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If you want to reach more of the people you’re meant to serve—and convert more of them—without leaning on outdated formulas or brute-force tactics (that quite frankly are less and less effective each day), this show will guide you through the new rules of modern growth.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
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
Jan 23, 2025 • 17min
147. A critical lesson for marketers from the Blake Lively v. Justin Baldoni saga
Over the last week I've been riveted by ongoing developments in the legal feud between actress Blake Lively and actor and director Justin Baldoni, who worked together on the film It Ends With Us.There so much to unpack with the filings, however, there is one point, that is the focus on this episode, that is very relevant to you from an inclusive marketing standpoint as you work to establish it as just the way marketing is done for your brand.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterBlake Lively lawsuitJustin Baldoni lawsuitEpisode 117: Power dynamics in brand imagery
Jan 16, 2025 • 43min
146. How to use data to increase customer success for all, with Deborah Pickett
A core element of being effective with inclusive marketing and therefore any inclusive marketing strategy — is data.We’ve got to know not just the rates at which your customers overall achieve success, but we’ve also need to know what that data looks like by subgroup.In other words - we need to find out if everyone is achieving success at the same rates.Now I’ve noticed the as I talk to different people and marketers about this, at times the thought of capturing and analyzing data in this manner feels uncomfortable.So I thought it would be helpful to have a dialogue about this with someone who is steeped in data - particularly by subgroup all day every day.After this short break - you’ll hear my conversation with Deborah Pickett — who will be bringing her expertise with data in the education system — and we’ll apply it to what you do in marketing’sThis is not Deborah’s first time on the show —- she stopped by way back in episode #19 - The Critical link between equity and customer success. It was a really great episode if I do say so myself, so if you haven’t listened, I’ll drop a link to it in the show notes so you can check it out.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterEpisode 19: The critical link between equity and customer success with Deborah Pickett
Jan 9, 2025 • 33min
145. How to implement systems for inclusive marketing, with Kumi Croom
Agencies are an integral partner and part of the marketing process for many brands. But when it comes to incorporating inclusion into the work brands produce, if the agency isn’t an inclusive marketing or multi-cultural marketing agency, infusing inclusion isn’t something that always happens consistently.So that’s why I was excited to sit down with my guest today, Kumi Croom, Managing Director at Duncan Channon, a marketing agency, who’s done a really fantastic job of operationalizing inclusive marketing into the way her agency shows up and delivers for clients.Get the Inclusion and Marketing NewsletterDuncan Channon
Jan 2, 2025 • 35min
144. A chat with Wistia co-founder and CEO about inclusive marketing
In this episode, I had a conversation with Chris Savage, co-founder and CEO of Wistia, a video marketing company, on their Talking Too Loud podcast, all about inclusive marketing.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterWistia
