There are many facets of inequality illuminated by #BlackLivesMatter. As marketers, we influence beliefs and behaviors, insert our biases into our data analysis, and promote technologies which can amplify beliefs and biases. Unfortunately, as illustrated by groups like 600 & Rising, racism is prevalent in the advertising industry. The work we do can be used to actively promote equality. But not without investing in a diverse talent pool. We are excited to share that Apiary Digital® is raising money for COOP Careers, and matching up to $5K in donations! COOP is a non-profit that promotes the upward mobility of Black, Latinx, and first-generation college graduates through peer connections and training to build careers in digital marketing and analytics.
We may not be a large company controlling billions of advertising dollars, but we do influence our small corner of the digital marketing world. Our clients look to us to chart a good course and we are not too small to make a difference.
Diversity = Strong business performance
It’s tough to have inclusive advertising without a diverse talent pool. Donating to Coop is a great way to contribute to the solution.
Not only is it good for humanity to promote upward mobility of underrepresented college educated minorities, it’s good business. Greater diversity in marketing practitioners unlocks new potential ways of growing your audience and expanding your business. According to a study by McKinsey, “Companies with the most ethnically diverse executive teams—not only with respect to absolute representation but also of variety or mix of ethnicities—are 33 percent more likely to outperform their peers on profitability. “
Investing in a diverse network
Donating money is a good immediate step, but we want to engineer diversity into our business to actively and perpetually be a force of equality within the digital marketing world.
Like many companies, our first source for recruiting is from referrals via our existing networks, and from the networks of the consultants we invite into the Collective. That’s always going to be the best way to recruit, so we need to diversify our network to begin with.
Whenever we’ve turned to external recruiting beyond our network, we’ve leaned on a handful of larger job posting sites. After conducting research with the lense of becoming more diversified, we’ve identified a few job posting sites we’re excited to test out. We believe these sites offer a stronger likelihood of bringing experienced, exceptionally performing Blacks and minorities into our talent pipeline.
Next time we have an open position, we’ll be testing the following sites:
PDN Recruits – We like this one because it really is about TOP talent, which is how we do business.
Best for finding: Top talent from multiple minority groups. This source seems great because it has technology that helps with matching, as well as having lots of top-notch partner networks. You can reach candidates everywhere—from Ebony Magazine, the NAACP JobFinder.com, to VetJobs.com and disABLEDperson, Inc and more! They are said to be “one of the most trusted diversity job boards in the US.”
PowerToFly – We’re excited to try this one because they have a holistic approach to diversity and focus on remote positions + top performers in tech, sales, and marketing, which aligns to our business.
Best for finding: Women, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people for remote tech positions. Their mission is “Women helping women elevate their careers.” They have over 1 million in diverse candidates and focus on remote workers.
We got a great recommendation from our community at Elpha (which by the way, also has great job posting options). A community member suggested using the service https://textio.com/ to review our site language and job postings for inclusivity. We’re looking into this as well!
Digital marketing as a force of equality
Digital marketing is all about identifying the right audience with targeting, influencing beliefs, and inspiring people to action with messaging and digital experiences. Thus, we believe digital marketing is an ideal vehicle for promoting equality in a way that also drives business results for clients.
We are seeking opportunities to inform and educate ourselves to make informed digital marketing recommendations for clients with a lens of both equality and performance. Please reach out with any questions, comments, or learning resources we should digest!
