How to Build an Inclusive Brand with Sonia Thompson
As soon as we heard Sonia Thompson on Amy Porterfield’s podcast, we were determined to feature her on All You Need Method -- not only to share her words of wisdom with you, but also, to immediately put her insights into practice ourselves.
If you’ve been wondering how to build an inclusive brand in an authentic way, get out your notebook and take notes on Sonia’s advice below.
Sonia has been an expert on inclusive marketing throughout her career, from nearly a decade at Johnson & Johnson where she led the African American Leadership Council, to writing about inclusive marketing for Inc. and Forbes, and in her current role as founder of a media group which will soon release digital courses on inclusive marketing (sign us up!).
Carla & Kathryn: How do you suggest small business owners approach inclusive marketing in an authentic way as opposed to it feeling like they are checking a box?
Sonia: The thing that is essential is integrating inclusivity into your company culture by making sure it’s a core component of your values, because otherwise inclusivity feels like a project or one off initiative and once it’s out of the news, you go back to the way you used to operate. If inclusion or belonging - however feels right for your brand - is part of your values, it becomes part of how you operate. It permeates to every part of your brand DNA so that it becomes who you are. It doesn't have to be what you’re known for, what you are leading with, it just needs to be part of your operating principles. That way it becomes a part of everybody’s job.
For example, Zappos mission is all delivering “Wow” to their customer, and everyone at every level in Zappos’ company is tasked with doing this in some way shape or form. The same commitment can apply to inclusivity as a value, whether you’re in marketing or accounting. When you make it a core part of your values, it becomes what everybody does.
“The thing that is essential is integrating inclusivity into your company culture by making sure it’s a core component of your values, because otherwise inclusivity feels like a project or one off initiative, and once it’s out of the news, you go back to the way you used to operate.”
Carla & Kathryn: For small brands, where it is often just the founder or a small team, how can they create this sense of belonging in their company if they themselves are representative of one demographic?
Sonia: If you’re a company of one, you can create a sense of belonging by building authentic relationships with people. Think about customers you are serving as friends. When you build relationships, you begin to understand people’s concerns and viewpoints, and then you can determine what to say, what not to say, when to say it, and what the hot buttons are.
You have to be intentional about building relationships with a broad group of people, which is called diversifying your circle of influence, because we naturally gravitate towards people who are like us. This is the principle of “birds of a feather flock together.” Because of this, we have to make an extra effort to build relationships with people who aren’t like us who we want to serve.
These relationships will help you with collaborations, help you determine who you’re going to hire as contractors (photographers, models, etc.) and will inform your social media. If your Instagram is all photos of you as the founder, that’s not a problem, but look for opportunities to feature people that look different to you, such as Instagram Live interviews or Instagram stories. When you do this consistently, inclusivity will appear as a natural part of your brand to people looking from the outside in. People will see that you are someone committed to engaging with and building relationships with people who are different, and they will think to themselves, “I can see myself with this brand.”
“If your Instagram is all photos of you as the founder, that’s not a problem, but look for opportunities to feature people that look different to you”
Carla & Kathryn: We love this insight. In addition to building relationships, what else can small business owners be doing to make inclusivity a part of their marketing?
Sonia: There are four more steps small business owners can take can take:
1. Reevaluate your buyer personas. As you consider your buyer personas, make sure they are helping you to be inclusive. Think about all of the people and different demographics who have a problem that your brand can solve. It’s important to be as specific with your personas as possible. Note that this is not about serving everyone, it’s about being intentional about who you are and aren’t going to serve, and being straightforward with consumers about that. You can’t serve everyone at once, and you need to focus on who you can serve based on your current resources.
Knowing your persona demographics will affect everything from your messaging to product development. For example, if you are a stockings brand and you want to serve “all women,” you will consider various shades of nude stockings during product development to ensure women of color can find shades that work for them (which in reality are frustratingly difficult to find).
2. Make representation a priority. You will be able to do this after revisiting your personas.
3. Commit to cultural intelligence. Brands are continually having to apologize for messing up. Think about the Pepsi commercial with Kendall Jenner. These situations end up as PR nightmares because their team didn’t have the cultural intelligence. It’s a customer intimacy problem -- if you know the people you are setting out to serve, then you know what will work and what won’t. As a small brand, this starts with getting to know your customers and treating them like friends. You can do this by building relationships and immersing yourself in the culture. It doesn't always need to be a serious issue, it can be watching TV shows, listening to podcasts or watching movies that appeal to different groups. It can be a pop culture reference on social media. It’s important to note that cultural intelligence isn’t something you get in a month or from a research report -- it’s a long term commitment that comes from authentic relationships.
4. Audit your customer experience. Once you define your personas and build those relationships, look at every part of your customer experience journey and make sure that you are presenting your company in a way that feels inclusive at every touch point. This includes your website, podcast, newsletter, promotional materials, and social media.
Closing Thoughts:
“You can’t do everything at once. Especially if you are a small business, it's a journey. You have to start where you are and know you will continue to make progress and get better over time.
For example, I recently moved to Argentina and my Spanish had to start at the beginning -- you never start out fluent. I still make mistakes, but people see that I’m trying and they appreciate my efforts, so they allow me to speak imperfectly.
People can tell when there’s a brand that's trying and when one is just checking the box. Go into it with the right heart. It’s not for a point in time. See that you’re in it for the long term.”
Thank you so much, Sonia, for your words of wisdom!
Be sure to follow Sonia on Instagram @soniaethompson and stay tuned for her digital courses on inclusive marketing.
All photos courtesy of Sonia Thompson.
