🔊 The onus of diversity should not fall on Black marketers alone

Across the board, data shows how far marketing still needs to come in terms of diversity. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in a 2020 report found that only 6% of its total members and 3% of the members who are CMOs are Black.

Diversity is a problem that starts at the beginning of the career funnel. Not only is it harder for Black marketers to break into their career of choice, but they are less likely to be promoted. Mercer, a human resources consulting firm, released data last year that showed only 12% of support and operations staff are Black (versus 64% white), and that number continually decreases as Black employees are not promoted to higher levels within companies. The gap is even wider for Black women. A 2020 report from McKinsey and LeanIn.org found that for every 100 men who are promoted and hired to manager positions, only 58 black women [are] promoted and hired.

The onus of representation and inclusion should not fall solely to Black and non-white marketers. Everyone on the team should make it a priority. Brands should also remember that target audiences are diverse and varied and that marketing teams. therefore, should include those voices to reflect those experiences.

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It was a conversation about agile marketing, kicked off by John Cass, digital strategist and host of the Deep Dive into Agile Marketing podcast. But the point which struck us was less about agile marketing than about the digital journey in general. Lyndon Johnson of Think Different[ly], an agile communications group, wrote: “I think one of the biggest challenges in relation to digital marketing is an assumption that the primary trigger or compulsion mechanism for an action taken online needs to occur online. It is something we need to address (or be able to test in the context of the organization and the marketing audience).”

Cass responded: “I’m reminded of a conversation with a group of AMA chapter Presidents around 2005 where every chapter leader was confirming their members weren’t responding to email.”

Why we care. It’s an important insight, and one easily overlooked, that journeys aren’t necessarily 100% digital or non-digital. In the current environment, perhaps we sometimes think you can toggle between digital or virtual and in-store or in-person. But it’s not that simple, and we’re certainly hearing from both B2B and B2C marketers that engagement with tangibles — direct mail, gifts, subscription boxes — can be effective. And can, of course, trigger digital actions.

The Markup found a loophole in Google Ads’ targeting that allowed advertisers to exclude searchers who hadn’t been designated as male or female. This is a big deal for search marketers placing ads for housing, employment, and financial industries.

In 2019, the The Department of Housing and Urban Development sued Facebook for violating the Fair Housing Act when similar settings allowed advertisers to discriminate against certain groups.

“We will be implementing an update to our policy and enforcement in the coming weeks to restrict advertisers from targeting or excluding users on the basis of the ‘gender unknown’ category,” Elijah Lawal, a Google spokesperson told The Markup.

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“A winning technologist is someone who sticks with problems/opportunities and who owns the outcome. Not the glitz, not the glamour, not the fame, not the recognition…the outcome — for both the in-house customers and external customers.” Sarah McNamara, Solution Architect, Slack.