
52 episodes

Inclusion and Marketing Sonia Thompson
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- Business
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4.8 • 17 Ratings
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Inclusive marketing is rapidly growing in prominence, as more consumers expect that brands "see" them, be more inclusive in their marketing campaigns, and accomodate a broader base of customers that don't cleanly fit into what is considered "mainstream."
The show is hosted by Sonia Thompson, an inclusive brand coach and strategist, speaker, Forbes and Inc. columnist who's helped brands and leaders alike attract and retain diverse customers.
This podcast explores everything you need to know about building an inclusive brand, including customer experience, inclusive leadership, cultural intelligence, building diverse teams, inclusive language and imagery, and more.
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51. How to Create Inclusive Content That Makes More People Feel Seen with Natasha Pierre
Publishing inclusive content is a smart way to make more of the people you serve feel like they belong with you. But far too many brands produce content that makes people feel "othered" or where they can't even see themselves or who they aspire to be. No bueno.
In this episode, Natasha Pierre, video coach, strategist, and host of The Shine Online podcast covers how to make your content more inclusive so you can make more people feel seen and build a more diverse customer base.
Key points:
How video content has changed the way people buy
How brands often make consumers feel "othered" which pushes them away
How to build a diverse customer base
How to create a customer experience that makes the people you serve feel seen
How to be inclusive with your video content when you're the face of your brand
Why how you talk about things in your content matters in whether or not people feel like they belong with you
How to use video content to increase your authority and visibility
Why we need more creators from underrepresented communities to show their faces in content
Why it's the responsibility of marketers and creators to change the narrative
Links:
Shine With Natasha - https://shinewithnatasha.com/
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Each week, get stories, Inclusion news, and additional insights to help you attract and retain a more diverse customer base. - www.inclusionandmarketing.com -
50. How to Get Better Consumer Insights for Underserved Communities with Renita Bryant
Capturing consumer insights are an important part of any brand that wants to serve customers well. It's an important lever in developing a deep degree of customer intimacy that enables you to deliver products, services, and experiences that make the people you serve feel like they belong with you.
But all consumer insights aren't created equal.
And as you work engage consumers from underrepresented and underserved communities, having a deep degree of understanding of their experiences, their dreams, desires, fears, and frustrations, and how those all may be different from those in the masses is essential.
But too often, brands don't adapt their approach to capturing insights to enable them to get both the depth of insights and understanding of them to make effective decisions.
In this episode, I chat with Renita Bryant, CEO if Sights Set Consulting, a consumer-centric market research consultancy, about how to incorporate inclusion into your market research processes to ensure you get the insights you need.
Key points discussed:
The role insights play in building an inclusive brand
Why representation matters throughout the entirety of the market research process
Why brands need to move away from the general market approach when it comes to research
How to ensure you're able to effectively act on the insights you gain in your campaigns with diverse communities
Best practices for getting insights from underrepresented and underserved communities
How biases negatively impact the insights you capture
How to ensure you get a diverse cross-section of people in your research studies
Links:
Sights Set Consulting: http://www.sightsset.com/
Keep going:
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49. How Smart Brands Are Closing the Gender Pay Gap
Unfortunately, in 2023 gender pay gaps exist. And worst yet, gender pay gaps exist even more so when you look at the data for women from underrepresented and underserved communities.
These disparities in women's pay vs. their male counterparts negatively impact belonging for the people on your team, which of course in turn negatively impacts how well they make the customers you serve feel like they belong.
In this episode, I walk you through practical ways you can work on closing the gender pay gap both within your company and within your industry.
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48. How to Create an Inclusive Workplace Culture with Leanne and Al Elliott
To build an inclusive brand you have to have an inclusive culture. It’s really hard to authentically attract and retain customers from underrepresented communities, if you do a poor job of attracting and retaining talent from underrepresented communities.
Because workplace culture is such an imperative, I am thrilled to bring you this chat with today’s guests, Leanne and Al Elliott, hosts of the Truth, Lies, and Workplace Culture podcast, and co-founders of a workplace culture consultancy, OblongHQ .
Leanne is a certified business psychologist and leadership coach, and Al is a serial entrepreneur - a great marriage of theory and practice.
OblongHQ
Rx7 Foundations of an Inclusive Culture
Introducing the Rx7
Truth, Lies, and Workplace Culture podcast
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47. How to Increase Customer Success for People Who Are Not in the Majority, with Natalia Sanyal
Customer success doesn't happen at the same rate for everyone. The customers you serve with differences, including those who are BIPOC, often have external factors that negatively impact their journey to success. The good news is, you have the power to implement products, services, and experiences that pave the way for a greater degree of success for your BIPOC customers and others with differences.
In this episode, Natalia Sanyal, an anti-oppressive copywriter and brand strategist talk about an approach she's taken to make her BIPOC customers feel seen, cared for, and have a greater likelihood of both enjoyment and success with her programs.
Her approach is one that can be replicated and adapted to fit your business needs and the consumers you serve.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Episode 45: Factors That Influence Your Customers' Success You Need to Be Aware Of
Episode 38: [Listen to Them] Black Women Are Used to Being the Only Ones Like Them in a Room in Professional Settings. Here's What it's Like
Natalia's website
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46. Inclusion Wins At SuperBowl LVII
Over the past few years more brands have started to lean harder into more inclusive campaigns. As we look at SuperBowl campaigns for 2021 and 2022, inclusion took a more prominent role. That wasn’t the case in SuperBowl LVII. The celebrity filled ads seemed to have different goals.
While inclusion didn’t feel like it was actively considered in the majority of ad campaigns, there were still major wins throughout the event that are worth calling out, as well as one noteworthy ad from the NFL that did hit the mark from an inclusion standpoint.
Want to go deeper? Join the Inclusion & Marketing email newsletter: www.inclusivemarketing.co
Customer Reviews
This Is The Podcast I’ve Been Waiting For!
Sonia is doing what needs to be done! This podcast offers a truly thought-provoking examination of the importance of inclusion in marketing through a brilliant storytelling like flow.
Not only does Sonia share powerful statistics that really demonstrate the need for greater representation of marginalized groups in marketing - she also provides relevant examples from pop culture as well as her own intersectional experiences to illustrate how inclusion can be used to create better results for all of us and not just (but definitely including) your bottom line.
All in all, this is an absolute must-listen for those interested in learning about how we can make our marketing initiatives more inclusive and effective. 100/10 would recommend.
Every leader needs to listen
We need more people applying the lessons Sonia and her guests share on this show.
Empowering emerging leaders
I have struggled with my identity as an African immigrant while growing up in the American culture these past 20 years. Now that I'm in a leadership role in advertising, Sonia and her guests have helped me grow past my identity insecurities and biases through their stories. I've built an environment for our team where all ideas are welcome and improved how we help our clients connect with diverse communities.