22 Jun 2020
As the world tiptoes out of the coronavirus crisis and into what’s likely to be a recession, brands that survive will be faced with tough choices. Businesses must embrace diversity and inclusion, without a doubt, but they also need to identify ways to stay competitive and conserve budgets.
Pride celebrations and marches have been cancelled in most major cities. More importantly, marketing budgets have been slashed. While brands can still show support through simple gestures such as recolouring their logos or websites with rainbows and posting messages about equality on social media, they are being cautious with budgets and won’t make a big splash like they have during previous Pride months.
While it may be tempting to ignore minority markets when budgets are limited, doing so may cost a brand a lot more, in terms of lost customer goodwill, and not just from the LGBT community.
Instead, marketing leaders must look at new ways to engage gay, lesbian, bi, and trans consumers. LGBT influencer marketing is a very attractive option at times like this, as it offers reach and reduces the burden of content creation.
Recent studies have shown that working with micro-influencers is more cost-effective and likely to generate higher quality traffic. It would therefore make sense for brands who wish to engage queer consumers, to collaborate with a number of influencers who can authentically place their product in front of interested people. Investing in such a long-term campaign rather than just a week-long Pride event could also go a long way to remove the stigma of pink-washing that has arisen in recent years.