by Brian McKay
Entrepreneurs make decisions for the good of the company on a regular basis. From recruiting the right employees to cutting costs, it’s all for one reason: the benefit of the firm. As the boss and leader, you’re the one in the right position to make the calls. No one has the business’ best interests at heart more than you, its creator. Everything you do, right or wrong, comes from a good place.
Or does it?
The truth is that lots of owners suffer from unconscious bias where they make decisions based on stereotypes. To sort things out logically and rapidly, the brain uses “info” to place people and things into groups. The problem is the train of thought might not be logical or ethical. There are plenty of places where this is an issue, but this post is going to focus on marketing.
Biases can destroy a plan before it has gone live and put the company at risk. To make sure it doesn’t happen, these are the tips to consider.
Recognize It Exists
As cliché as it sounds, the first step is to accept there is a problem. You’re a human being and you make mistakes and that’s not embarrassing. It’s an occupational hazard of being in charge and it’s important to accept this right off the bat. The thing which is shameful is not trying to correct your errors.
However, the only way to do that is to recognize that they exist in the beginning. Don’t worry because you don’t need to tell anyone that you might have stereotyped negatively. If the women in your ads are nagging housewives rather than funny girls’ girls, you can change it in your next campaign. Or, you can switch it up while it’s live. Unilever shows there’s no need to wait to repair the mistakes.
Anybody who is unsure of their biases can take a simple test. Once you understand how you judge people is when you can try and create a better brand message.
Create A Criteria
One thing that’s easy to do is to slip back into the old ways. Years of evolution and nurture mean your mind thinks a certain way, and it’s tricky to override. To make sure the stereotypes don’t pop up again, the person trying to make a difference has to focus 99% of the time. As soon as you let your guard down is when the unconscious biases will rear their ugly head again.
A basic yet effective way to prevent this from happening is to write down your baselines. What are the things you have done in the past that you never want to repeat? What is your line in the sand? When you have them written down, on paper or a computer, you can refer back to them and compare them with the marketing effort.
Usually, it’s easy to tell when something is too close to the bone. Always make a note of the things you want to avoid as your memory is fallible. Sometimes, it will forget about the subtle biases you’re working hard to erase.
Play It Safe
Controversies happen when ads try and push the envelope. Think about the Heineken commercial with the tagline “lighter is better.” Although it was probably an honest mistake, the fact that the advert reinforced racial stereotypes wasn’t a savvy move. There were thousands of ways they could have described the beer without using that phrase.
Marketing is about standing out from the crowd, which means you must think outside of the box. Still, there is a fine line between being funny and witty and enforcing a generalization. As soon as the latter happens, you’ll afford people and drag the brand name through the mud.
McDonald’s has some of the best examples of ads which are family-friendly yet on target. Their “Great Tastes of the World” adverts perfectly and amusingly sum up why it’s better to dip your toe rather than dive in the deep end. Businesses with a bad track record should consider looking to the masters of marketing for inspiration. That way, you’ll see adverts don’t need to be controversial to be comical or impactful.
Refer To Customers
Shoppers aren’t drones that make purchases on autopilot. Those days are gone and the morally in-tune customer has replaced them. Today, consumers have their finger on the pulse regarding things which insult and offend other people. Therefore, they are the best people to ask for their opinion.
What you should never do is tell them the reason for the survey. Otherwise, they’ll lean towards pointing out things which they didn’t believe before or that don’t exist. The key is to ask questions which have nothing to do with what you want to know to settle them down and then to slip in the meaningful question in the middle. Social media polls and mystery shoppers programs make obtaining the info simple.
Some people will tell you outright when you miss the mark. Twitter feeds are full of conversations where the audience informs the business that they are unhappy with an ad. If this happens, don’t pass it off as social justice warriors getting on their high horse. Treat it with respect and review the content.
Err The Other Way
You’re more aware than ever before, yet you can’t help but think you’re going to make the same mistake. Marketers are fearful of a backlash, which is why some of them play it too safe.
Of course, a simple way to solve the problem is to err the other way. Rather than whitewashing adverts, you can include a variety of minorities. Positive discrimination is an excellent way to involve people from different backgrounds and raise awareness of the problem. Plus, if you do it, your competitors might join in and the industry will be one step closer to ending the problem.
That’s one way to ensure you don’t kill your business but give it the opportunity to grow.
