Why Inclusive Marketing Is No Longer Optional for Growth-Oriented Brands
Let’s Be Honest: You’ve Probably Thought This
“Why would I change what’s been working?”
You’ve been doing this a while. You’re good at it. But here’s what no one says to high performers:
“You’re playing it safe. And it’s starting to show.”
That stock photo of the white couple walking a labrador on a beach? That perfectly templated postcard with “Let’s talk retirement goals”? That flyer with a smiling family and a four-bedroom starter home?
It’s not offensive. It’s just predictable. Safe. Built for a market that doesn’t exist anymore.
“Relevance is currency. If you’re not culturally relevant, you’re not in the conversation—you’re background noise.”
— Bozoma Saint John, former CMO, Netflix
You’re Not “Focused”, You’re Comfortable
And comfort is costing you more than you think.
For financial advisors:
If your planning materials only show white retirees on golf courses, you’re not just targeting—you’re excluding.
Your next-gen clients are diverse, values-driven, and fluent in BS detection. Your brand still speaks spreadsheet.
For realtors:
If every flyer assumes a nuclear family with 20% down, you’re talking past most of your market.
Buyers today are multi-generational, single, divorced, queer, multilingual, and they notice when your branding doesn’t see them.
For direct mail marketers:
If your mailers haven’t evolved since 2015, they’re not classic. They’re invisible.
Comfort can look like consistency. But to the people you haven’t reached yet, it reads as indifference.
“Comfort is a liar. It’s the soft whisper that says ‘this is fine’ when you’re actually falling behind.”
— Tara-Nicholle Kirke, behavior strategist
Your Metrics Are Trying to Tell You Something
Open rates? Down.
Click-throughs? Flat.
Referrals? Aging out.
Pipeline? Softer than it should be.
That’s not just a market problem. That’s a relevance problem.
Because while you’re recycling the same message to the same people, your competitors are updating their message for everyone else.
According to Kantar, inclusive campaigns outperform non-inclusive ones by 70% in ad recall and brand favorability.
Google’s research shows that culturally fluent campaigns outperform generic ones across trust, engagement, and long-term loyalty, especially with Gen Z and BIPOC markets.
This isn’t a trend. It’s a shift. And the brands that adjusted? They’re already seeing results.
What Relevance Actually Looks Like
This isn’t politics. It’s positioning.
Relevance means:
- Postcards with lifestyle range, not just golf carts and golden retrievers
- Language that assumes different kinds of families and financial goals
- Imagery that reflects your ZIP code, not just your comfort zone
If your visuals are all white, straight, upper-middle class, and suburban?
You’re not being neutral.
You’re unintentionally signaling who this is really for, and who it’s not.
Relevance Is Precision
“When brands try to be everything to everyone, they end up being nothing to no one. Inclusion is precision.” — Lily Zheng, DEI strategist
This isn’t about rebranding.
It’s about realignment.
If your marketing only resonates with the past, don’t be surprised when it stops building your future.
Final Word
You can keep relying on the same safe postcard, speaking to the same shrinking audience. Or you can evolve, and finally say something that actually resonates with the people you haven’t reached yet.
Because staying safe isn’t strategy. And staying familiar isn’t focus.
You don’t have to be perfect. But you do have to be paying attention.
Clients are evolving fast. You either catch up—or fall out of view.
Tools to Break Out of the Template Trap
- Kantar – DEI & Ad Performance Report
The business case for inclusive messaging, backed by brand performance data - Think With Google – Inclusive Marketing Study
How culture-forward campaigns outperform neutral messaging - Getty + Citi – Inclusive Imagery Guidelines
Real-world visual strategy tools that reflect real people - Mailchimp – Generational Differences in Campaign Response
Behavioral data from Gen Z and Millennial audiences—what lands, what doesn’t
Next Up in the Series:
When Familiar Becomes Forgettable. Why stale messaging is quietly costing you clients
You’ve mastered consistency. But is it possible your brand stayed still while your market moved forward?
In our next piece, we take a clear-eyed look at the copy, tone, visuals, and assumptions baked into most modern marketing, who they may be pushing away, and how to evolve without losing what you’ve built.
Because the future won’t wait for your brand to catch up.
Ready to evolve your message? Let’s build an inclusive marketing strategy that actually lands. Talk to our team →
