Being successful at LGBTQ marketing means having a specific set of LGBTQ Creative Guidelines. While some companies have hit the mark with LGBTQ advertising, like Honeymaid's LGBTQ Campaign, others wound up actually offending this community due to lack of truly understanding this audience and the diversity within in it, like the infamous Heineken Light Beer commercial.
Follow this checklist before developing your LGBTQ creative concepts.
(1) Develop a set of guidelines that will serve as the foundation for all of your LGBTQ marketing. Ensure these guidelines speak to how the LGBTQ community should be depicted and what tone of voice to utilize.
(2) Understand the diversity within the LGBTQ community. While this community, as a whole, shares certain traits, it is also widely diverse, spanning race, religion, and political affiliation.
(3) Ensure you have an LGBTQ expert to consult with. Someone with LGBTQ experience will provide you with insights that simply cannot be gained by reading research.
Example for Depiction: LGBTQ in an advertisement
- Do: Create authentic messages that promote equality.
- Don’t: Be overt. Keep it ambiguous and tasteful
(5) Utilize the Ad Respect Score to test your ads. Note that while you may obtain a high score for your campaign, it’s wise to use the score in combination with focus group testing. There have been campaigns that earned a high score but still received backlash due to the “tone” of the campaign. (For example, that Heineken Light Commercial we talked about earlier).
Read more about LGBTQ marketing best practices on our blog:
Part 1: 5 Reasons Why you Must Have LGBTQ Marketing Strategies
Part 2: 4 Things Marketers Should Know about the LGBTQ Community
To see Anderson's full presentation on LGBTQ marketing opportunities, visit our slideshare here.
Wondering how to get a jump-start on marketing to and including this audience? Sign up here to be sent a questionnaire to receive a FREE LGBTQ marketing consultation.
Stay tuned next week as we continue our inclusion series, focusing on LGBTQ community.
References include:
• http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/lgbt-older-adults-highlighting-isolation-discrimination
• http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/lgbt_populations
• https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/mortgages/top-lgbt-friendly-cities-2015/
