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How To Choose Content Marketing Topics

May 19, 2022/in Creative, Digital Marketing, Uncategorized, Website Development/by Onimod Global

When choosing content topics, most digital marketers try to write about things they believe is relevant to their audience. While relevance is important, alone it’s not enough. Furthermore, some seemingly relevant content topics may not be a good fit for your brand.

Effective content marketing grows only when you understand the competition at stake when trying to get the audience’s attention. One of the biggest questions you can ask yourself is, how do you determine topics that are a good fit but also have a positive impact on ROI?

Here are a couple tips on how to choose your content marketing topics effectively.

Find the content topic that your audience is most interested in

If you have two related topics in mind, write about the one that gets more average engagements on social media. While this may sound simple, its often times overlooked. A common problem most people run into is quickly sorting content or blog ideas to find the best topic out there. Evaluating topics with alongside of your social data can be a significantly easier step for analyzing content.

For example, if you’re writing about nutrition or fitness, you might want to critique different diets. In this search for the terms “Paleo” and “Vegan,” it’s easy to see that content about vegan eating is more popular.

“Vegan” has a much higher average level of engagement. So, writing about it can give me a competitive edge, making it easier to get my audience interested in my content, and extending its reach with more social shares. This search took less than a minute, making the Content Analyzer an efficient choice for maximum ROI.

Find topics with less competition

Just as it can be wise to opt for long-tail keywords with lower competition instead of core keywords with tons of competition, using content marketing topics that meet your business goals AND are less competitive is a great option for maximum impact.

Another option would be to pursue different types of content based on how saturated or competitive the content landscape is. If you are writing about a topic with high competition, here are a few tips:

Create higher production value content such as videos, courses, ebooks, or original research
Consider paid distribution, such as advertising on social media
Collaborate with influencers to increase the distribution power behind the content
Make sure you have a promotion plan in place that extends beyond the initial post-publication phase

Can the message be shared across multiple mediums?

Social networks are where conversations take place on different topics. In most content areas, the conversation will gravitate toward one network over another. By comparing the performance of different topics through various networks, you can develop content that will appeal to target audiences on specific networks.

Content marketing takes a good balance of storytelling, educating, convincing and should include a call-to-action. Once you’ve landed on a strong topic, it’s equally important to ensure you’re able to create multi-purpose content out of it. You want to choose topics that you’re an expert on, but you don’t want it to be too niche. This may cause a shortage of material and of those actually interested in reading it. Not only that, but it might also be difficult to share that content across multiple mediums and platforms.

For example, mobile app development content performs better on Facebook and low code performs better on Twitter. If you want your content to reach people on Twitter, it would be a good idea to frame the piece around low code. You want to find the sweet spot between broad and niche. Ideally, you will find content pieces that can be featured in a number of ways. For example how-to content could be created as:

A YouTube video
An infographic
A blog post

You want to be able to then share these pieces of content across social platforms. Having flexible content ensures that all members of your audience will be able to find something they best relate to and be able to find it in multiple places. This also creates less work for you, as you can successfully reuse and share topics.

Final Thoughts

Mapping out and choosing the right topics for content marketing takes strategic planning. Learning what content performs best among your audience takes time and experimenting. Continually measure and track your strategy and make changes when necessary. Choosing the right topics is essential to developing and driving an effective coverall content marketing strategy.

More From Onimod Global

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. If you’re looking for assistance with your content marketing or any other areas of digital marketing, contact us today!

How To Increase Your Online Visibility Through Social Media

April 28, 2022/in Digital Marketing, Facebook, LinkedIn, SEO, Social, Twitter, Uncategorized/by Onimod Global

Social media plays a vital role in today’s society. It can help you generate buzz around your products and your brand by having users share your content. But social networks are incredibly busy and filled with stimuli. With so much going on, how do you make sure that users will find your content throughout all this mess? Read on to find out more…

Social media is a great resource when it comes to increasing your online visibility. There are so many ways that an organization’s pages can be optimized in order to do so.

We’ll take a look at how you can bring a couple of strategies together to generate more searches for your business—and from this, achieve a greater online presence.

While social media cannot directly impact your rankings, you can create a more holistic approach to online marketing. However, social media activity can raise your company’s profile and increase the clicks on their website. What are you aiming to achieve by linking social media activity with online visibility? Here’s a couple things you can do to get started:

Getting clicks on your organization’s website
Having an increase in online searches for the company
Social shares for a wider post reach and increased audience
Sharing information to help analyze social engagement

All of the things above have one thing in common and that is that they all increase the possibilities for lead opportunities. The way you can achieve lead opportunities above is by having and creating quality content. Often times quality content gets overlooked, its truly one of the best ways you can leverage and boost your online presence.

Which platforms do you currently use? Most social media platforms can help with online visibility. A lot of people have that mindset, but you should honestly be thinking about using the platforms that will help you reach your target audience. Each social media platform works slightly differently when it comes to encouraging clicks and shares.

It goes without saying most brands have a Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Google My Business accounts. But many businesses also utilize Youtube, Tiktok and Pinterest. But which performs best? Facebook continues to be powerful all over the world. With more than 1.71 billion monthly users, the social media platform is ripe for SEO. Be attentive with your company page and find and nourish your best promoters on the platform. Facebook is a great lead generator, so always stay on brand and use targeted keywords in your posts. Make sure to cross-post videos you produce and publish on your YouTube account as well.

Although Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram, they perform differently for different organizations’ offerings.

Also, any social platform a company uses has to be “on brand” for them, otherwise it will defeat the purpose of boosting your SEO. At the end of the day, a great website should have all the key elements of an effective inbound marketing strategy:

An active blog.
Responsive design.
Intuitive navigation.
Effective conversion strategy with calls to action.

How can you make the most of your brand’s social media platforms? Here are a couple of techniques that you can use to improve your websites online visibility.

LinkedIn & Facebook

Most people breeze by “SEO-ing” their About us/Summary section. It’s one of the easiest ways to put the information you want out there for leads to easily access. Filling out as much as you can in the About section is a great start.

The “About” summary section gives you the capacity to use 2,600 characters (on LinkedIn, Facebook gives you 50,000!) to explain what you do. Use keywords that your clients are using to find your products and services.
Use keywords that describe your products and services in your headline.
The “Experience” section also gives you 2,000 characters to show case your expertise. Make sure you include a few paragraphs that talk about what your company provides from a product/services perspective.

How do You know if your Social Media Strategy is Improving SEO?

All social media platforms have some sort of analytics feature that you can use to measure the attention your socials are getting. You can also look into social media engagement tools, which you can download and use to generate tables and graphs. You can compare the social media and website stats to see the effect the former has on the latter. Lastly, you can see the organic changes in your Google Analytics account.

Last Thoughts

Social media is a crucial part of your marketing strategy. It can help you generate buzz around your products and your brand by having users share your content.

As trusted Google experts, our team is here to help with holistic digital marketing strategies including optimizing your Google Business Profile listing and ensuring you have the highest rank possible. Whether you’re looking for SEO tips, social media marketing ideas, or paid media strategies, our goal is to make your business more successful. Get a free audit and see how you can improve your digital presence with us here.

Google Introduces New Search Console URL Inspection API

February 2, 2022/in Uncategorized/by Brittni Wright

Yesterday Google introduced the new search console URL inspection API. This will give programmatic access to URL-level data for properties you manage in Search Console.

According to Google’s news release on the topic, “the Search Console APIs are a way to access data outside of Search Console, through external applications and products. Developers and SEO tools already use the APIs to build custom solutions to view, add, or remove properties and sitemaps, and to run advanced queries on Search performance data.”

Google will be providing a new tool with the new URL Inspection API for developers. The tool will assist in debugging and optimizing their pages. You can request the data Search Console has about the indexed version of your URL. The API is going to then return the indexed information currently available in the URL Inspection tool.

How to use the new URL Inspection API

In order to learn how to use the new API, Google also has provided the developer documentation for the API which you can find here. The request parameters are a combination of the URL you are wanting to inspect from yours or your client’s site, and the URL of the property as defined in Search Console.

The response includes analysis results containing information from Search Console, including AMP, index status, rich search results and the mobile-friendliness of the URL.

The Google release also explains how “once you make the API call, you will get a response with all relevant results. If the request fails you would receive an error message instead. If a specific analysis result is missing from the response, it means the analysis was not available for the URL inspected. Here’s an example of the response you’ll get from the API.”

Final Thoughts

The entire release of the new URL Inspection API can be found on Google’s blog. In addition to Google news and other digital marketing updates, we will continue to share case studies and the latest SEO updates to help you drive your business. Our goal is to ensure we help improve your marketing and drive success.

At Onimod Global, we have endless experience and expertise when it comes to all things SEO, general social media advertising, and digital marketing. Got questions about Facebook advertising or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.

3 Ways To Check Your Website’s Technical SEO Health

January 11, 2022/in Uncategorized/by Brittni Wright

Regardless of how great your content may be, the ranking of your website and its traffic will suffer if there are issues with your technical SEO. This is why it’s crucial to perform routine SEO health checks so you can stay up to date on the performance of your website and constantly optimize for the best performance.

Website crawlers – to know them is to love them

A Web crawler, sometimes called a spider or spiderbot and often shortened to crawler, is an Internet bot that systematically browses the World Wide Web and that is typically operated by search engines for the purpose of Web indexing.

It’s one of the most powerful assets you have when working on your website and trying to optimize it. Your website links are an essential tool to use in determining what pages are the most important content to your target audience, and not all of your links are created equal.

What that means is essentially there are ways to heavily optimize and influence what Google sees as the most important pages of your site. It also will help Google and other search engines to direct traffic to certain areas of your website.

Ensure search engines are rendering the page correctly

Crawlers are essential to ensuring your pages are rendering correctly. If your website’s content isn’t optimized for these bots, it won’t show up in your bots and may not render correctly. There are ways to avoid this, and that includes marketers presenting their content in a format that both searchers and crawlers can view.

“Things that require user clicks and user involvement will be difficult, if not impossible, for bots to reach,” Ashley Berman Hale from SMX Next said. “Go to the most popular pages and enclose important content in Google quotes to see if they’re included.”

Another thing you can do to improve the technical SEO is to see the rendering of your pages is to use Google’s mobile-enabled tools to take a screenshot of what everything looks like.

Review indexing for your site’s pages

If you find that Google and other search engines are crawling and that they’re correctly rendering your sites, check all of the indexed pages. A page is indexed by Google if it has been visited by the Google crawler (“Googlebot”), analyzed for content and meaning, and stored in the Google index. This gives you the clearest indication of the state of your site, highlighting selected pages, excluded pages, and why search engines made those decisions.

“You can check everything that Google sees, which is insightful,” said Hale, “ While half of our battle is getting the good stuff into the index, the other half can be getting the bad stuff out.”

More from Onimod Global

These simple and effective ways to check on the health of your technical SEO can make the biggest difference in the performance of your website. We will continue to share case studies and the latest SEO updates to help you drive your business. Our goal is to ensure we help improve your marketing and drive success. Our mission is to ensure we help improve your marketing and drive success.

At Onimod Global, we have endless experience and expertise when it comes to all things SEO, general social media advertising, and digital marketing. Got questions about Google display ads or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.

Small business digital marketing trends for 2022

December 22, 2021/in Uncategorized/by Brittni Wright

Small business gang: 2021 is finally coming to an end! Are you ready to take on 2022 and looking to finish the year strong? Whether you’re preparing your website and orders for the last minute holiday rush or prepping for your celebrations, the close of the year is the best time to being your digital marketing strategy for 2022 and looking at business tips for the new year.

That’s why experts at Onimod Global compiled a list of 2022 small business digital marketing trends to consider during your 2022 strategy planning so that you can stay up-to-date on what is the most crucial to keep in mind when we head into next year.

Incorporate live chat into your website

This is no ground breaking trend, however we see it becoming a crucial addition to your website in 2022 especially for small businesses. One area small business has always had the upper hand is extra care and attentiveness to your customers. This is where live chat steps in to attend to customers questions and concerns real time. Email marketing may get lost or left unread, and phone calls may feel like a heavy time consuming burden, but live chat services make it easier for customers to find the solutions they need while feeling like personalized content.

Some major uses and benefits of live chat include:

Direct messaging – This is an opportunity to really build up your brand’s voice by implementing specific personalized content and messaging points directly into your live chat.
Instant response – No hold music, and no waiting for a new email—live chat is solely quick answers to a mobile device that answers your customers’ questions in a few minutes.
Increase sales – A recent survey showed that 77% of online shoppers want to talk to a real person before making a purchase. As a marketer, give your existing customers what they want with a direct line to a sales representative. By meeting the needs of consumers, your live chat service has the potential to offer a serious return on investment.

Build up those Google Business customer reviews

Nothing says “yummy restaurant” like a place that comes up on Google Maps with 1,000 reviews at 4.7 stars. It is safe to assume that almost all consumers you have will look to reviews before interacting with a company, trusting the first-hand experience and unbiased views of previous customers. No matter what your small business sells or provides, you can most definitely benefit from using reviews in your digital marketing materials and prioritizing the positive word-of-mouth recommendations.

How to bring in reviews, you may ask?

Request reviews – Some customers are happy to share their positive opinions without being prompted, but others might need an extra push and reminder to help you. Create a review prompt to send to customers after their purchases or to have place in a brick and mortar location of your store. Consider developing an open-ended survey for those interested in sharing more details about their experience.
Use testimonials – With a plethora of customer reviews, pick and choose the best ones to implement in your marketing materials. You can place testimonials front and center on your website, or use them in a variety of social media posts to let the world know what everyone thinks of your business.
Respond to your reviews – Reviews are a two-way street believe it or not. Customers often pose questions, concerns, or critiques about your business, so don’t let their messages go unattended or unanswered. We recommend to respond to your reviews to show your customers that you take their opinions seriously.

Hear us out.. TikTok as a main social media platform

We hear you, it’s a rather intimidating platform that looks like a lot of intense video editing skills needed and constant content creation. However, this really isn’t the case. An easy-to-use and user friendly platform, we see it as a key social media trend for creative skills and collaboration amongst young audiences. Its fast-paced content consuming nature keeps users engaged for relatively long periods, with users spending an average of 52 minutes per day on the app. While it does take time to create quality and engaging content, it is an excellent way for your small business to gain popularity and recognition. This platform alone helped so many small businesses thrive during the thick of the pandemic, and is only growing in popularity.

Final thoughts

In addition to digital marketing trends for small businesses, SEO and other digital marketing tips, we will continue to share case studies and the latest digital marketing news and tips to help you drive your company’s success. Our goal is to ensure we help improve your digital marketing.

At Onimod Global, we have endless experience and expertise when it comes to all things SEO, general social media advertising, and digital marketing. Got questions about how to develop a digital marketing strategy for 2022 or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.

Google Ads brings image extensions to desktop

December 14, 2021/in Uncategorized/by Brittni Wright

New search engine update coming your way in just a few weeks. The new Google update will be bringing image extensions to desktop devices before the end of 2021. In addition, advertisers that are already using image extensions for mobile devices will automatically show those extensions on desktop. Google Ads will begin to roll out image extensions to desktop devices in the coming weeks, the company announced last week. This update will not only be added to static images, but also apply to all dynamic image extensions.

Why marketers should care.

It really depends, however image extensions can be extremely helpful in making your ads more visually appealing, which might encourage visitors to click on them. Before the end of 2021 and available the start of 2022, image extensions will also be available on desktop which will enable you to show any images that are relevant to users whether they’re at home or on the go.

If you’re already running image extensions on mobile, they’ll automatically show on desktop devices as this update rolls out, so make sure to monitor performance so that you can assess whether this is something that’s worthwhile for your brand.

Prior to this update, the images attached to ads would only show on mobile devices. For advertisers that are already using image extensions, their ads will automatically show these images on desktop devices as this update rolls out.

Desktop device performance can be broken out by segmenting your data by “Device.”

Dynamic image extensions are also expanding.

This update also brings dynamic image extensions, which automatically select the most relevant image from your ad’s landing page, to desktop devices. In addition, these are also now available for all languages.

Google has also added a free, searchable library of stock images to help advertisers source visuals. To access the library, select “stock images” when you’re asked to choose an image for your image extension. Stock images can be cropped to a square or landscape format from directly within Google Ads before adding it to your image extension.

Final thoughts

In addition to Google Ads updates, general SEA and other digital marketing tips, we will continue to share case studies and the latest digital marketing news and tips to help you drive your business. Our goal is to ensure we help improve your marketing and drive success.

At Onimod Global, we have endless experience and expertise when it comes to all things SEO, general social media advertising, and digital marketing. Got questions about how to optimize your search engine advertising or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.

Continuous Scrolling Added To Google Mobile Search

October 19, 2021/in Uncategorized/by Brittni Wright

Back again with another Google SEO update, this time regarding continuous scrolling. Google announced they will be updating mobile search in the US with the ability to continuously scroll as more results automatically load.

Continuous scrolling to Google Mobile Search

In an announcement, Google says:

“At Google, we’re always exploring new ways to help people find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. Earlier this year, we launched a redesign of the Search results page on mobile for a more modern experience that’s easier to scan and navigate.

Today, we’re making browsing search results more seamless and intuitive with the introduction of continuous scrolling on mobile devices.”

For Google users this is a big time upgrade as it’s now possible to scroll through an almost endless list of results to find right content.

Previously on mobile devices, Google’s search engine results page for mobile mainly adhered closely to the ‘ten blue links’ format that was implemented in the beginning on desktop search. Rather than seeing a numbered page list at the bottom of results, users in general would only see a displayed ‘see more’ button. Clicking that button on a mobile device is equivalent to clicking on page two of desktop search results.

The ‘see more’ button isn’t completely disappearing, however Google says that searchers will be able to continuously scroll through “many more” results before finally triggering the ‘see more’ button.

What this means for business

As we all know, CTR rates are extremely low after first page results. This is particularly revealed in a 2020 study that finds the CTR of page two results is less than 1%. The reason behind users not clicking on the page two results is uncertain, but it could have something to do with the perceived quality of content that didn’t make it to page one. With continuous scrolling on mobile, there may be the potential that the bias behind page 1 results is removed.

Think of apps like TikTok, when you’re allowed to infinitely scroll and encouraged to do so. Maybe you’re scrolling for a few minutes, or maybe for several hours. With the same logic being applied to Google Search (okay maybe they won’t scroll through Google for hours), this has the ability to increase content discovery significantly.

Final thoughts

We’ll see as the months go on if this change helps increase traffic for low ranking pages, and provide updates along the way. We will continue to share case studies and the latest SEO updates to help you drive your business. Our goal is to ensure we help improve your marketing and drive success.

At Onimod Global, we have endless experience and expertise when it comes to all things SEO, general social media advertising, and digital marketing. Got questions about Facebook advertising or want to learn more about us? Contact us here today.

Top 5 Most Important Google Algorithm Updates

October 14, 2020/in Uncategorized/by Brittni Wright

Almost every day, Google introduces changes to its ranking algorithm. They even claim to update their search algorithm several thousand times per year. Some are tiny tweaks, usually too small to notice. But, every once in a while, Google introduces a change so fundamental, that it completely alters the way we do SEO forever.

#1. Panda

Hazards: Duplicate, plagiarized or thin content; user-generated spam; keyword stuffing.

How does it work? Panda assigns a “quality score” to webpages; this score is then used as a ranking factor. Initially, Panda was a filter rather than part of Google’s ranking algorithm. In January 2016, it was officially incorporated into the core algorithm. Panda rollouts have become more frequent, so both penalties and recoveries now happen faster.

#2. Penguin

Hazards: Spammy or irrelevant links; links with over-optimized anchor text

How it works: Google Penguin’s objective is to down-rank sites whose backlinks look unnatural. This update put an end to low-effort link building, like buying links from link farms and PBNs.

#3. Hummingbird

Hazards: Keyword stuffing; low quality content

How it works: The Hummingbird algorithm helps Google to better interpret search queries and provide results that actually what the search was intended for (as opposed to the individual terms within the query). While keywords still remain very important, the Hummingbird algorithm makes it possible for a page to rank for a query even if it doesn’t contain the exact words the searcher entered. According to Search Engine Land, his is achieved through the natural language processing that relies on latent semantic indexing, co-occurring terms and synonyms.

#4. Pigeon

Hazards: Poor on- and off-page SEO

How it works: Pigeon affects those searches in which the user’s location plays an important part. The update created closer ties between the local algorithm and the core algorithm: traditional SEO factors are now used to rank local results.

#5 Mobile

Hazards: Lack of a mobile version of the page; poor mobile usability.

How it works: This, and subsequent mobile search updates (2018, 2020) have shifted the focus from a desktop to a mobile version of your website. Today, Google ranks all websites based on how fast and user-friendly their mobile versions are. This automatically puts you at a huge advantage compared to competitors. The faster the content is mobile optimized, the higher Google will prioritize your ad.

Contact Onimod Global

For more on the latest digital marketing news and information, follow Onimod Global! Our experts release the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday. To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.

How To Build Trust With Marketing

July 28, 2020/in Uncategorized/by Brittni Wright

Trust is the glue holding together any relationship. This includes the all-important brand-customer bond. Why is it important to build trust with customers? Customers that feel confident in your brand will not only purchase from you, but will also recommend you to their various social circles. Building your brand in this organic way will help you to become a trustworthy company, but it takes time. Build trust brick by brick, with one piece of content at a time. This is how experts at Onimod Global shape content for clients to create an unbreakable bond that will last between your brand and your customers.

Be Consistent in Your Brand Story

How consistent are you with your brand story throughout your social channels? Take a look at your online presence and make sure you are consistent across all channels. Also be sure that you are following through on promises to customers.

For example: Does your company highlight your unparalleled commitment to customer service – yet your buyers’ questions that are posted on the Facebook page are left unanswered? Consistency in your brand story build trust, but being inconsistent could potentially tarnish your reputation.

Become a Source of Expertise

Everyone is looking for answers to their questions,whether it’s something minor like where’s the closest Italian restaurant to more complex topics like how to rebalance your investment portfolio. When a person searches on Google or discovers something for the first time on social media, it’s an opportunity for your company to be there and answer their question.

Trustworthy content is:

The accuracy of the information
Providing the right level of detail to address the topic
How it’s delivered to a person

Your original perspective is important to include but supporting your advice with reputable sources is essential.

Take a Stand on Relevant Issues

When a company speaks up and takes action on issues their customers care about, they are far more likely to be trusted as an organization. More than 9-in-10 millennials would switch brands to one associated with a cause as they value companies that are transparent and understand the impact of their operations.

To build trust, select a relevant cause that ties back to the purpose of your organization, communicate your support of this issue and take action to make a real impact.

More From Onimod Global

Onimod Global releases the latest digital marketing news and essential marketing tips every Tuesday and Thursday! To catch up on the top digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Driving Real Change in Your Marketing Organization

June 18, 2020/in Uncategorized/by Courtney O'Connell

The lack of diversity, equity and inclusion in the marketing industry, amongst many others, has been a well-known issue for many years. The Black Lives Matter movement has brought light to the need for action from agencies and organizations to start making real change.

To give some perspective, 85% of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) member company CMO’s are white, while 3% are black, 5% are asian, and 4% are hispanic/latino, according to their 2019 Diversity Report.

So, what can you do to drive diversity, equity and inclusion in your company?

A Top-Down Approach isn’t Enough

DE&I cannot happen without real intent and effort. Top-down approaches drive compliance, not commitment. Senior leaders, all the way down to frontline employees, have to see and understand their role in the company and be committed to building and retaining a diverse teams. It’s important to note that quotas do not automate diversity, equity or inclusion. Hiring goals may boost numbers and create the illusion of DE&I, but does not actually create an inclusive culture. First, it requires taking an honest look at the end-to-end employee experience, with a focus towards creating conditions that promote equity and inclusion on a daily basis, as well as designing ways to measure that impact. Second, companies must be willing to put a real financial investment into improving diversity. Organizations that have specialized DE&I recruitment and outreach solutions have shown real results.

Make an Ongoing Effort

Having one yearly “diversity training” is not enough. Just as any behavior change, DE&I takes individuals being able to identify key moments when they can build new habits and attitudes. When these new habits and attitudes are put into action in an environment that supports meaningful conversations and healthy tension, real change can become possible.

It’s essential to shift your business overarching goals, mission and vision to build and support a culture based on awareness, acceptance and the development of an increasingly diverse team. This may even require investing in minority-owned training and coaching firms. In the marketing and advertising industry, it’s common for companies to recruit from the same pools of people who just jump from one job to the next. Consider becoming a part of college internship programs with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other distinguished minority organizations, including NSBE, SHPE, NBMBAA, ALPHA and others. When it comes down to it, senior leaders must be committed to increasing hiring, developing, promoting and retaining black and minority representation at all levels of the organization.

Consider Your Culture and Brand

In any real transformative effort, brand and culture go hand-in-hand. What you offer to your customers reflects your values and your biases. When working on building better DE&I, the relationships going on internally and externally with your company. What does your brand, your employees and your customers say about your organization and culture? Are your employees’ and customers’ values and beliefs congruent with your company vision and mission? Ultimately, everything all of these elements are intertwined and to drive real success, everything and everyone must be in agreement.

How Members of the Organization Can Help

It’s important to remember that this is NOT about hitting minority quotas. This is about opening up your organization to members of minority communities that enrich the culture of your organization, bring real value, and propel your company forward in progression and innovation. Hiring managers should focus on real skills and qualifications, ensuring that no candidates are screened with biases.

As far as employees themselves pushing for change, this can be done in a number of ways:

Do your own research and educate yourself on why having DE&I in the workplace is important.
Find data and present that to the decision-makers, as well as give real action items that push for change.
Use your voice. When you see or hear something that you know is not right, stand up against it. It’s not enough to “not be racist,” we must be anti-racist. Those that have privilege must use it to give a voice to those without.