disability marketing Archives | Solutions Marketing Group

A Letter from the Founder: How to Reach Consumers with Disabilities

February 16, 2020

According to the U.S. Census, there are 56 million people with disabilities (PWD) in the country. While this market intersects all races and ethnicities, on its own, it is larger than the African-American (42M), and Hispanic (35M) segments. Targeting this market can be challenging since disabilities are diverse, individuals don’t always disclose they have one, and there’s no residential segregation or concentrated areas in cities and towns where people with disabilities reside.

This begs the question: How do you reach them?

Representation matters and I celebrate (and patronize) disability inclusive companies. I applaud brands like Toyota, Facebook, Microsoft, Duracell, and AT&T, who’ve included authentic images of people with real disabilities, not actors faking it. In the 20 years since I founded SMG, one thing remains consistently true – to reach consumers and prospective employees with disabilities, your organizations must know how to reach them – on-the-ground or digitally.

Your organization’s ability to effectively reach candidates for employment or as customers depends on how well you understand the needs of people with various disabilities. Creating a candidate or buyer persona will help identify what their goals and challenges are as relates to familiarizing themselves with your business.

If you want to elevate brand affinity, drive business growth and shareholder value, and have a wider talent pool, there are a few actions your organization can take.

Create the Candidate/Buyer Persona: Buyer personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers or candidates. They help you understand your customers/employees (and prospective customers) better and make it easier for you to tailor your marketing strategy to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns of customers and employees. The strongest personas are based on market research and interviews you gather from your actual customer or employee base — through surveys, interviews, and so on.
Go Where People with Disabilities (PwD) Are: This may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many organizations focus solely on internal processes and procedures, like starting an Employee Resource Group or sponsoring a disability-focused event with expectations that it’ll drive traffic. To move the needle, begin by identifying organizations to build relationships with that are trusted voices or influencers; reach/serve a large number of PwD, their families and allies; and, want to build a relationship with your company beyond a donation or contribution. The most beneficial partnership will add value to your organization by providing access, as well as resources and tools.
Develop a Disability Inclusive Team at Headquarters and Beyond: Many organizations focus disability inclusion from the headquarters office. This team will have senior leadership support, and is responsible for providing the vision, resources and guidelines for disability inclusion, throughout the enterprise. Regional teams should be established to implement the vision, as well as build and maintain relationships with disability organizations in the region.
Develop and Implement a Digital Marketing Strategy: According to Pew Research, “constant” internet usage among adults increased by 5% in just the last three years. The way the general market shops and buys is constantly changing, and the ground game must integrate online tactics. This means consistently connecting with the audience in the right place and at the right time, with resonant messaging. A few tactics to consider are:
- Content Marketing: Do you include disability-relevant blog posts, Ebooks or whitepapers, or infographics that generate brand awareness, lead generation or sales? If not, this is an excellent way to share your organization’s disability inclusive evolution.
- Social Media Marketing: This practice promotes your brand and your content on social media channels which increases brand awareness and drives traffic. Channels to consider are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
- Email Marketing: Companies use email marketing to communicate with their audiences. Email can be used to promote content, discounts and events, such as job fairs. I suggest using emails of those you gather contact information from, at events or from your website, and use your company’s CRM system to consistently reach them. The types of emails to consider sending for an email marketing campaign include: blog subscription newsletters, follow-up emails to website visitors who download resources, customer welcome emails, holiday promotions, tips or a similar series of emails for customer nurturing.

Your ability to reach people with disabilities – as customers or candidates – relies heavily on C-Suite support, organizational will, focus and consistency.

Carmen Daniels Jones
President and CEO
Solutions Marketing Group

Breaking Through and Getting Noticed by Consumers with Disabilities

January 16, 2019

I recently spoke to a prospect who shared that his company was interested in targeting customers with disabilities. Sounds simple enough, right? He shared elements of the marketing plan with me and it was clear they were throwing everything on the wall to see what would stick. As we continued the conversation it was clear his enthusiasm didn’t match his understanding of the market. Unfortunately, this conversation is common for many brands exploring disability inclusive messaging and marketing.

Recognizing consumers are bombarded with hundreds of ads each day it is not only important to understand the key drivers, behaviors and perspective of consumers with disabilities, but it’s essential to understand how to breakthrough the noise and stand out – credibly and authentically.

Let’s start with the Rule of 7. Essentially, the Rule of 7 is a marketing principle that states: prospects need to come across an offer at least 7 times before they really notice it and start to take action. Consumers with disabilities, their families and influencers can be exposed to an offer significantly more than 7 times, but need to see an offer at least 7 times; this helps them take note of your company’s offer amidst the marketing and information overwhelm that exists today, which positions your company to get better results from its disability marketing efforts.

The Rule of 7 is rooted in psychology is linked to a phenomenon called “mere-exposure effect” or the “familiarity principle.” Essentially, the more people are exposed to something, the more likely they are to take note of it and develop a preference for it. Companies, government agencies and non-profits that have a handle on blending an understanding of what consumers with disabilities want, need and prefer with the Rule of 7, rise above the competition.

Here are a few things to consider:

Sell the Challenge Your Product Solves, Not the Product

People with disabilities are looking for products, services and/or experiences that are life-enhancing, seamless and address a barrier they may encounter.

For families with autistic children, vacations can be a challenge. After listening to guests and travel agents Royal Caribbean designed a solution. Known as the “autism friendly cruise line”, Royal Caribbean created a guest experience that integrates specific services to provide an exceptional experience for families with an autistic member. Their services include, but aren’t limited to:

Priority check-in, boarding and departure
Adventure Ocean flexible grouping by ability for children 3 to 11 years old
Pagers/phones for parents of children in Adventure Ocean program while signed into the care of Royal Caribbean staff.
“Staffed Cruises” catering to families with children, teens and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities, which include: Extra professionally trained staff in caring for individuals with developmental disabilities (provided at one staff member for every two-three special needs guests); specialized respite sessions; and private activities and sessions.

Do you think families who have autistic children can enjoy themselves and actually have a vacation on a Royal Caribbean Cruise? Absolutely.

Expand Marketing Channels

Do not restrict your marketing to just one channel. Channels to consider when targeting consumers with disabilities include:

Partnerships with national disability organizations
Ads on Social Media
Leverage Social Media Influencers
Ads in The Mighty, New Mobility, Arthritis Today or Disability Scoop (to name a few)
Events/Conferences
Podcasts
Email Marketing

Content Marketing

The best way to let consumers with disabilities know your company gets them is by using words in a variety of formats they love to hear. I suggest blogging, video (with captions and audio description), podcasts, and user-generated content.

Consistency

Too often I’ve seen brands use a one-shot approach when targeting the disability market. It usually is a blog or corporate statement of commitment for the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or during National Disability Employment Awareness Month. That’s not enough.

A critical part of the Rule of 7 is consistency. I recommend reaching consumers multiple times, through multiple channels. Data from HubSpot shows that companies that blog around 16 times or more per month get 3.5 times more traffic and 4.5 times more leads than businesses that blog less than 4 times a month. No matter what your disability marketing strategy consists of, the importance of frequency cannot be overstated.

Nike Just Did It: A Brand’s Disability Inclusion Evolution

November 20, 2018

By Carmen Daniels Jones

Nike flagship store in New York City

In 2000, the disability community was outraged by a Nike print ad, featuring a shoe called the ACG Air Dri-Goat. The ad ran in national and regional copies of outdoor and backpacking magazines. The copy was intended to be humorous, but it backfired and ran as follows:

Fortunately, the Air Dri-Goat features a patented, goat-like out sole for increased traction, so you can taunt mortal injury without actually experiencing it. Right about now you’re probably asking yourself, “How can a trail running shoe with an outer sole designed like a goat’s hoof help me avoid compressing my spinal cord into a Slinky on the side of some unsuspecting conifer, thereby rendering me a drooling, misshapen, non-extreme-trail-running husk of my former self, forced to roam the Earth in a motorized wheelchair with my name, embossed on one of those cute little license plates you get at carnivals or state fairs, fastened to the back?”

To that we answer, hey, have you ever seen a mountain goat (even an extreme mountain goat) careen out of control into the side of a tree?

Didn’t think so.

It’s OK to pick up your jaw now. Crazy, right? How anyone within Nike or its ad agency thought this was funny is beyond me. The disability community responded by slapping Nike’s wrists with letters, public shaming and protests. The story was covered by media outlets such as Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. Nike issued a few apologies and also sent an executive to meet with disability leaders in Washington, DC to smooth things over. On a personal note, I owned Nike stock at the time and sold it. It was my way to quietly rebuke the brand.

Since that time, Nike has evolved. Over the years they’ve been a sponsor of Paralympians. They created the Pegasus Fly Ease, which features a zipper-and-strap system to assist athletes of all abilities with getting their shoes on and off quickly and easily. The company also recently signed Justin Gallegos, the first athlete with cerebral palsy to sign with the company. I’ve been in meetings with Nike representatives and have discussed how they’ve emerged as a disability inclusive brand in product development, partnerships and messaging.

Nike could’ve thrown in the disability inclusion towel after its misstep with the Air Dri-Goat, but they didn’t. They learned, changed and evolved. They’ve demonstrated that while they didn’t initially get it right, they provided their teams to innovate, create and partner. Companies are clamoring to been seen and heard by diverse customers and so many don’t include or engage the disability market. It’s incredibly refreshing that the disability market wasn’t left behind for this company. Well done, Nike.

Understanding the Disability Market: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

January 30, 2018

Often times, when I tell a client there are 56 million people with disabilities in the U.S., they often have no concept of how diverse this segment is. Only when we talk about the diversity of disability do they begin to realize how different their needs are.

If your company is planning to target consumers with disabilities this year, it’s also important to understand the distinctions between segments, and how products are used. For an example, as the result of a customer inquiry, Nike invented the FlyEase, a high-performance athletic shoe, for people with disabilities who have limited mobility and/or dexterity. Nike’s design team identified that this barrier impacted the ability for people to easily put their shoes on and tie their laces. They went a step further to create a solution, after understanding there are millions of people – young and old – who wanted the ability to put their shoes on independently, lessening frustrations for kids with disabilities, people with Cerebral Palsy, Arthritis or Multiple Sclerosis. By identifying influencers – occupational therapists, parents, caregivers and teachers – they extended their reach. They segmented the market and created an innovative product, which is the first of its kind.

I’ve developed a basic segmentation grid, which has provided clarity for clients. You can use it to define: the customer, disability type, demographics, primary/secondary goals and challenges, and what the solution is. I’ve included an example below:

Disability market segmentation removes ambiguity and allows companies to precisely reach consumers with specific needs and wants. It also provides a framework to measure revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. The metrics build the business case for companies, and moves them beyond compliance and checking the box.

My Challenge to You: Host 2 or 3 listening sessions for specific disability groups and ask participants about their needs and preferences. Analyze the results and share insights with your company’s cross-functional disability inclusion team. This inexpensive solution will help your team create an informed marketing and outreach plan.

Throughout the year, I will provide actionable steps to integrate disability inclusion within your organization. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know how this process worked for your team.

Here’s to a great new year!
Carmen Daniels Jones