Frictionless Growth Marketing

I spend a lot of time talking about belonging and how important it is for you as a brand to ensure you’re making the people you serve feel like they belong with you.

But how do you go about doing that exactly?

My guest today, Lydia Michael, author of Brand Love, has ideas for you. Lydia has created a framework for you that will not only help more people love your brand, but feel like they belong with you in the process.

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Lydia's book - Brand Love

Lydia's consulting agency - Blended Collective

People from underrepresented and underserved communities are often viewed as not being "normal" or very different from everyone else -- which is why the don't get the attention and support they should.

But what does it mean to be "normal"? Who gets to decide what "normal" is? And is "normal" even a real thing, or is it a construct we should all reject?

I cover all these important questions, and ways to think about it for your brand in today's episode.

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The Canary Code book

Unilever ditches the world "normal"

Inclusive marketing ethics

Inclusive marketing spectrum

Recently, rankings for the Most Culturally Inclusive Brands were announced. The rankings come from the Association for National Advertisers’ (ANA) Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM), in partnership with the Cultural Inclusion Accelerator (CIA). For the second year in a row, the Lysol brand has been awarded “Best in Ad Effectiveness” by more than 80,000 consumers with a broad diversity of identities.

I wanted to find more about Lysol's approach to inclusive marketing, and how they've gone about becoming so effective in their efforts. So I sat down with Gary Osifchin, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and General Manager at Reckitt U.S. Hygiene, the makers of Lysol.

Gary had a TON to share, and there's a lot to learn from he and the team's approach.

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Lysol

Most business engage in email marketing to some degree. And because email marketing is such a commonly used tool that reaches a broad diversity of consumers, it is important to understand how to ensure the emails you send are inclusive, and make the people you serve feel like they belong with you, rather than pushing them away from you.

So in this episode, I sat down with email conversion strategist Samar Owais, founder of Emails Done Right, to chat through the ins and outs of inclusive email marketing.

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Samar Owais

Brand messaging is a critical component of the marketing strategy for any brand. And when it comes to ensuring that your brand messaging speaks to all the people you want to serve, including those from underrepresented and underserved communities, it takes intentional effort to ensure your brand messaging will resonate.

In today's episode, I sat down with Diane Wiredu, a brand messaging strategist and founder of Lion Words, to talk about how you can ensure you're delivering brand messaging that will clearly show the people you serve that you see them, get them, and that they belong with you.

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Lion Words

Diane Wiredu on LinkedIn

It's reported that Nike will be signing a signature shoe deal with Caitlin Clark. While excitement for, viewership, and support of women's sports, including the WNBA are on the rise, there are some major disparities happening from a representation standpoint.

Nike's shoe deal with Caitlin Clark amplifies the problem. In this episode, I walk you through what's happening, dive deeper into the root cause of the issue, and cover how all of this impacts your brand.

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LinkedIn post that inspired this episode

Episode 45: Factors that influence your customers's success that you should be aware of

Cultural intelligence is essential for any brand that wants to be effective with their inclusive marketing efforts. It is the foundation for helping you engage in an authentic way to make people from underrepresented and underserved communities feel seen and like they belong with you.

In this episode, I sat down with an expert who actually wrote a book on cultural intelligence for marketers -- to talk about that very topic.

Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel is a cultural theorist, writer, social critic, and strategist specializing in inclusivity within marketing, media, and tech. She's currently a senior insights lead at Reddit, and has consulted for brands inclusing Nike, Samsung, Disney, Ulta Beauty, and Amex.

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Dr. Anastasia Gabriel on LinkedIn

Cultural Intelligence for Marketers book

Communication is a core part of marketing. And yet it feels like so many brands struggle with communicating in a manner that is both inclusive and authentic. As a result, a lot of times brands struggle with communicating in a manner that doesn't turn people off or push people away that they would prefer to draw closer.

In today's episode, I sat down with Dr. Suzanne Wertheim, a linguist, inclusive language expert, and author of The Inclusive Language Field Guide. During our chat, we cover a framework for using inclusive language that gives you the confidence you need to design your communications in a way that makes more people feel like they belong with you.

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The Inclusive Language Field Guide

Dr. Suzanne Wertheim

Episode 15: Getting started with inclusive language with Nailah King

Major changes are coming to the 2030 Census in the U.S. And even though we're a few years away from those changes taking effect, the implications for brands start now. In this episode, I walk you through the changes the U.S. government recently announced for the Census, why the changes were made, and how they impact your brand.

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U.S. Census Changes Just Approved

Sample 2030 U.S. Census Questionnaire

Suzanne Wertheim

SightsSet Consulting - Renita Bryant

Inclusive marketing really is just doing marketing well. Even though we aren't there now, eventually, we'll get to a place where won't even need to call inclusive marketing inclusive marketing anymore -- it'll just be the way we do marketing.

The good news -- we're not too far away from that being our reality. That's because that's the way some brands are already operating today. Zumba is one of those brands that has that approach.

In today's episode, I sat down with Zumba's Chief Marketing Officer, Carolina Moreas, who gave a ton of insight into the way the brand operates, that has enabled them to build a global and fiercely loyal customer base in more than 180 countries.

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Zumba