For many in the marketing and communications world (especially those in the USA), it’s hard to believe we’re living in such a politically charged climate. As the industry tries to sort its way through the pandemonium, we’ve found the most recurring question being asked of us from marketers and communicators looking to navigate through these turbulent times is, “Well, what now? What does this all mean for us?”

Even though a lot has changed, the foundations of our work should stay the same. Ignore the noise and follow the data.

Our roles as marketers and communicators have always and will always stay the same – which is to continue to find what resonates with our audience base. What differentiates Inclusive marketing and communications is recognizing the diversity of your audience and their intersectional identities instead of grouping people in homogenous audience groups which usually defaults to the dominant lens.

With all this said and especially considering the goal of resonating with your audience base, we follow the data. In our own research as well as publicly available research, it seems that the media is highlighting a cultural and political tides shift, whereas the data has not shown much change in consumer preferences around DEI in their marketing communications. Although it has been shown in some studies that audiences don’t want political input from businesses, the statistics show that the majority continue to want to see themselves represented and for companies to stick to their values around DEI, Sustainability, etc. in their marketing and communication efforts.

In this climate, utilizing a strategic framework for inclusive marketing and communicating is more important than ever.

As explained above, you theoretically shouldn’t change anything you’re doing because the data hasn’t shown otherwise. In fact, we believe that this dialogue has actually further ignited the conversation and in some ways positively rehashed the importance of DEI when it was waning. Because the fact is that people who believed in DEI are standing even stronger with it now than in recent years, and people against it will almost always still be against it regardless of the climate. People wanting to feel seen and heard hasn’t changed, and people being more diverse than ever before is a fact.

However – in this climate especially – there is an increased risk (and reward) with inclusive marketing and communications, so the key is understanding your audience well enough, and truly knowing their values and what resonates with them. Marketing and communications is often about taking calculated risks to resonate with your audience, and for us at AndHumanity, we utilize our Brand Inclusion Framework (originally adapted from Dr. Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity) to assess and gauge the most strategic messaging strategy to resonate with our client’s audiences. Whether your audience is very conservative or very progressive or somewhere in between, the framework will detail a strategic path forward to optimally resonate with your audience.

As many of us in the industry know, marketing and communications is merely an expression of your already-established brand, and your brand is merely a representation of your organization’s internal values and culture etc. So it’s important to always have congruence between what’s happening internally and what’s being communicated externally. Performativity is usually called out and backlash can be severe, so the most important thing right now is to be sure you’re communicating strategically according to the Brand Inclusion Framework’s principles. That means that if your brand is merely taking a wait-and-see approach or being extremely cautious during these times (which is understandable), make sure you understand where your audience is on the Brand Inclusion Framework, so you can strategically frame your messaging accordingly whilst still being authentic to your brand and your brand’s aspirations. For example, if you find your audience is quite divided, the Brand Inclusion Framework’s principles suggest a “Brand Minimization” tone of messaging, which focuses on unifying language that bridges divides – finding common ground both sides can agree on.

Underrepresented audiences and allies are paying very close attention to how brands are reacting.

With all this said, there is also another angle for brands who want to continue DEI work internally and externally, and it follows the proverb “fortune favours the bold”. Audiences from underrepresented communities and their allies right now are taking notes, and undoubtedly, these same groups will focus on rewarding brands who continue DEI work internally and externally, whilst criticizing those who are halting the work internally and externally (see Target). There is a risk to this positioning, but assuming that you have a strong understanding of your audience’s placement on the inclusion framework, you’ll be aware of the risks, and know that you’ll potentially lose some customers whilst gaining others. 

And if you’re weighing the benefits and risks of this, we still believe that the greater risk lies in halting DEI-related marketing and communications. Not only will this be jarring and telling for your audiences, the statistics around consumer purchasing behaviour are also not supportive of this. As Millennials and Generation Z become more primary decision makers both in business and personal life, brands that don’t focus on social impact and values-based positioning will suffer. Studies continue to show that younger generations are purchasing based on purpose, and any step away from this strategy is very hard to recover from. Being relevant now and into the future depends on these types of decisions that brands make today.

Every brand may be different, but every brand is also at a vital point in their history right now.

Right now, brands and their values are being put to the test – with some already succumbing to the pressure and comprising their values, and some rising up against it. Whether you are debating going one way or another, two things remain the same; one, every brand has specific needs and considerations and thus a specific strategy is required, and two, no matter what people say in the media, it will never change the fact that the world is more globalized than ever and your audience is growing more diverse by the day. Thus, hyper-personalized marketing and communications catered to the growing diversity of our society is the future. And that’s what inclusive marketing is all about.

Learn more about what we do and who we do it for on our services page.

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