People from underrepresented and underserved communities are often viewed as not being "normal" or very different from everyone else -- which is why the don't get the attention and support they should. But what does it mean to be "normal"? Who gets to decide what "normal" is? And is "normal" even a real thing, or is it a construct we should all reject? I cover all these important questions, and ways to think about it for your brand in today's episode. Get the Inclusion & Marketing...

Recently, rankings for the Most Culturally Inclusive Brands were announced. The rankings come from the Association for National Advertisers’ (ANA) Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM), in partnership with the Cultural Inclusion Accelerator (CIA). For the second year in a row, the Lysol brand has been awarded “Best in Ad Effectiveness” by more than 80,000 consumers with a broad diversity of identities. I wanted to find more about Lysol's approach to inclusive marketing,...

Most business engage in email marketing to some degree. And because email marketing is such a commonly used tool that reaches a broad diversity of consumers, it is important to understand how to ensure the emails you send are inclusive, and make the people you serve feel like they belong with you, rather than pushing them away from you. So in this episode, I sat down with email conversion strategist Samar Owais, founder of Emails Done Right, to chat through the ins and outs of inclusive email...

Brand messaging is a critical component of the marketing strategy for any brand. And when it comes to ensuring that your brand messaging speaks to all the people you want to serve, including those from underrepresented and underserved communities, it takes intentional effort to ensure your brand messaging will resonate. In today's episode, I sat down with Diane Wiredu, a brand messaging strategist and founder of Lion Words, to talk about how you can ensure you're delivering brand messaging...

It's reported that Nike will be signing a signature shoe deal with Caitlin Clark. While excitement for, viewership, and support of women's sports, including the WNBA are on the rise, there are some major disparities happening from a representation standpoint. Nike's shoe deal with Caitlin Clark amplifies the problem. In this episode, I walk you through what's happening, dive deeper into the root cause of the issue, and cover how all of this impacts your brand. Get the Inclusion &...

Cultural intelligence is essential for any brand that wants to be effective with their inclusive marketing efforts. It is the foundation for helping you engage in an authentic way to make people from underrepresented and underserved communities feel seen and like they belong with you. In this episode, I sat down with an expert who actually wrote a book on cultural intelligence for marketers -- to talk about that very topic. Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel is a cultural theorist, writer, social...

Communication is a core part of marketing. And yet it feels like so many brands struggle with communicating in a manner that is both inclusive and authentic. As a result, a lot of times brands struggle with communicating in a manner that doesn't turn people off or push people away that they would prefer to draw closer. In today's episode, I sat down with Dr. Suzanne Wertheim, a linguist, inclusive language expert, and author of The Inclusive Language Field Guide. During our chat, we cover a...

Major changes are coming to the 2030 Census in the U.S. And even though we're a few years away from those changes taking effect, the implications for brands start now. In this episode, I walk you through the changes the U.S. government recently announced for the Census, why the changes were made, and how they impact your brand. Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter U.S. Census Changes Just Approved Sample 2030 U.S. Census Questionnaire Suzanne Wertheim SightsSet Consulting - Renita Bryant

Inclusive marketing really is just doing marketing well. Even though we aren't there now, eventually, we'll get to a place where won't even need to call inclusive marketing inclusive marketing anymore -- it'll just be the way we do marketing. The good news -- we're not too far away from that being our reality. That's because that's the way some brands are already operating today. Zumba is one of those brands that has that approach. In today's episode, I sat down with Zumba's Chief Marketing...

The Home Depot was recently named "The Most Culturally Inclusive Brand" by the ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive & Multicultural Marketing (AIMM). I thought it would be great for you to learn about their approach to inclusive marketing, so I sat down with Chante LaGon, Sr. Manager of Multi-Cultural Marketing at The Home Depot to get insight into how they think about and execute inclusive marketing. There's lots to learn from this chat. Pull out your pen and dig in. Get the Inclusion &...

Inclusive marketing is a fairly new discipline. As a result, inclusive marketing consultants and strategists are newer areas of expertise for talent. Whenever I introduce myself and explain that I'm an inclusive marketing consultant, coach, and strategist, I always find that I need to explain what that means. That includes sharing the ways I support clients for people to get it. An inclusive marketing consultant isn't like a copywriter, sales person, or even market researcher where people...

Have you ever encountered someone different from you, and then fumbled your way through interacting with them? I know I have, and I included a few of those stories in this episode. From my observations -- it seems like too often, we struggle to build authentic connections with people who are different from us, and I wanted to explore why that was. So I sat down with Topsie VandeBosch, a mindset and emotional intelligence consultant for business leaders, and a licensed psychotherapist. Topsie...

Customer intimacy is one of my five pillars of building an inclusive brand. The most effective way to build customer intimacy is through actually talking to your customers. But a lot of brands don't do this -- and get nervous of even the thought of doing so, especially when it comes to people from underrepresented and underserved communities. So in today's episode we're going to fix that. I sat down with the brilliant Andi Jarvis, the founder and Strategy Director of Eximo Marketing, a...

Search engines connect interested consumers with willing brands. That's why smart brands optimize focus on SEO to make it easy for these curious customers to find them. But too often, brands forget about customers who have the problem their brand solves when it comes to consumers who speak other languages -- even when they are equipped to serve customers who speak other languages. In this episode I sat down with Sarah Moon, an SEO marketing and business strategy consultant, to cover practical...

More brands are acknowledging the many ways consumers are different, and adjusting their marketing approach accordingly to ensure they make all the people they serve feel like they belong with them. In this episode, I sat down with Santronya Smith, Director of Enterprise Sales at Suzy, a market research company, where we chatted about strategies some of the brands she's worked with have used to do a better job of connecting with and serving consumers from underrepresented and underserved...

One of my goals this year is to bring you more stories of marketers who've been out in the trenches using inclusive marketing to grow their brands. For this episode, I sat down with Bryan Alston, former CMO of Greater Than, who's also worked on brands such as Magic Spoon and GoClove.com. We chatted a lot about inclusive marketing strategies he's used with these eCommerce companies that helped them achieve a greater degree of growth. Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter Get the...

People want authenticity in their food.  We need authenticity in our relationships. And we definitely crave authenticity in marketing. Today, we’re going to talk about authenticity in marketing. These days especially, more and more consumers want brands to be authentic. That is one of the things that makes inclusive marketing – and really, most marketing effective. Authenticity. Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter Get the episode transcript Episode 97 - Inclusive marketing...

Marketing ethics, or more specifically, the ethics associated with inclusive marketing doesn’t get talked about nearly enough as it should. Of course, I’m a big proponent of brands engaging and serving people from underrepresented and underserved communities. But there are times when I wish brands wouldn’t focus on specific communities, and would just leave them alone. Why? Because in certain instances, brands do more harm than good when engaging with certain underrepresented and underserved...

Representation matters. We know this. But all representation isn't created equal. In this episode, I walk you through how to do representation in marketing the right way, infused with insights from consumers. Get the transcript here Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter 2021 State of Representation in Marketing Study Orange FIFA Women's World Cup ad Episode 51: How To Create Inclusive Content That Makes More People Feel Seen with Natasha Pierre Episode 53: The Inclusive Marketing...

Everyone has been talking about artificial intelligence (AI) of late. And as more brands and marketers incorporate AI into their workflow, it is important to understand the implications of how AI impacts the inclusiveness of your marketing efforts. To help us navigate this, I sat down with Joyann Boyce, an inclusive marketing strategist, and founder of Inclued AI. Get the episode transcript here Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter Inclued AI Previous episode with Joyann - #75:...

Inclusive marketing is about more than just communications. The foundation of delivering experiences that enables you to attract and retain more consumers, including those from underrepresented and underserved communities, is an inclusive product. The products and services you deliver, need to be designed with the identities you've chosen to serve in mind. In this discussion with inclusive product design expert Sabrina Meherally, founder of Pause & Effect, we walk through the essentials...

There's plenty of articles and other content that showcase inclusive marketing examples. The problem with many of those, is they don't really help you understand the different ways in which a brand can engage in inclusive marketing and the impact those various approaches have on the end consumer. It is important to recognize that not all forms of inclusive marketing are created equal. In this episode, I'll walk you through my Inclusive Marketing Spectrum, and will give you examples of what...

There's no one right way to do inclusive marketing. However, there are some best practices and core principles that when applied will enable you to achieve success in your efforts, and make a positive impact not only in the lives of those you want to serve, but also on your bottom line. This episode includes 5 approaches for inclusive marketing success in 2024 and beyond. Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter Get the episode transcript Articles mentioned in the episode: 2021 - 4...

There's lots of ways to reach out and find your ideal customer. A common way brands have always used is paid media. And as targeting improves, paid media is often a proven way to reach people from underrepresented and underserved communities. In this episode, Carlos Santiago, co-founder of AIMM, the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing, and I chat about the benefits for brands of engaging in paid media, and the impact is has on the communities. Get the Inclusion & Marketing...

A lot has happened in the news with regard to inclusive marketing, and there's lots to talk about here. Today, Mariam Shahab and I chat about the new Ralph Lauren X Naiomi Glasses campaign, and all the backlash surrounding Zara, the now-removed campaign, and their, ahem, statement. Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter Article covering best practices of Ralph Lauren X Naiomi Glasses campaign Episode 21: Cultural appropriation and inappropriate use of a culture not your own: Let's talk...