How to Grow Your Agency Through Socially Responsible Marketing

Wondering how to prioritize inclusivity, emotion, and social impact in your agency’s work? Looking for a proven model to follow? 

In this article, discover the keys to conscious agency growth from a serial entrepreneur who has launched several successful companies.

Conscious Growth Marketing Through Diversity and Inclusion

In today’s increasingly diverse and interconnected world, embracing diversity and inclusion has become critical for businesses across all industries. This is especially true in marketing, where understanding and resonating with a wide range of audiences is essential for success. 

Award-winning growth marketing strategist Troy Sandidge shares his insights and expertise on the critical role of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in effective marketing. As the founder of multiple agencies and an accomplished CMO, Troy brings over 15 years of experience focusing on strategic growth through diversity-led experiential marketing. His perspective highlights why agencies and brands must embrace DEIB principles to drive sustainable growth and deeper connections with their audiences.

Troy emphasizes a core tenet: “Diversity equals revenue.” By bringing diverse individuals and perspectives to the table, organizations gain the power of inclusivity. Looking at the same challenges and opportunities from different angles increases the probability of success.

There’s enormous untapped potential in underrepresented communities—the BIPOC (black, indigenous, and other people of color) community alone represents $3.7 trillion in buying power. Troy says that by developing more inclusive marketing, you could organically increase your reach and impact by 26% over the next two years. When audiences see themselves represented in marketing campaigns, they are more likely to engage with and purchase from a brand.

However, diversity and inclusion in your marketing strategy require more than surface-level representation. It’s important to be intentional and ensure your language, messaging, and imagery resonate authentically with the communities your brand aims to reach. Empty representation without substance will fall flat and could even backfire. The goal should be creating pathways for underrepresented audiences to see themselves and feel a genuine sense of belonging to your brand.

How to Connect With More People Through DEIB Marketing

#1: Embrace the ‘Conscious Growth Pathways’ Framework

To help organizations embed DEIB principles into their marketing strategies, Troy has developed the “Conscious Growth Pathways” framework. This approach focuses on the intersection between experience, entertainment, education, and empowerment to drive profitable outcomes and meaningful impact.

The “Conscious Growth Pathways” build upon foundational marketing concepts like the “5 Ps” (product, price, people, place, promotion) and “7 Cs” (customer, content, context, convenience, community, cohesion, conversion). However, Troy argues that these traditional models miss a crucial component—the human element. “If you don’t align with, if your purpose and your mission does not align with me as a human, I will go an hour away to choose another brand versus you,” Troy says.  

No matter how well organizations optimize the classic marketing mix, neglecting the human factor will limit their success. Therefore, the “Conscious Growth Pathways” framework incorporates additional layers:

• The “4 Es”: Engagement, exclusivity, experience, emotion
• The human element
• DEIB integration
• Sustainability focus

People are tired of social media and Zoom. They want to be part of an exclusive, private community where they can feel safe and accepted. If your agency or offer doesn’t help them feel happier and more connected, they won’t want to do business with you, Troy says. As an agency owner, you’re in the business of helping people. Your job is to ensure that your offer fits your ideal customers well. If your ideal customers don’t believe you’re a good fit for them, you won’t make any money.

You can form deeper bonds beyond transactional interactions by meeting audiences at the “4 Es” nexus, acknowledging their humanity, and focusing on belonging. Customers remain loyal despite challenges like price increases because they feel emotionally connected to your brand, which resonates with their values.

Focus on the Human Element

To begin executing DEIB efforts, start internally. Examine your own capacity, utility, and performance (CUP) around these issues. Capacity is what you’re able to do. Utility is the benefit of doing it, and performance is how you measure your efforts. Study how your company operates and ask your team, clients, and customers what you can do better.

Regarding your marketing team, hire a diverse and inclusive group of marketers to gain access to a broad range of perspectives. Everyone on your team will be looking at your product or service from a different angle. Incorporating these perspectives into your campaigns means you have a higher chance of converting more customers who share those perspectives.

Next, you need to consider the experiences and preferences of your clients, customers, and prospects. This means going beyond just looking at numbers and analytics.

For example, some people mistakenly posted black squares on social media platforms during “Blackout Tuesday” without really understanding why. “Blackout Tuesday” was a protest against racism and police brutality on June 2, 2020. People in the music industry started it after the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.

People focus on the wrong performance measures, such as gaining shares and followers on social media. When dealing with DEIB, remember that you’re dealing with humans and emotions, not just data and analytics. Focus on what really matters. 

Some businesses that posted on social media about supporting the black community during the Black Lives Matter protests got in trouble. They didn’t actually have any black people on their team or do anything to help the community.

When you’re posting on social media or making changes to your business, Troy recommends using the “PASS” framework:

• Present information—don’t demand or declare things.
• Ask questions to start a conversation, like “What are your thoughts?” or “How can we be better?” This is the safest thing to do on social media if you’re unsure what to say.
• Share posts from experts or brands who know what they’re doing. This shows you’re aware of the issue but not trying to speak for others.
• Sway people gently. Make big changes slowly, or you might miss the mark.

Ask clients, customers, and prospects how they feel about your brand, product, or service. Why do people buy your products and services? What do they value socially?

The next step is to put what you learn into practice to create deeper connections with your clients and customers. 

Create Inclusive Campaigns

Start by making small, genuine, incremental changes to test how your audience receives them, emphasizing that underrepresented communities will notice and appreciate the effort, even if it initially feels imperfect. The key is to commit to ongoing learning and evolution.

Look closely at your website, inbound and outbound experiences, and overall brand perception. Ask yourself if your messaging is clear and understandable to all potential customers, not just those familiar with your brand.

Next, ensure that the language and messaging in your marketing campaigns are inclusive and accepting of all people. In the same way, ensure that your imagery includes a diverse range of people and experiences. The resulting campaigns will show that your brand is inclusive and welcoming to all.

Pro Tip: If you’re not quite ready to create your own DEIB-focused marketing campaigns, start by sharing content from experts in the field or DEIB-focused marketing from complementary brands. This shows you understand and support these important issues, even if you can’t address them directly.

#2: Integrate the ‘Conscious Growth Pathways’ Framework

To put the “Conscious Growth Pathways” into practice, Troy offers these guidelines:

• Introspection: Engage in honest self-reflection to identify opportunities for improvement. Seek outside perspectives to illuminate blind spots.
• Genuine investigation: Have authentic conversations with a diverse range of stakeholders, including current clients, prospective leads, and those who chose not to buy. Use these insights to inform your strategy.
• Incremental initiation: Recognize that fully embedding DEIB is an ongoing process. Start testing approaches on a small scale and adapt based on feedback. Focus 
• on progress over perfection.
• Collaboration: Partner with DEIB experts and those with lived experience to ensure your efforts resonate. Join diverse communities, attend marketing meetups like Black@INBOUND, and share learnings with peers to raise the bar collectively.
• Accountability: Establish clear metrics and regularly assess progress. Craft surveys or host workshops to gauge advancement. Recognize that evaluating DEIB initiatives requires looking beyond typical vanity metrics to focus on audience sentiment and belonging indicators. 

This framework can enhance your DEIB fluency while guiding your clients to connect authentically with diverse audiences. Ultimately, this approach fosters the adaptability and emotional resonance needed for brands to remain relevant and resilient.

#3: Sustainability First, Then Scale

Weaving throughout Troy’s guidance emphasizes building a solid foundation before pursuing rapid growth. “You have to think about where you want to be now to move in that direction because if you think about where you are, you’ll never get to where you want to go,” he says. Troy cautions against the temptation to grow at all costs without the infrastructure to deliver.

Envision your agency accomplishing its most ambitious goals and then honestly appraise whether you have the backend capacity to sustain that growth. Too often, businesses are drowning in their own success because they haven’t shored up their operations, team structures, and employee support. The result is a house of cards bound to collapse.

Instead, Troy advocates putting sustainability first, then pursuing scale. This means taking a hard look at your current operations and proactively creating the organizational framework to support growth before kicking into hyperdrive. Then, you can scale incrementally and intentionally over time. While not as sexy as chasing the next quarter’s numbers, investing in sustainable infrastructure sets you and your brand up for long-term success. 

When your diversity marketing efforts connect with people on a human level, it can help sustain your business no matter what’s happening in the market. 

If you’ve built relationships and supported the community through DEIB efforts, people will be more likely to help you when needed. Because of your genuine connections, they’ll give you referrals and support to keep your business going.

#4: Sell Through Service

Implementing the “Conscious Growth Pathways” means redefining relationships with prospects and leads. Rather than prematurely cutting ties with those not ready to purchase immediately, Troy encourages adopting a “continuum of buyer, advocate, elevator.”

In this model, agencies commit to serving and assisting leads whether or not they convert right away. Some may become buyers, while others shift into roles as brand advocates or elevators, lifting your brand through word of mouth or other forms of support. Adding value and building trust over time can expand your network of allies and enhance your resilience.

#5: An Invitation for Introspection

Troy invites agency owners to begin their own journey of introspection and investigation. He emphasizes that the path to sustainable, diversity-led growth will look different for each organization based on its unique context and audience.

The important thing is to start where you are with an open and curious mindset. Question long-held assumptions and actively seek out new perspectives. Commit to continued learning, bold experimentation, and a willingness to humbly course-correct as needed. Transformation happens one courageous conversation and imperfect effort at a time.

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✋🏽 If you enjoyed this episode of the Marketing Agency Show, please head over to Apple Podcasts, leave a rating, write a review, and subscribe.

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