Becoming Inclusive in Your Marketing

College and university campuses embrace diversity and aim to provide a safe, respectful place for everyone.

But marketing the campus store to such a wide audience presents a challenge. “I want to create quality campaigns and not hurt or upset shoppers,” explained Mandy Zawila, director, Hope College Bookstore, Holland, MI, in her CAMEX22 virtual session, Marketing Through a DEI Lens.

Zawila discussed how her store worked on becoming more aware of cultural differences—sometimes by acknowledging mistakes—and finding ways to become more inclusive in its marketing efforts.

It starts with awareness. “Viewing marketing through the DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) lens is key to help with total customer engagement,” she said. Recognize how your own background and experience has shaped you—and your perceptions—and appreciate that other people come from a different cultural experience that affects their everyday life.

Her store has worked with training and resources from the Cultural Intelligence Center to better understand how to relate with people from different cultural backgrounds—which encompasses a variety of factors, not just nationality or ethnicity.

The training has helped the store to see how some marketing approaches or promotions could inadvertently denigrate or offend some groups. For example, the store had followed a traditional marketing calendar that included sale days retailers have observed for decades. But Columbus Day is now regarded as insensitive to Indigenous people and not an appropriate time for a sales event or celebration.

“This opened our eyes,” Zawila said. “The sale was not successful and we hurt people.” The bookstore now consults a diversity calendar with holidays and observances from many cultures and communities.

The store tries to be mindful of verbiage and symbols in promotions and materials that could be perceived differently by people on campus. To avoid mishaps, the store frequently connects with a diversity subgroup on campus for their insights and is showing marketing pieces to campus groups for feedback before they go live.

Several audience members also indicated they touch base with student organizations to review marketing materials. The Hope College Bookstore also asks its student workers to weigh in on selections of general merchandise; that helps make sure the store is meeting the needs of all students. “We have a great diverse pool of workers,” Zawila said.

“We can learn about other cultures, here on campus and in the world,” she said, and bring that awareness to store promotions and events.