5 Ways to Make Your Marketing More Inclusive with Sonia Thompson

This week’s episode I have an interview with the lovely Sonia Thompson who is a customer experience strategist and consultant and CEO of Thompson Media Group. We are going to be talking all about the Black Lives Matter movement and how we can ensure we are doing everything we can in our business marketing to be inclusive.  KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCASTAs much as we focus on speaking to the right person, we also need to make sure we are not putting anyone off as well.Ask yourself: Am I being inclusive to everyone this is suitable for?You can’t serve everyone, but you need to be intentional about who you want to serve and who you don’t.Create an inclusive environment where customers who do have special requirements don’t feel they have to ask and stand out.It is sometimes worse to not say anything or acknowledge something is happening.It is better to be the business that acknowledges something is going on, that the one that says nothing.If you make a statement, it needs to relate to your value and how your business operates. You need to really truly believe in what you are saying.It’s ok if you haven’t got it right in the past, just acknowledge this and how you are going to move forward.It is important to have conversations with people if you don’t understand something due to never experiencing it.Diversify your circle of influence – Make sure the voices you are listening to are all different to give you a broader view of the world.Re-evaluate your customer avatar – If you limit and define your avatar, you could be leaving out a big group of people who may have the same pain points and needs.Commit to representation – Your customers need to see themselves and who they aspire to be in your marketing and business.Make cultural intelligence a priority – If you don’t have an understanding or appreciation for other cultures, it can be very easy to say the wrong thing and potentially offend.Take an audit of your customer experience – Go through your customer journey and think about the signals you want to send out.THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…It is better to try and potentially get it wrong, rather than say nothing at all. This isn’t just for now, this is an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed and things need to change.HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISSAn Introduction to Sonia – 07:01Being Inclusive in Marketing – 10:22The Inclusivity Spectrum – 14:20Mistakes We Can Learn From – 19:205 Steps to a More Inclusive Business – 27:50LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAYS EPISODESonia's siteLinkedInFreebieTranscript below Hello and welcome back to this week's episode of the podcast. How are you doing? So thank you so much, firstly, for all the lovely comments and DMs and things after last week's episode, it was a slightly odd episode. Uh, I am very happy to say that I am much more on the mend and have enjoyed being back in the swing of things of work, which is lovely. And I know it seems like, I dunno, is it sad or is it, you know, not good for me? And people will be like, "Oh, you should be resting." But the fact is I love work. It makes me truly happy. So actually I am more than happy to be back. I'm more than happy to be sat at my desk, which I enjoy very much. Maybe I should get a hobby. Um, anyway, this week we have great episode and I don't mind telling you that I was a bit nervous about doing this episode. So obviously you'll be aware that some months back there was a awful lot of press and news around the black lives matter movements. And there was a big thing on social media putting up black squares and people sort of commenting things. And if I'm totally honest, there was a real nervousness around it in terms of what people were saying and doing, and were they doing the right thing or not doing the right thing? And I have to say I was one of those people that was also really nervous. I didn't want to make a mistake and I didn't want to do something that potentially could be seen the wrong way or, or not do something. And it was a really, really tricky situation to get right. But I knew that I had not educated myself enough. I knew that I had not surrounded myself enough in this situation, in, in the circle of friends, in various different things. And that I had to change that and that I had to make a conscious effort to ensure that I understood what was going on. So obviously I did things in my personal life where I watch things on Netflix and I read things. And, and to be honest, I didn't post these on social media because I didn't, it again, it's really tricky cause I didn't want it to look like, look, "I'm just watching this thing and reading this thing because of social media and now I've ticked this box." I really didn't want it to be like that. So I didn't say that I'd been educating myself, but I was educating myself. And then I was very keen looking inwardly at my own business that actually I need to make some changes in my business as well. And in terms of what circle of influence I had got and who had come on the podcast and what guests I'd interviewed. And I knew that I wanted to interview someone who could talk about this, who could advise us as small businesses as to how we can bring this in. Because I've been at talks before. And I've been in conferences before where there's been a speaker, who's talked about inclusion and they've tended to talk about big businesses and big companies and TV advertising and, and, you know, using actors and that sort of thing. And I knew that that just wouldn't work. So I wanted to find someone that could really talk to you guys as business owners and help us become more inclusive. Not only with the black lives matter movement, but also inclusive in every way. And I basically, some has stumbled across this very lovely lady called Sonia Thompson, who actually ended up being on Amy Porterville's podcast. And I listened to it and I was like, do you know what you have just hit the nail fully on the head. This is exactly what I think I need for my audience. So I reached out to her and she very kindly said she would come on the podcast. So I have recorded an interview with the very lovely Sonia Thompson. She is a customer experience strategist and consultant and CEO of Thompson Media Group, where she helps companies deliver inclusive and remarkable customer experiences that win customers, she also writes a weekly column for Forbes and Ink. This woman knows her stuff where she covers high belonging, inclusive marketing, and remarkable customer too serious. I'll try that again. Remarkable customer experiences, fuel growth and customer loyalty. So honestly, could that bio read. Any better for what I need for what you guys need and something that is going to help us all. She was so lovely to talk to. And I said to her that I was nervous and I didn't want to make a mistake. I didn't want to get it wrong. And she really helped me understand as to how we can confidently go out into our businesses and ensure that we are doing everything that we can do to be inclusive in our marketing. And she was great to talk to. I had a lovely, lovely chat with her, so I really hope you enjoy this week's episode and get, get lots from it. And I can't wait to hear what you think. Okay. I am so excited today to welcome Sonia Thompson to the podcast. Welcome Sonya, how are you doing? I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me. My absolute pleasure. So I am really excited about today's episode because I love it when I interview someone where I need to learn. Okay. And I like it when I can act stupid because I, I am as much learning as my listeners. So for me today, I am ready to suck up as much information as possible in order to improve. Not only for my listeners, how they can become more inclusive, but also for myself. Because I think as business owners, you do have lots of things to think about and you have to juggle lots of things. But I think what's happened recently is so important for us to sit and go, actually, am I really being, you know, you might feel like you're not being. It's sort of excluding people, but the sheer fact that you're not including them is probably just as bad as the fact that you're not going this isn't for you type thing. So I'm really excited about today's episode, but you are, you're actually your background and where you've come from, what you do is also very apt for us and what we do here. So please tell my audience, guess, haven't heard of you where you came from, what you've done and how you got to be doing what you're doing right now. Sure. Uh, so I worked a corporate job for what nine years. Um, and I worked in healthcare and marketing. And, like most people I realized in the first year that corporate life was not for me. Um, but I kept making excuses and I ended up staying for nine years. Right. Um, and, um, but the good news is while I was there, I picked up some great skills. Great built a great network that really helped me. Um, whenever I left and to start my own business. Um, I really wanted to, my goal was to help entrepreneurs, um, in the, in the realm of customer delight and customer experience. That is always where, I've you know been excited about talking, um, in, in have loved it whenever I've been delighted by a...