Blog topics and other content ideas often stem from buyer personas. Buyer personas describe your target audience, or the people most likely to buy your product or service.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some companies have very narrow buyer personas. But in general, most companies want to appeal to people across a diverse range of races and genders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless of gender, race, education, or other factors, your ideal audience all have something in common \u2013 they have a problem you can help solve. Even companies with narrow buyer personas should focus on inclusiveness and diversity to cast a wider net within their target market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For instance, if your company creates luxury consumer goods, you want to reach people of all ages, genders, and races in different areas that you serve, which can mean people in rural, urban, and suburban areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In short, you want to create content that resonates with all your potential customers, not just a select few that may fit your preconceived notion of who your customers should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, most people tend to surround themselves with others who think, look, and speak as they do. It can be difficult to think outside that box to reach your entire target market, especially if most of your marketing team fits into one category of your various buyer personas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to creating a more diverse workforce<\/a> to help create diverse marketing campaigns, here are some steps you can take to make your content marketing more inclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buyer personas for content marketing began gaining momentum in the earliest years of the past decade, with the Hubspot CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform popularizing the term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is a buyer persona?<\/p>\n\n\n\n A buyer persona<\/a> is a brief description that aggregates all the traits of your ideal customer (or customers) into one fictional human being. Brands can (and should) build more than one buyer persona for each market segment interested in their products or services. Most importantly, take care to ensure your buyer personas are as diverse as your real-life audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be sure to recognize that your ideal customers span all genders, races, ages, and (potentially) socio-economic backgrounds. Once that fictional customer is in place, your marketing materials will begin to naturally reflect that diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, you may not need to create separate buyer personas for every race or gender in your target market. For more effective marketing, segment customers based on their needs, but acknowledge that diverse personas with similar needs exist in your circles of potential customers. Include personalities who are not what would traditionally be considered \u201cmainstream\u201d when you develop buyer personas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Focus on the similarities, but make sure to acknowledge the differences by creating marketing materials and other content that reflects those differences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The images we choose to accompany our content writing often speak more powerfully than our words. After all, website visitors are more likely to focus on images before the text. In a social media ad campaign, the ideal image often drives the click-through rate or the number of people who click the ad\u2019s link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to HubSpot statistics, 32% of marketers cite visual images<\/a> as the most important form of content for their business, and 80% use visual assets in their social media marketing. What\u2019s more, when a relevant image is paired with information, people will retain 65% of that information three days later, compared to only 10% when no imagery is included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to conventional wisdom, people may not remember what you say, but they will remember how you make them feel. Photos help evoke an emotional response in your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By showing your audience photos of people who look like them, you\u2019re more likely to create loyal customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately, it\u2019s easier than ever in 2020 to find diverse stock photos from both free and paid stock image websites. When you\u2019re using free sites to find photos, read the licensing carefully to ensure you can use the images for content marketing. Some free sites that focus on providing images of diverse people include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mainstream paid photos sites AdobeStock and iStockPhoto also have a broad range of inclusive images available for purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For years, grammarians have grappled with the sticky question of whether to use \u201che\u201d or \u201cshe\u201d when writing about a non-specified individual. For instance, if you were writing about the importance of bedside manner, you might want to write, \u201cA doctor should listen carefully to his patients.\u201d In the past, the phrasing \u201cA doctor should listen to their patients,\u201d would be considered grammatically incorrect, because the subject (doctor) is singular while the possessive pronoun (their) is plural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But to write only \u201chis\u201d neglects doctors who are female or who identify as any other gender (or no gender) on the spectrum recognized today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only solution in the past was to convert \u201ca doctor\u201d to the plural \u201cdoctors,\u201d use the plural possessive pronoun \u201ctheir\u201d and call it a day. But that doesn\u2019t work for every sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, the Associated Press and many major publishers recognize the use of \u201ctheir\u201d as a singular possessive pronoun, and \u201cthey\u201d as a singular pronoun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But choosing inclusive language goes far beyond choosing \u201cthey\u201d over the gendered \u201che\u201d or \u201cshe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be certain not to assume that every married couple consists of a husband and wife. If you\u2019re writing romance tips, use gender-neutral terms like \u201cspouse,\u201d or \u201cpartner,\u201d instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This rule of not making an assumption applies to many categories. For example, if you\u2019re writing about parenting, don\u2019t assume the primary caregiver is the mother. Choose the gender-neutral \u201cparent\u201d or \u201cparents,\u201d instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inclusive language also extends to the descriptions we use. Good writing should appeal to all five senses. Keep in mind that, even on the Web, a portion of your audience may be blind or hard-of-hearing. Be sure to employ visual, tactile, and auditory verbs in balanced numbers to ensure you\u2019re reaching your audience no matter how they best process information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, a collection of phrases that appeal to all the senses might include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The average American reader only comprehends content written at an eighth-grade level or below. In some cases, this points to shortcomings in the education system. But in other cases, it is attributable to the short attention spans of even highly educated readers and the way we all consume content on the Web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To make your content writing accessible to a broad audience, try to maintain a reading level of 8th to 10th grade. Programs like Grammarly and Hemingway will assess the reading level of your work, giving it a score based on its ease of reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What factors contribute to easy-to-read content?<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a bonus, the factors that make content easy to read also make it SEO-friendly, helping to increase search engine rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re writing technical content or using industry-specific long-tail keywords, it may be challenging to reach an 8th-grade reading level in apps like Grammarly. Try to control what you can by keeping other sentences short and readable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, avoid industry jargon. When you do have to use industry-specific words or challenging phrases, be sure to define them for your readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creating inclusive content isn\u2019t always easy. Writers and marketers, just like everyone else, may perceive the world through a narrow view. We don\u2019t know what we don\u2019t know. There are elements of inclusiveness we might miss simply because they\u2019re not in our frame of reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But when it comes to writing inclusive content, ignorance is no excuse to ignore, offend, or neglect portions of your audience. That\u2019s when hiring a sensitivity reader comes in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A sensitivity reader will review your content for offensive phrasing, sensitive optics, and also to ensure your overall writing and tone, including analogies you use and the language you choose, is inclusive to the audience you want to reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, a writer may not understand how certain ethnic groups prefer to be described. A sensitivity reader can set you straight with the proper terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, certain cliches and phrases stem from old practices that would be considered unthinkable today. For instance, a myth circulated that said the \u201crule of thumb<\/a>,\u201d originated because, in England, a man was permitted to beat his wife as long as the stick he used was no thicker than his thumb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This myth was later debunked, but enough people believe it that it\u2019s best to avoid the clich\u00e9 altogether. Therefore, it\u2019s best to avoid distracting your reader with a phrase that may offend some people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Target](\"https:\/\/contentwriters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/targetaudience-1.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nStart with More Diverse Buyer Personas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Choose Diverse Images to Reflect the Diversity of Your Customer Base<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"ContentWriters](\"https:\/\/contentwriters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/writing-graphic-2.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nChoose Inclusive Language<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Write More Accessible Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hire a Sensitivity Reader If You Need Help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Donate\"](\"https:\/\/contentwriters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Donate.png\")
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