True inclusivity is more than just checking a box—it’s about creating a seamless experience for your audience (and it also happens to be a strategic advantage). This month, as we focus on Marketing for Good: Values-Driven Strategies That Connect, we’ll explore how accessibility and inclusivity are essential to ethical marketing and effective website design.
For small business owners and marketing directors alike, adopting inclusivity isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s a smart move for improving ROI and brand perception. Inclusive website design enhances user experience, builds trust, and expands your reach to new customer segments. No matter your role, prioritizing inclusivity helps create meaningful connections and ensures long-term success.
Website Design: Accessibility is Valuable
In short, every website should be accessible. It allows all users, including those with disabilities (physical, sensory, cognitive, and intellectual), to access the same information available to those without. This information may also include services like news articles, online shopping, online banking, and more.
By making your website design accessible, you make sure people have equal access to your online content. According to the World Health Organization and the CDC, 16% of the world’s population and 26% of the U.S. population have a disability. That’s over 1 billion people worldwide—around 86 million in the U.S alone—who may face additional barriers when accessing your website, representing a considerable part of the market. On top of this, ensuring an accessible website will impact your brand reputation, image, and potentially improve your SEO ranking. Creating an accessible website isn’t just ethical; it makes good business sense!
How To Build an Accessible Website Design
You’re convinced you need to make your website design more accessible. Now what?
You’ll want to consider a diverse range of impairments, including visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, and speech when designing your website for accessibility. Many companies start by implementing the best practices. You should consider incorporating features like alt text for images, video captions, and keyboard-only navigation. Also, think about regular testing to address any barriers to accessibility, such as website updates, which can often cause issues.
For a comprehensive checklist of standards and best practices you can take on your website, check out our blog post outlining best practices for branding, social media, and content accessibility and more. Tools like Wave and Lighthouse can help make your web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities. Below are the main issues that can be quickly addressed when building a fully inclusive website.
Focus on Website Design and User Experience (UX)
Creating an inclusive website starts with good design and considering your user experience (UX). First, use accessible color palettes to ensure readability, considering contrast ratios that accommodate users with low vision, color blindness, or other visual impairments. For example, if a text color is similar to the color of the page behind you, it can be hard to read. Some websites, such as Hubspot, allow users to change their color contrast.
Next, select a font that is clear and easy to read, using the proper size that enhances legibility for all users. A fully accessible website design allows users to increase their text size up to 200% its size without disrupting the layout or viewing experience.
Alternative text (alt-text) is a critical component of improving accessibility on your website. Using alt text for images and other media allows screen reader users to understand what is on your webpage and can be added with an HTML alt tag.
Finally, one of the most critical features of an accessible website is that it allows users to navigate between pages using only a keyboard. For example, being able to go between buttons or links using the Tab and Enter key makes the site more usable for people with limited mobility or fine motor control. Using breadcrumbs is another excellent technique to make your website keyboard-friendly and easy to navigate. It’s also good for your SEO.
Inclusive Marketing Strategies
Now that you know what it takes to build a fully inclusive website, it’s time to incorporate inclusive marketing strategies into your business. An inclusive approach is critical to any successful marketing strategy in today’s society. With inclusive marketing, you consider diversity in all forms, including appearance, age, ethnicity, race, marital status, religion, physical or mental abilities, and socio-economic status (to name just a few!). Doing this means you recognize that your audience is all different groups of people, and you strive to represent all of them.
We explored diversifying your content formats above to create an inclusive environment. Below, let’s explore other inclusive elements you can include in your marketing strategy.
Marketing Messages
The language you use in your marketing communications greatly impacts how they are received. Inclusive language avoids:
- Bias
- Stereotypes
- Assumptions
For example, as part of our own inclusive approach, we carefully reviewed this blog post to avoid terms that might assume a particular level of ability (for instance, “walking,” “feeling heard,“ “looking,” or “striding”). By choosing more neutral or descriptive wording, we ensure our message respects the diverse capabilities of all readers.
Also, respect different identities and experiences while ensuring your messaging is clear and understandable to all target audience segments.
Finally, consider cultural traditions and/or taboos to make sure that your marketing doesn’t inadvertently offend or alienate any group. Successful marketing requires research and a willingness to adapt.
Social Media
Making your social media content accessible is essential for fostering inclusivity. Ways to do this include:
- Add alt text to social images to describe visuals
- When creating video content for platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or YouTube, include captions to make your message more accessible to viewers.
Doing this expands the reach and engagement of your content and ensures that your social media efforts are accessible to a broader audience.
Community Involvement and Partnerships
According to this report about brand trust, 58% of consumers make purchase decisions based on their values, particularly regarding brands that demonstrate social responsibility. Similarly, Google’s 2021 “Inclusive Marketing Playbook” revealed that 64% of consumers took action after seeing an inclusive advertisement, such as visiting a website or making a purchase.
One way to do this is to form strategic partnerships with people who can connect to different segments of your audience in a way that feels genuine and authentic. Rather than depend on the usual or widely recognized partners, consider pursuing partners that are smaller but engage deeply with specific audiences. Doing this will generate trust through truly authentic advocacy.
Measuring Success
Monitoring the impact of your inclusivity initiatives is critical to improving on your efforts. Do this by tracking engagement metrics, conversion rates, and audience sentiment to measure how your efforts are resonating. Be sure to celebrate your wins such as positive feedback or participation. But, at the same time, employ user feedback and data analysis to continually refine your approach and improve.
Conclusion
Inclusivity is both a moral imperative and a strategic opportunity. By making practical, achievable changes, small business owners and marketing directors can engage more people and create more inclusive experiences for everyone—right away.
Remember, “Marketing for Good” is about more than just numbers—it’s about building long-term trust and loyalty while making a positive impact on those around you!
Need help? Reach out to GreenCup Digital to discuss accessibility audits and inclusive marketing strategies today!
