Inclusivity is an important topic for marketers and that remains true throughout the holiday season.
By creating inclusive campaigns and leveraging multi-cultural marketing strategies, advertisers can more effectively reach every facet of their target audience.
Authentic audience connection is an essential strategy for marketers in any industry. One of the most effective ways to build authentic connection is to understand your audience inside and out, and to empathize with their needs, desires, and behaviors. Then, once understood fully, marketers need to connect with their audiences in a way that makes them feel seen and heard.
By creating diverse marketing strategies and utilizing multi-cultural marketing practices, advertisers can reach these audiences with empathy and understanding. This means building strategies that include every facet of your target persona, and addressing their desires.
So, how can marketers apply this empathy to holiday campaigns in order to build a more inclusive season?
No one-size-fits-all solution
Like with most marketing strategies, there is no one size-fits-all solution for creating an inclusive campaign that addresses the needs and desires of diverse audiences. This is especially true when messaging intersects with current events and issues of inclusiveness. This is difficult terrain to navigate; but by not navigating this journey, advertisers open themselves up to criticism for lack of action.
eMarketer found that more than half of 18- to 29-year-olds believe that brands should take a stance on social issues, with the same being true of 47% of 30 to 44 year olds and 35% of audiences over the age of 45.
These numbers change, however, when you account for demographics like race. The same research found that 61% of Black consumers believe that brands should take stances on public issues, and 48% of Hispanic consumers feel the same.
Staying silent by not addressing issues of inclusivity risks alienating these audiences, since staying silent can send just as big a message as saying the wrong thing. By taking the time to understand the demographics of their target audience, and then including those members in ad strategies, marketers can reach a broader audience.
Inclusive holiday advertising is easier than you think
It isn’t as hard as one might think to insert more inclusivity around the holiday season and demonstrate support for diverse communities. Including those who look and sound different is one easy first step brands can take even when they’re on a budget.
This can take many shapes, including ads featuring actors of different races, same-sex couples, single parent families, and so on. Ads that include varied groups appeal to a larger audience, as not only do those audience members see themselves, but other audiences will remember your brand for its values.
Creating ads in different languages is also a great way to involve mulitcultural marketing into your strategy. These ads can be shown in different geographic locations or on different distribution channels in order to better reach audience members who might otherwise feel excluded.
Finally, since this is the holidays, consider setting aside a budget to target audience members from different religious and cultural backgrounds. While it is commonly said that Christmas is the biggest money maker this time of year, there are other holidays that contribute to this annual boom in spending.
These include New Years and Thanksgiving, but that also include other religious holidays like Eid and Hanukkah. If advertised to, these audiences are more likely to bring leads in throughout the year.
For example: Hanukkah is one of the other major religious holidays held in December. By marketing to the Jewish population, advertisers can not only encourage spending in the last month of the year, but also show their values and support for this community of people. This kind of recognition can result in future spending throughout the year and positive brand association by those who feel seen and heard.
Instead of trying to create a single programmatic campaign that applies to all holidays, it is important for marketers to contemplate which holidays their target audience is likely to celebrate, and to create ads that celebrate those holidays with them.
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