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
Nov 30, 2023 • 24min
87. How brands showed these consumers they belonged
Life is about belonging. And because of that, business is about belonging. On this week's episode, you'll hear from real consumers --- who also happen to be previous guests on this show, share their experiences of when brands showed them they belonged, and how they responded.Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Nov 24, 2023 • 33min
86. How to make more people feel like they belong with Unni Turrettini
Expert on belonging Unni Turrettini discusses practical ways to create a sense of belonging for both team members and customers. Topics include the connection between loneliness and mass shootings, the impact of not feeling like you belong, creating environments of connection, making customers feel valued, and building customer loyalty.
Nov 16, 2023 • 16min
85. Lessons in Belonging from Beyonce's Renaissance World Tour
Life is about belonging. And because of that, business is about belonging. While belonging can often feel like an elusive term, the truth is that belonging plays an essential role in earning fiercely loyal customers. This episode walks you through 5 lessons in belonging I picked up from attending Beyonce's Renaissance World tour in person.Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Nov 9, 2023 • 29min
84. The truth about customer experience
Stories of customer experience (or lack thereof) has been in the news a lot lately. No one wants to have a bad customer experience. No one. And that of course includes people from underrepresented and underserved communities.Here are common ways brands deliver a less than stellar customer experience to those consumers, and what you can do instead.Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Nov 2, 2023 • 18min
83. You can't afford to not have this kind of talent on your team
If you want to do a better job of serving the customers you currently have, as well as attracting and retaining more customers from underrepresented and underserved communities, you have to have this kind of person on your team.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterEpisode 22: Common ways brands treat diverse talent like unpaid consultants (and what to do instead)Episode 14: Are you taking more than you give?
Oct 26, 2023 • 14min
82. Should you ask customers for their demographic information?
This is a common question that more and more brands are pondering, about when brands should be requesting demographic data for their customers. There are many benefits to having data, but what is the impact on your customers? And how should you communicate about the use of that data? We get into all of it in this short episode.Get the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterEpisode 45 - Factors influencing your customers' success that you should be aware of
Oct 19, 2023 • 20min
81. Do this to increase customer acquisition for people from underrepresented and underserved communities
Many brands think that focusing on creating an environment where all feel welcome is enough to ensure that people from underrepresented and underserved communities feel like they belong with you. It's not. If you want to increase customer acquisition of people from these communities focus your efforts on what we cover in this episode.Get the episode transcriptGet the Inclusion & Marketing NewsletterNew York Times Article about the craft beer marketEpisode 54: Creating inclusive influencer marketing campaigns with Tinashe Chaponda
Oct 12, 2023 • 45min
80. Consumer reactions to real brand customer experiences
Friction in a customer experience is bad. It kills conversions. It diminishes customer success. And it really lowers customer retention. But the reality is, everyday brands deliver experiences with friction in them. And that friction is heightened for consumers from underrepresented and underserved communities. In this episode, I walk you through the friction (and delight), real customers experienced as we audited customer experiences real brands are delivering right now on their websites, social media, and other marketing channels.You can find the videos of all the customer reactions to the brands we reviewed hereGet the Inclusion & Marketing newsletterGet the episode transcript
Oct 5, 2023 • 34min
79. How smart brands strategically partner with HBCUs
HBCUs, or Historically Black Colleges and Universities are a big part of Black culture in the U.S. Often times when brands want to engage the Black community as consumers or a source of talent --- partnerships and campaigns with HBCUs feels like low-hanging fruit.But the way most brands approach the work they do with HBCUs is quite superficial. It very much feels like they are checking a box or following some pre-determined playbook for how to reach the Black community. So their efforts don't always make the impact they are looking for.But there are some brands who are doing it right. In this episode, recorded live at the INBOUND conference, I sat down with Dr. Dana Williams-Johnson a marketing professor at Howard University, and Dr. Yuvay Ferguson, former dean at Howard University, and we chatted through smart ways brands are strategically partnering with HBCUs, and how you can get started as well.Get the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
Sep 28, 2023 • 52min
78. Authentic and inclusive brands: INBOUND 2023 panel discussion with Natasha Pierre and Sundas Khalid
How to be authentically inclusive is one of the most common questions I get from marketers and business leaders about inclusive marketing.The good news is a couple of weeks ago, I was part of a panel discussion at the INBOUND conference in Boston. Our topic - was authentic and inclusive brands. And my fellow panelists were Natasha Pierre of Shine with Natasha and the Shine Online podcast, and Sundas Khalid, a data scientist at Google and host of a popular YouTube channel on data science, tech, and related career topics.Conferences are great and all – but everyone can’t always attend. So I’m excited that there’s a way to bring a piece of the conference to you – wherever you are.Get the episode transcript hereMore about Nathasha Pierre of Shine With NatashaMore about Sundas KhalidGet the Inclusion & Marketing Newsletter
