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If you want to reach more of the people you’re meant to serve—and convert more of them—without leaning on outdated formulas or brute-force tactics (that quite frankly are less and less effective each day), this show will guide you through the new rules of modern growth.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
Dec 27, 2024 • 1h 22min
143. The mistake that made me
On this episode -- I'm bringing you an interview I did with Eman Ismail, on her super cool show Mistakes That Made Me. In it, I talk about my journey to becoming an inclusive marketing strategist, and the mistakes I made as a business owner (for years) that led me to be in this position today. And of course, we get into a real good chat about inclusive marketing in practice -- which you'll find at the beginning of this episode.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterMistakes That Made Me podcast
Dec 19, 2024 • 32min
142. How to make more people feel seen, with Jasmine Star
Representation matters. I think people know this, and get it intuitively, but for some, it can be hard to do in practice consistently. In this episode -- I'm bringing to you my chat with Jasmine Star on her podcast --- which is all about how we can do a better job of bringing representation to the forefront of our thinking, as we work to make more people feel seen, supported, and like they belong with our brand.Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Dec 12, 2024 • 18min
141. How to be effective with inclusive marketing over the long-term
As I've worked with clients of various sizes over the years, one of the things that has become clear is that an organizational transformation is required. You can't do the same thing or slightly different things every now and then and expect to attract and retain a more diverse customer base over the long term.In this episode, I walk you through nine core components of the organizational transformation needed to enable sustained inclusive marketing success—in essence, to help you build an inclusive brand.Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Dec 6, 2024 • 35min
140. This AI tool assesses how inclusive brands are
In this episode, I sat down with Asha Shivaji and Jason Klein, co-founders of SeeMeIndex, and AI tool that evaluates how inclusive brands are with their marketing across a number of factors.We covered a lot during our chat, including trends they've identified in their work as they've evaluated brands across many industries, including the beauty and wellness industries.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterSeeMe IndexThe UN Business Case for Inclusive MarketingMore data on how inclusive brands drive sales
Nov 28, 2024 • 8min
139. The biases we hold
My personal belief is that we all hold some time of bias -- much of it unconscious. In this episode, I share a brief story of when one of mine recently showed up. Also covered is the impact of bias in marketing.Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Nov 21, 2024 • 15min
138. How smart brands demonstrate their values to consumers
Brand values are increasingly more important to consumers. As a result, brands need to communicate not only what their values are but how they are living them. In this episode, I walk through various ways brands are demonstrating not only what their values are, but how they are living them.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterEpisode 122: How Michael Graves Design and Pottery Barn are working to bring accessible design to more consumersBrands mentioned in this episode:Ben & Jerry'sPatagoniaSeer InteractiveThe Home DepotTory BurchWarby ParkerMichael Graves Design
Nov 14, 2024 • 22min
137. 8 Inclusive eCommerce website examples that drive growth
eCommerce is a core part of the journey for many consumers across a number of different industries. And because eCommerce websites or sections of websites often attract a broad diversity of consumers with different identities, brands who take the time to design experiences with as little friction as possible for people with these identities, will see more conversions.This episode walks through how to build a more inclusive eCommerce website, with specific examples of how different brands do that for different identities. Even if you don't have an eCommerce website, many examples referenced will still be applicable for you in helping you build a site that drives more conversions.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterAll the examples mentioned in this episodeEpisode 127: How to create a multilingual content strategy with Selim Dahmani Episode 60: Designing inclusive experiences for neurodivergent consumersEpisode 58: How to build an LGBTQ+ inclusive brand with Hank Paul
Nov 7, 2024 • 15min
136. The YouTube growth strategy top channels use
Lots of brands are making YouTube marketing a priority. It's easy to understand why -- it puts you in a position to get in front of more of your ideal customers worldwide.But of course, with any marketing tactic, you need an effective strategy behind it to make it work for you. In this episode, I'm walking you through this smart inclusive strategy many top YouTube channels use with great success to reach.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterVideo mentioned in the episode134: 3 Steps to creating an effective multilingual content strategy127: How to create a multilingual content strategy with Selim Dahmani
Oct 31, 2024 • 16min
135. How to create an LGBTQ+ inclusive brand all year long
By this time of year, normally we don't see too many LGBTQ+ celebrations from brands. Pride month has passed, and many brands are back to business as usual, which in a lot of cases means they aren't doing much of anything to make LGBTQ+ consumers feel seen, supported, or like they belong.Brands that do a good job of serving the LGBTQ+ community do it all year long. In this episode, I walk you through ways you can build an LGBTQ+ inclusive brand that makes people from the community feel like they belong, no matter when they encounter your brand.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterEpisode 58: How to build an LGBTQ+ inclusive brand with Hank Paul
Oct 24, 2024 • 15min
134. 3 Steps to create an effective multilingual content strategy
Engaging customers that speak other languages is a smart strategy for brands to grow. But too often, marketers think that an effective multilingual content strategy is just about translating your existing content into various languages.The reality, doing that may not bring you the results you desire. In this episode of the inclusion and marketing podcast, I walk you through my framework for implementing an effective multilingual content strategy that enables you to convert more customers.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterEpisode 127: How to create a multilingual content strategy with Selim Dahmani
