Over the past five years, companies and organizations around the United States have been debating whether or not to implement principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into their company operations.
Many businesses agree that having an inclusive workplace is a good thing. But some see efforts to prioritize diversity and inclusion as too expensive and non-essential. They don’t understand how DEI efforts can actually help their businesses flourish. But diversity and inclusion in marketing is essential both internally and externally.
For marketers, prioritizing diversity and inclusion is not just an important part of creating a safe and positive workplace. It’s also essential for creating impactful content that promotes their clients’ work.
What Does Diversity and Inclusion in Marketing Look Like?
It’s one thing to say your agency believes in promoting diversity and inclusion; it’s another entirely to actually implement it into your work.
Diversity
Diversity looks like having representation from a wide array of backgrounds and perspectives. This can mean diversity on the basis of race, gender, or sexual orientation, but it can also mean diversity of interests or career paths.
In marketing, this can also mean working with a diverse clientele, both in the actual backgrounds of the professionals you work with and their audiences. And it can mean constantly considering how your campaigns would impact people with different lived experiences.
Inclusion
If diversity means that different types of people have a seat at the table, inclusion means that everyone feels welcome to sit down. When a workplace is inclusive, people feel like their different experiences and backgrounds are not just tolerated; they’re valued.
An inclusive marketing agency might prioritize initiatives that expose their employees to a diverse array of perspectives, like volunteering efforts or DEI bookclubs. And in their work, inclusive agencies make sure the content they produce and campaigns they run are culturally sensitive, and ideally, meaningful.
Internal Culture: Diversity and Inclusion in Marketing Agencies
Like any values a company wants to prioritize in their work, diversity and inclusion start internally. Marketing agencies that truly promote diversity and inclusion in their workplaces enjoy better company culture, and ultimately, employee performance.
According to one Oxford study, happier workers are 13% more productive. While the purpose of fair and positive internal policies should not just be to increase productivity, this dispels the idea that workplaces must be stressful and antagonistic to be productive.
There are plenty of facets of workplace culture that agencies can improve to support the lived experiences of their employees. But here are a few places to start:
- Workplace holidays. Just because a particular religious or cultural holiday isn’t a federal holiday doesn’t take away its significance for your employees. Consider implementing floating holidays so that they can take off days that are important to their cultures and beliefs.
- Flex scheduling. From parenting children to caring for aging family members to dealing with medical complications, many people have responsibilities outside of work that are non-negotiables. Look into options for implementing flexible working hours so that employees can show up for work and their personal obligations.
- Review hiring and recruiting practices. One of the best ways to get highly qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds is to be open to non-traditional career paths and trajectories. If your team throws out any applications from a different region or only seriously considers candidates who attended an Ivy-league university, think about widening the pool of applicants you seriously consider. This does not mean lowering your expectations; it only means being open to people who came to their position through a different path.
Not all diversity and inclusion efforts require a huge investment. While DEI trainings are a great resource for your company, you can still support DEI in your company policies without a major financial effort. “You can still give people time and space without financial funding,” said Claire Escobedo, Creative Director and DEI Initiatives leader at Online Optimism. But when you do invest in diversity and inclusion efforts, “you’re investing in your people.”
External Reach: How Diversity and Inclusion Improve Impact
Diversity and inclusion in marketing doesn’t end within the team; it impacts all of the work your agency does. As storytellers and creators, marketers have a unique ability to implement inclusive practices in their marketing, resulting in both better outcomes for clients and for the cultural zeitgeist at large.
Understanding Audience Experiences
Whether you’re working with an explicitly political client or one who doesn’t want to touch social issues with a ten-foot pole, successful marketers will always understand their target audience’s needs and experiences. That can be something as innocuous as needing a delicious bakery in their neighborhood, or something as complex as needing a beauty brand that actually works for most skin tones. Good marketers will see the problem their audience has and provide a solution with empathy and care.
This is where having a diverse and inclusive workplace can come in. While marketers can absolutely understand their clients without having the same background, having team members with different perspectives makes it easier for someone on your team to get the experience of your audience and know how to truthfully speak to it.
“If you see yourself reflected in ads or on a website, it gives that affirming note of That could be me,” said Terra Washington, VP of Marketing and Communications at Decide Dekalb Development Authority, a client of Online Optimism focused on supporting economic development in Dekalb County, GA. “That’s a testament to making sure that we’re not leaving anyone out, but we’re inviting everyone in.”
Aligning Marketing Strategy With Client Values
All marketing campaigns should be rooted in clients’ values – the “why” behind their work. If your clients also believe in principles of diversity and inclusion, that should inform how you go about directing your campaigns.
For some clients, this can look like incorporating educational content on social issues into some of their long-form content work. For others, this might mean avoiding certain collaborations with businesses that aren’t aligned with their values.
Agencies who prioritize diversity and inclusion also have an edge in alignment with companies who want to see that in their marketing efforts. Online Optimism has “championed that in a way that’s spot on from a client perspective,” Terra said. “That’s one of those competitive points that others might not see as important.” But for clients like Decide Dekalb Development Authority, it creates better collaboration.
No matter their industry or perspective, it’s a good idea to get a sense of how your clients would like to engage with social or political events that may come up in your work with them, if at all.
Whether or not the clients you work with want to be vocal on diversity and inclusion, it’s important to work with clients who are values-aligned. At Online Optimism, we put this in practice with our Interpretive Industries policy. Some industries have a greater number of businesses that are misaligned with our values, and so have a framework to look closer at businesses in these industries to make sure we’re a good fit. After this evaluation, “if we don’t want to work with them,” Claire said, “we just don’t.”
Different Perspectives Lead to Creative Solutions
Diverse workplaces aren’t only effective at relating to target audiences; they’re also great at thinking outside the box. While someone who got to your agency through a traditional marketing degree probably has great ideas, they’re only helped by working with someone who came in from a different industry and thus has creative ideas for problem solving.
But of course, employees will only feel equipped to share their ideas if they’re in an inclusive workplace. Inclusivity allows employees to take risks, push boundaries, and ultimately, speak up.
Prioritize Diversity and Inclusion in Your Marketing
Online Optimism values diversity and inclusion in all we do. From implementing mandatory DEI training to unabashedly supporting immigration justice, we aren’t shy about standing up for our team and our communities at large.
Supporting diversity and inclusion in marketing agencies is a great way to be proud of both your workplace and the work you create.
