately served elsewhere.

6. Don’t Perpetuate Stereotypes

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of stereotypes in marketing, especially if you’re trying to make your assets funny. Although you may get a laugh from some of your audience, perpetuating stereotypes can be harmful to those whose identities are being made fun of.

For example, blonde women have historically been poked fun at in the media. We’ve seen generations of over-sexualization and infantilization of women with blonde hair, which completely disregards the fact that many brilliant individuals have blonde hair.

This is a very mild example of the misuse of stereotypes in the media. Minorities are often exploited much more in this regard. Unfortunately, the perpetuation of these stereotypes often takes the form of microaggressions that fly under the radar, which is how ‌marketing assets are deployed in the first place.

7. Avoid Cultural Appropriation

Many brands have come under fire for jumping on stolen trends from other cultures or for using cultural items to make money. If you’re unfamiliar, this concept is often called “cultural appropriation.”

A significant example of this that many brands have been guilty of in the past was the use of the term “spirit animal” and other language stolen from Native Americans.

(Image Source)

Many companies have also been guilty of stealing and monetizing trends that are common to specific demographics, such as the Black community. While it’s okay to pull inspiration from other cultures in marketing, it’s not okay to benefit from cultural things that have been socially persecuted historically.

8. Create Accessible Assets

It’s no secret that digital marketing is enormous for most modern brands. Fortunately, different digital marketing techniques create the opportunity to distribute accessible assets to individuals with various disabilities.

For example, many social media platforms allow users to publish images and videos with “alt text.” By adding alt text to a post, visually impaired people can have their devices read this text to let them know what the image is on the post. This provides more context to the caption and creates a more inclusive experience.

9. Be Receptive to Feedback

Mistakes are inevitable in business. Sometimes, you’ll mess things up, and people will likely call you out. If your brand makes a mistake caught by the public, it’s imperative to be receptive to feedback and move forward accordingly.

Even when feedback feels very harsh, consider that people are hurt or offended. Hurt feelings may cause input to be given in an inflammatory way. Sort through your feedback to determine what’s productive and can lead to action.

Remember that people don’t like a generic video apology that feels staged and forced in response to a mistake. They want brands to make changes and hold themselves accountable for any mistakes that have been made.

Here’s a great example from Airbnb admitting their wrongdoing, apologizing, and explaining their efforts to do better.

(Image Source)

10. Be Authentic

Many companies run into issues when they use messaging in their marketing that sounds good but isn’t backed up by any action.

For example, many corporate brands that post LGBTQ-related content for Pride month but donate to anti-gay organizations have been called out for their inauthentic marketing practices. When companies are caught doing this, it reflects very poorly on the brand.

If your marketing represents an inclusive brand, you should truly become an inclusive brand.

Examples of Inclusive Marketing in Corporate Branding

Now that you’re more familiar with some of the best practices for inclusive marketing, let’s look at some of the brands crushing it with this approach.

Hims

Hims is an e-commerce brand that offers solutions for men’s health and wellness issues, such as hair loss medication and treatments for erectile dysfunction like Viagra. The company targets millennials with an innovative, humorous, and appealing branding strategy.

(Image Source)

Hims also uses inclusive marketing principles, such as

• Including and representing different groups of people in its communications, such as people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities
• Offering products and services that improve its customers’ quality of life and happiness, regardless of their age, race, gender, or sexuality
• Creating a positive and supportive community that encourages men to talk openly about their health and well-being
• Using respectful and empathetic language that avoids stereotypes and addresses the diversity of its customers

Hims uses these inclusive marketing practices in its corporate branding, as it aims to connect with its audience, understand their needs, and reflect the reality of our world.

Good American

Good American is a clothing brand that was started with the mission of creating denim for all body types. Since the brand was built with inclusivity at its core, its marketing has naturally followed a similar path.

One way that Good American prioritizes inclusivity in its marketing is by using models of different races with a variety of body types and sizes.

(Image Source)

Final Thoughts

Incorporating inclusive marketing practices should be a primary goal for any corporate marketing team. No matter what type of brand you have, there’s no reason to make any person feel excluded.

By taking steps toward diverse representation and inclusivity, your brand will be more attractive to more people and set a positive example for others in your industry.

Which inclusive marketing practices will you include in your next campaign?