That nagging suspicion of yours is pretty accurate: terms like inclusion, authenticity, cultural competence, liberation, and feminism are not your typical marketing vocab. You only have to scroll through your Instagram feed to see that oppressive marketing tactics are still a mainstream thing. Yes, pressure tactics work – quite well, in fact.
“Now, wait for a second!” you may be thinking, “if these ‘traditional’ marketing tactics do work and bring real income into my business, why would I do things differently? What do I get out of that?”.
If this is you, we acknowledge your reasoning. Yes, you will get results using a traditional marketing strategy. Yes, your business may hit its revenue goals using the ‘regular” tactics. The real question is how long those results will last…
Unlike its traditional counterparts, whose main aim is to sell products or services to many customers, liberatory marketing is geared towards building communities. Obviously, marketers who opt for an inclusive and culturally competent approach want sales, but healthy profits are not their only priority. They are not willing to burn their audiences for the sake of revenue.
Because of this, liberatory and inclusive marketing practices are ideal for mission-driven businesses and organizations.
Just think about it for a second. If you want your business to survive and thrive through the years to come, you can’t rely on short-lived strategies and tactics to promote it. As cliche-y as it may sound, as a mission-driven business owner, your #1 marketing goal is to convert perfect strangers into raving fans. The best way to do that is through authenticity and a solid community-building strategy.
Still not convinced? Check out these five reasons why a liberatory and culturally competent marketing strategy will give a boost to your business.
1. You will have an inclusive business open to the global marketplace
If you are an online business that offers its services worldwide, being culturally aware can make all the difference in closing sales.
Let’s take an example.
Suppose you’re an Australian coach offering her packages in Latin American countries. In that case, cultural competence will help you know that Latin American folx haven’t fully jumped in the coaching trend. Therefore, before seeing sales coming your way, you’ll have to create some awareness and educate your potential audience on the benefits of coaching.
2. Through your business, you’ll fight against current systems of oppression
Although marketing is a tool of capitalism, the mechanism in itself isn’t good or bad. The manipulative and oppressive tactics that some marketers use in their campaigns (like triggers of fake authority and trust…or simple and plain old FOMO) are not an intrinsic part of marketing. As a business owner, you can decide whether you use them or not, which is no small deal.
Can you imagine what would happen if, suddenly, every business owner on the planet stopped using triggering and oppressive tactics? The truth is that small businesses do have the power to change, shape, and revolutionize the business space. If you’re a mission-driven business, you can create more impact and give back to your community, inspiring them to do the same. And this leads us to our next point.
3. You’ll use language that cultivates community
Business building is a community effort!
How you state and word your communications can cultivate or break relationships since words and language are the tools that shape our reality. A liberatory marketing strategy uses feminist and culturally competent copywriting to remove shame, manipulation, and culturally imperative ideologies from your sales pitch.
READ MORE: 3 Ways Manipulative Copy Shows Up In Your Marketing Strategy
Instead, you end up using words and phrases that invite your audience to co-create solutions with you.
4. Your marketing will be more straightforward and more holistic
Fact: marketing can be overwhelming.
Should you do paid ads or focus on organic reach? Is this the best time to get into influencer marketing and affiliate schemes? What about expanding your social media presence to the new and shiny channels (Clubhouse, anyone?) that everyone is talking about? How in the world is anyone supposed to keep up with all that?
Instead of overwhelming your audience (and your marketing team) with tons of promotions and unfocused content, you could try to declutter and decolonize your current strategies.
Think about it for a second: what would happen if you only implemented a couple of inclusive marketing strategies? And what if those strategies were perfectly aligned with what your clients actually want to see and try? You would now have a sustainable and long-lasting plan for impact!
5. Your business will stay relevant
When you adopt a liberatory and culturally competent marketing strategy, you become aware of your customer’s actual needs and wants, which in turn allows you to think specifically about ways to solve those pain points. You become a customer-driven business, and this mentality is what will enable you to stay relevant and adapt to the ever-changing market.
Instead of running the exhausting and eternal chase for customers, your business becomes a magnet of opportunity. Folx start noticing that you care about them, that you have a purpose, that you’re on a mission. If your community supports you, you’ll find that no business goal is out of your reach.
Wrapping things up
Finally, let’s do a brief recap. Establishing a solid marketing foundation for your business doesn’t have to be that complicated or overwhelming: all you have to do is opt for a liberatory and culturally competent marketing strategy instead of relying on the old-and-not-so-efficient-on-the-long term traditional marketing tactics. If you choose to do so, you’ll reap these amazing benefits:
- You will have an inclusive business open to the global marketplace
- Through your business, you’ll fight against current systems of oppression
- You’ll use language that cultivates community
- Your marketing will be simpler and more holistic
- Your business will stay relevant
Can you think of other benefits of implementing a liberatory and culturally competent marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments!
Enjoyed this post? You might like these, too:
Is All Copywriting Manipulative?
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