The past couple of years have been filled with some of the strongest social justice movements of our lifetimes – especially if you’re a Gen-Zer like me. If there’s one thing our generation wants to be known for (besides mental health awareness!), it’s inclusivity. How does this affect you and your brand? You have the power to make people feel heard, seen, and included.

inclusivity (n): the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized

Oxford Dictionary

There is no tried and true method for targeting diverse and niche audiences. It will depend on your brand, your products, your voice, your current audience, and so much more. However, there are some general tips and tricks that can help you develop an inclusive marketing strategy. We’ll go over those first, then talk about a couple of examples of brands that have had successful inclusive social media campaigns.

1. Acknowledge where you are.

Before you can go anywhere, you have to know where you’re starting. Have you been implementing diversity into your brand since day one? Or is your Instagram page filled with post after post of the same demographic? No matter where you are now, the important thing is that you’re choosing to take a step toward being a more inclusive brand. By acknowledging where you’re starting, you’ll be able to effectively decide what this first step might look like for you.

2. Check in on your current – and potential – audience.

Catering your brand to more diverse audiences doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be catering to every single audience. For example, if your brand focuses on products for young professionals, you probably don’t need to worry about including older generations in your marketing. However, if your company creates watches but you only ever show those watches on middle-aged white men, you might want to rethink your strategy.

“If your customers are different than you and they feel unrecognized, you will begin to lose them.”

Michael P. Krone, “Diversity Marketing & Cultural Awareness”

Be sure to keep in mind where your audience has the potential for growth within different demographic categories. Just because your current audience is filled with people who all share similar characteristics doesn’t mean that’s how it should be. Here are some of the main demographics to be thinking about:

• Age
• Gender
• Income level
• Ethnicity
• Geographic location
• Sexuality
• Physical abilities
• Mental abilities

3. Develop strategies to include those in your current or potential audience who are not represented your brand.

This is where it gets tricky. Inclusivity is not as simple as posting a picture on Instagram with a non-white person and calling it a day. Your audience members want to see themselves in your brand, and that might take time. A true sense of inclusivity is created by repeated inclusive actions.

Let’s take a look at a couple of brands that have created extremely effective marketing campaigns, designed to target niche audience groups. First, Google Pixel. Their 2018 ad titled “The Picture Perfect Life” starts out like any other new phone commercial, showcasing the Pixel’s camera with happy people in happy photos. The audience quickly learns there’s more to the story than what they can see in the photo. I won’t give away the whole video, but I’d strongly recommend watching it. The video has been viewed over 18 million times – a clear success in creating a campaign to target those who struggle with mental health problems.

Another example is JINsoon, a popular nail polish brand. When you scroll through their Instagram, you can clearly see they are targeting a diverse audience. JINsoon is one of the only mainstream polish brands to feature men on their social media accounts – a huge step in making all members of their audience, current or potential, feel included.

So what are some ways you can start to target a more diverse audience? Where are you lacking now, and what can you build upon? Remember, you’re not just doing this to increase your customer base or build a good reputation – you’re doing this to make every person feel like they have a place in your world.

 

by Alli Prestby

*This post was originally posted to Alli’s personal blog which can be found here