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By Analisa Dominic
Chief Marketing Officer, Opengear Inc
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The modern marketing landscape is evolving. Even for niche tech industries, leadership and customers are becoming more diverse. According to research from The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM), more women and other historically underrepresented groups are in leadership roles within marketing teams. Consumers' positive opinions on diversity and inclusion continue to increase, especially among younger generations — in fact, 77% of Millennials are more likely to trust brands with diverse marketing.
The world is also becoming more interconnected as businesses look to tap into overseas markets. Industries, which may have once been primarily domestic, now operate in different countries with distinct languages, cultures and religions. To be successful in this ever-evolving landscape, marketers need to build the most inclusive and optimal team for success while being mindful of these ongoing shifts and the different audiences they are attempting to reach (decision-makers, customers, etc.).
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The Benefits of More Diverse and Inclusive Marketing
Navigating new markets and audiences necessitates a diverse and inclusive team with unique perspectives and insights. A diverse marketing team has greater relatability than a homogeneous one, meaning it can more effectively attract new businesses and engage with a larger audience. For example, women marketers are potentially more suited to reach women CEOs. Likewise, having different outlooks and perspectives enhances a team's creativity, productivity and problem-solving capabilities.
Embracing diversity and representation in marketing strategies and campaigns can increase profitability while improving brand perception and customer retention. Moreover, having diverse marketing teams can appeal to a larger talent pool, as younger individuals, particularly Millennials, desire to be members of more inclusive workforces.
Best Practices When Building a Team
While having a diverse team in terms of gender, race, socioeconomic background, age, etc. is crucial, a marketing team composed of people with different professional experiences, skills, and personalities is also helpful. Creative and abstract-minded individuals are great at dreaming up new campaigns and innovative marketing strategies. However, more technically and realistically minded people can ensure these inventive ideas remain grounded and do not get out of control. Similarly, teams with various age groups are also beneficial, as new university graduates might have an original solution to a longstanding business challenge stumping an industry veteran.
When building their teams, marketing leaders shouldn't hire to "check a box." They should instead aim to give an opportunity to worthy individuals who, in the past, were underserved and overlooked. Brands that must interface with customers on a global stage should assemble a diverse team with cultural heritage or connections to a particular target audience or country, thereby preventing messaging from offending cultural sensitivities.
Challenges and Pitfalls of the Modern Marketing Landscape
Increasingly, people expect more from the companies they do business with regarding diversity and representation. A survey from Piplsay found that almost 70% of Americans expect brands to take a stand on social issues. Nevertheless, the same research also discovered that while 49% of those surveyed viewed logo and product name changes positively, only 31% felt such actions could bring about real change, with roughly the same number expressing that brands are cashing in on cultural issues and 17% thinking that these actions were not going to change anything.
Marketers must avoid the pitfall of being seen as pandering or disingenuous. To that end, marketers should reevaluate their existing marketing strategies and content to align with new target audiences and representation objectives. Is diversity, equity, and inclusion top of mind? If not, marketers should update customer personas; likewise, digital marketing content should be accessible to disabled customers. Ideally, marketers should also work to create campaigns that go beyond lip service and actually aim to initiate real change in their industries and communities.
Looking Ahead While Not Forgetting the Essentials
Although the marketing landscape is rapidly shifting, the core tools (i.e., Google Ads, CRM platforms, Amazon Business, etc.) will probably remain the same. These tools and platforms are indispensable to marketing campaigns and routine customer interactions, regardless of how audiences and markets evolve.
Moreover, just as marketing leaders should align their teams, campaigns and strategies accordingly to a more diverse and inclusive future, so too must they implement the proper safeguards, like network resiliency, data privacy, and cloud-based security solutions, to prevent those core marketing tools and platforms from getting jeopardized by unforeseen issues like network downtime.
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