Inclusion and Marketing
Sonia Thompson
Attract, convert, and retain a bigger, more diverse, and fiercely loyal customer base with inclusive marketing strategies that fuel business growth. Inclusion & Marketing is hosted by Sonia Thompson — inclusive marketing strategist, consultant, and columnist for Forbes, Inc., and HubSpot — and gives you practical strategies to infuse inclusion into every stage of your customer journey, from customer acquisition and conversion to customer loyalty and customer success. Through solo deep dives, expert interviews, and behind-the-scenes case studies with top brands, you’ll learn how to create customer experiences that resonate with underrepresented and underserved communities — and drive business growth. Part of the HubSpot Podcast Network.What you’ll hear:
How to build internal systems that support inclusive marketing — so your campaigns are authentic from the inside out.
How to deliver marketing campaigns, communications, and customer experiences that win more customers — including people from underrepresented and underserved communities.
What’s working (and what isn’t) for brands today as they try to effectively engage today’s consumer.
If you’re asking these questions, you’re in the right place:
How do I deliver authentic marketing that actually converts more customers?
How can I grow my customer base in today’s diverse marketplace?
How do I effectively engage underrepresented and underserved customer groups?
How do I connect inclusive marketing directly to business growth and results?
How to build internal systems that support inclusive marketing — so your campaigns are authentic from the inside out.
How to deliver marketing campaigns, communications, and customer experiences that win more customers — including people from underrepresented and underserved communities.
What’s working (and what isn’t) for brands today as they try to effectively engage today’s consumer.
If you’re asking these questions, you’re in the right place:
How do I deliver authentic marketing that actually converts more customers?
How can I grow my customer base in today’s diverse marketplace?
How do I effectively engage underrepresented and underserved customer groups?
How do I connect inclusive marketing directly to business growth and results?
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 3, 2025 • 23min
157. The deal with the Target and Amazon boycotts, plus Spotify, and Emilia Perez happenings
There's a lot of talk about economic boycotts these days as consumers are protesting in response to brands rolling back their policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion.While various organizers are calling for boycotts on brands like Amazon, Target, Nestle, and Tesla, there are some important considerations around boycotts that not enough people are talking about.I cover those considerations in this episode, along with recent happenings relevant to inclusive marketing from Spotify and the movie Emilia Perez.Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Mar 27, 2025 • 18min
156. 2025 Inclusive marketing trends: Backed by data
Inclusive marketing is only growing in popularity. And with that, comes a whole new slew of trends to be aware of when it comes to being successful with your inclusive marketing efforts. In today's episode, I walk you through 5 inclusive marketing trends for 2025, backed by new data from HubSpot.Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Mar 20, 2025 • 15min
155. 5 Inclusive email marketing strategies
Email marketing still remains a highly profitable component of the marketing mix for many brands. Data shows that even after many years of people declaring email marketing is dead, it still returns on average $36 for every $1 invested.Because email marketing is so effective, I thought it would be great to walk you through how five brands have made it work even harder for them as they work to engage and convert even more customers.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterEpisode 152: Build a large and diverse audience with an email newsletter, with Maria GharibEpisode 112: How to make your email marketing inclusive with Samar OwaisVisuals of examples mentioned in episode
Mar 13, 2025 • 31min
154. How Sonoro is helping Toyota and other brands authentically engage Latino consumers
In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Camila Victoriano, Chief Content Officer and co-founder of Sonoro, a fast-growing media company that is the 4th largest podcasting publishing company in the world.She and I covered A LOT of ground, including Sonoro's partnership with Toyota to reach Latino consumers, what she’s hearing from brands about their response to the social and political environment surrounding inclusion and inclusive marketing, authentically engaging multicultural consumers, and so much more.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterSonoroChasing Suenos - Toyota Corolla's video podcastCamila Victoriano on LinkedIn
Mar 6, 2025 • 17min
153. Inclusive marketing done right: 7 Examples of brands tackling it in different ways
There are many ways to include more people with your marketing. Of course, there are best practices associated with inclusive marketing that enable brands to be even more effective with their efforts.In this episode, I walk you through seven different ways brands tackled inclusive marketing, that enabled them to make a big impact with the people they wanted to serve.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterUNO Color Blind Accessible videoEpisode 63: How Google makes its brand accessibleProctor & Gamble: 'Widen the Screen'Amazon Alexa Ad
Feb 27, 2025 • 35min
152. Build a large and diverse audience with an email newsletter, with Maria Gharib
Email newsletters are all the rage these days, with some popular publications having hundreds of thousands of engaged subscribers.I’ve been learning a lot more about newsletters lately, and was especially curious about how successful newsletters think about and go about attracting and retaining a diverse audience.So in this episode, I sat down with Maria Gharib, one of the primary writers of the Mindstream AI newsletter, which is fast, fast, fast growing, and already has an impressive subscriber base.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterMindstream AI NewsletterMaria Gharib on LinkedInHuda Beauty
Feb 20, 2025 • 18min
151. Converting through case studies: How to infuse inclusion for more effectiveness
Consumers want to reduce their risk as much as possible when making a purchase. And that desire increases exponentially when it comes to a product that not only has a higher ticket price, but has a greater possibility of being a hassle to make things right if the product doesn’t work out the way they’d hoped.That's why case studies work so well -- they help eliminate risk in the minds of consumers.The stakes are higher for people from underrepresented and underserved communities. Data shows that for a variety of reasons, they don't achieve success at the same rates. As such, have greater assurances that the product they seek has been shown to work for "people like them," increases their likelihood of conversion.This episode walks you through how to increase the effectiveness of your case studies, by making them more inclusive.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterEpisode 45: Factors influencing your customers' success you should be aware ofEpisode 71: Rule #1 of Inclusive MarketingBol adL'Oreal campaignWhat is tokenism?Episode 81: Do this to increase customer acquisition for people from underrepresented and underserved communitiesHubSpot case studiesLeadpages case studiesPlantmadeVideo podcast testimonial I listened toLGBTQ+ at Alloy
Feb 13, 2025 • 36min
150. Super Bowl VIX: Analyzing ads, decisions, commentary, and implications
The Super Bowl recently happened in the U.S., and there was a lot of chatter leading up to it, during it, and well after it on a number of fronts related to inclusion and inclusive marketing. In this episode, I cover a lot of it, including the NFL changing the phrase in the end zone, the singing of 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' during the pregame, the ads, and much more.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterRoger Goodell says NFL got it wrongLedisi sings 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' at the Super BowlRoger Goodell reaffirms the NFL's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion ahead of Super Bowl VIX (first minute)All Ads for Super Bowl VIXStatistics on diversity in Super Bowl VIX adsSuper Bowl ads focused on women's empowerment
Feb 6, 2025 • 15min
149. Inclusive marketing as an organizational standard, not an option
In episode 141 of the podcast, I talked about what is important for you to have to be effective with your inclusive marketing efforts over the long-term. In that episode, I talked about 10 different elements, and in this episode, we’re going to talk more in depth about what is arguably the most important element – leadership declaration.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterEpisode 141: How to be more effective with inclusive marketing over the long termEpisode 113: How Lysol drives brand growth with inclusive marketing with CMO Gary Osifchin
Jan 30, 2025 • 25min
148. Answer this question to convert more customers
When it comes to attracting new customers – and especially customers from underrepresented and underserved communities, it is important to remember that a looming question in their mind is: “Is this product for people like me?”People like me could be anything — tall people, people who are introverts, people who speak my language, people from my socioeconomic background, people who aren’t tech savvy, people who are left-handed, people who are immigrants, people of a certain religious faith, people with a larger body size, people who are neurodivergent, people who are ex-convicts, people who are single, and the list goes on and on and on.But as a brand – if you want to convert more of these consumers, it is critical that you answer this question for the people who are considering your product as clearly and as quickly as possible.With this critical question in mind – in this episode, I’m going to walk you through 5 ways to focus on answering this question in a way that clearly and quickly communicates to the people you want to serve that they do indeed belong with you.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterTabitha Brown TTLA testimonialKitKat Iftar bar commercialGoogle Pixel 8 'Javier in Frame' commercialBoots controversial Christmas ad
