NEW YORK—Given the rise in awareness of commitments to diversity & inclusion from many businesses and cultural institutions over the past two years, it’s important to be sensitive and attuned to how an independent ECP or optical business communicates to current and prospective patients and customers. “Truly diverse and inclusive content—the kind that resonates consciously and subconsciously with your audience—requires far more than an image,” writes @AnnGynn via CMI (Content Marketing Institute) which advises communicators in all types of fields about how they communicate and issue marketing messages.

“It requires thinking more deeply, from your audience research to your own team’s structure and from your style guide to your user experience,” she said.

A special resource, “How to Do Diverse and Inclusive Content Marketing That Matters,” is a special article, just recently updated, that the CMI is presenting to its readers. A copy of Gynn’s piece is posted here.

Gynn noted, “Your audience members want to see themselves in your content and no single image can convey that. More importantly, they want to know that you see them—physically, geographically, psychologically, etc. They want to make sure you get their needs, their pain points, their thoughts.”

She cited a 2019 Google Survey that revealed 64 percent of all respondents took some action after seeing an ad they considered to be diverse or inclusive.

Being conscious of terminology, tone and language—and following through with your office team—is important now.

A range of HR resources can help. To name just a few:

  • There is an Alliance for Inclusive and MultiCultural Marketing.

  • The Vision Council has its own Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board as it examines awareness of D&I issues in the vision care space. 

  • Prevent Blindness is a source for info about how certain diverse and cultural populations are impacted by certain vision conditions. At its recent Focus on Eye Health Summit, speakers addressed some of these. Prevent Blindness also offers a range of training and education resources about the prevalence of vision issues among demographic, cultural and ethnic groups in the U.S. That report can be found here.