Frictionless Growth Marketing
Sonia Thompson
Friction is the enemy of growth.
And Frictionless Growth Marketing is the show for marketers, business leaders, and founders who want to grow by removing the friction in their customer experience—the kind you may not even realize is pushing people away every single day.
Hosted by Sonia Thompson, Inclusive Growth & Customer Experience Strategist, the show teaches you how to create sustainable growth by designing customer experiences that feel seamless, intuitive, and human—experiences that earn deep trust with today’s identity-rich, values-driven consumers.
Each week, Sonia breaks down what it really takes to grow in today’s market with today’s customer—from evolving traditional tactics so they actually work now, to decoding shifts in customer behavior and expectations, to learning from brand case studies so you can adapt with clarity and confidence.
You’ll learn how to:
Build frictionless customer journeys that convert
Engage identity-rich growth communities with authenticity
Design inclusive, high-performing growth strategies
Elevate brand trust, belonging, and loyalty
Remove the messaging, experience, and operational barriers holding your business back
Plus, you’ll hear candid conversations with marketing leaders and subject-matter experts about how the smartest brands are winning by putting identity, belonging, and experience at the center of their growth engine.
If you want to reach more of the people you’re meant to serve—and convert more of them—without leaning on outdated formulas or brute-force tactics (that quite frankly are less and less effective each day), this show will guide you through the new rules of modern growth.
And Frictionless Growth Marketing is the show for marketers, business leaders, and founders who want to grow by removing the friction in their customer experience—the kind you may not even realize is pushing people away every single day.
Hosted by Sonia Thompson, Inclusive Growth & Customer Experience Strategist, the show teaches you how to create sustainable growth by designing customer experiences that feel seamless, intuitive, and human—experiences that earn deep trust with today’s identity-rich, values-driven consumers.
Each week, Sonia breaks down what it really takes to grow in today’s market with today’s customer—from evolving traditional tactics so they actually work now, to decoding shifts in customer behavior and expectations, to learning from brand case studies so you can adapt with clarity and confidence.
You’ll learn how to:
Build frictionless customer journeys that convert
Engage identity-rich growth communities with authenticity
Design inclusive, high-performing growth strategies
Elevate brand trust, belonging, and loyalty
Remove the messaging, experience, and operational barriers holding your business back
Plus, you’ll hear candid conversations with marketing leaders and subject-matter experts about how the smartest brands are winning by putting identity, belonging, and experience at the center of their growth engine.
If you want to reach more of the people you’re meant to serve—and convert more of them—without leaning on outdated formulas or brute-force tactics (that quite frankly are less and less effective each day), this show will guide you through the new rules of modern growth.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 31, 2023 • 24min
74. How to authentically engage Muslim consumers with Mariam Shahab
Twenty-five percent of the world’s population identifies as Muslim. However representation in media and marketing for people of Muslim faith is nowhere near the population. And when Muslim representation does exist, it often isn't favorable and showcases people of Muslim faith in negative stereotypical ways. No bueno.In this episode, I chat with Mariam Shahab, an inclusive marketer who is also of Muslim faith, to talk through ways brands can ensure the people they serve from this community feel seen, supported, and like they belong. You probably already have customers or people who've considered buying from you who are Muslim, so this is an important listen.Get the episode transcript hereStudy: Erased or extremists: The stereotypical view of Muslims in popular episodic seriesEpisode 67: Evite CMO shares how the brand grew by including more customersKitKat Canada Ramadan commercialGet the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Aug 24, 2023 • 18min
73. How to bake inclusion into your brand guidelines
Every brand needs to have brand guidelines. And those guidelines also need to incorporate your approach and style as it relates to inclusion. This episode we dive into how to make your brand guidelines more inclusive, specifically by focusing on language and visual imagery.Get the episode transcript hereGet the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterInclusive Brand AcademyEpisode 15: Getting started with inclusive language with Nailah King
Aug 17, 2023 • 37min
72. Why brands should practice responsible marketing with Lola Bakare
Responsible marketing, which is very closely related to inclusive marketing, is a term that I heard from the wonderful Lola Bakare. In this episode, we cover why smart brands engage in it.Lola, who is my guest today, is an Anthem Award-Winning CMO Advisor & Inclusive Marketing Strategist, and founder of be/co, a boutique consultancy that empowers brands and marketing leaders with strategic guidance, coaching, training, and workshops that unleash new levels of success.Get the episode transcript hereGet the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterFollow Lola on LinkedIn
Aug 10, 2023 • 17min
71. Rule #1 of inclusive marketing
There's a foundational principle of inclusive marketing that a lot of brands overlook, and that a lot of consumers don't realize. In each of these instances, people end up frustrated which is no good. In this episode, I cover this foundational principle and how to put it into action for your brand.Get the transcript of the episode hereGet the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter hereEpisode 29 - What inclusive brand type are you?
Aug 3, 2023 • 38min
70. Growth through Spanish translation: Best practices for reaching customers that speak different languages
We are finishing up our growth series with this episode that is all about helping you and your brand communicate in a way that wins the hearts, minds, and loyalty of consumers who speak a different language.For this episode, I chatted with my Spanish translation team - Alicia and Andrea. Together, we help brands communicate and create love connections with Spanish speaking consumers.Spanish is the fourth most common language spoken in the world, behind English, Mandarin, and Hindi. And it is the second largest number of native speakers in the world – only behind Chinese.So if you want to reach more consumers - thinking about how you communicate and serve people who speak Spanish is a smart thing to do.Now if your goal isn’t to reach Spanish speakers, but for people who speak other languages, this episode is still for you – because many of the principles we cover are applicable no matter what language you’re looking to translate or localize to - we’re just using Spanish as the reference point.Specifically – we’re covering topics related to what marketers need to know and the decisions they need to make to ensure what they communicate, how they communicate, and the process to getting to communicating with excellence happens smoothly.Get the episode transcript hereGet the Inclusion & Marketing newsletterChat with Sonia about Spanish language translations for your brand
Jul 27, 2023 • 30min
69. Growth with globalization: How smart brands of all sizes and budgets are doing it
Globalization is a smart growth strategy. When you focus on serving people who have the problem your business solves who speak different languages and or live in different countries, growth is inevitable.With the technologies that exist today, this is easier and more cost effective to do than ever, no matter what type of business you have.So in today’s episode as we continue with our growth series, we’re going to cover how you can use globalization as a growth strategy in your business, with my guest, Hilary Atkisson Normanha, a globalization specialist.Get the episode transcript hereConnect with Hilary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilary-atkisson-normanha/Get the Inclusion & Marketing newsletterInclusive Brand Growth AssessmentBelonging Accelerator
Jul 20, 2023 • 20min
68. There's no growth without "we"
How you think about the people you serve matters. In this episode, I cover how to define more specifically who you are including, and how you think about, show up for, have empathy for, and fight for, using examples from the Oppenheimer cast, Rihanna, Johnson & Johnson and more.Get the episode transcript hereWhat inclusive brand type are you? (episode)What inclusive brand type are you (quiz)Get the Inclusion & Marketing newsletter
Jul 13, 2023 • 36min
67. Evite CMO shares how the brand expanded their customer base
In this episode you’re going to hear about how Evite, a company that touches over 100 million people in the US each year — has embraced expanding the way they thought about who had the problem their brand solves, particularly as it relates to the parenthood journey, and how that’s allowed them to serve more people.Get the full transcript hereGet the Inclusion & Marketing newsletter
Jul 6, 2023 • 25min
66. Common mistakes that prevent your brand's growth
Inclusive marketing not only is a good thing to do, but when done right it helps brands grow on a number of fronts. Conversely, not engaging in inclusive marketing prevents many brands from growing. In this episode I cover common ways not being inclusive is preventing brands from growing.Join the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterGet the transcript of this episodeLinks mentioned in this episode:How to create an accessible brand for people with disabilities with Erin PerkinsHow to increase customer success for people who are not in the majority, with Natalya Sanyal
Jun 29, 2023 • 14min
65. The truth about 'woke' brands and companies getting political
There's been an uptick in the number of brands that are being called out for being both 'woke' and 'political'. But what does it even mean for a brand to be 'woke'? This episode covers the true meaning of woke, what it means for brands, and why all brands are inherently political.Transcript of this episodeTop companies in the US who lobby the governmentJoin the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
