It is imperative that your business make it a priority to reach and connect with your differently-abled audience. The differently abled community can be broken down into six federal government categories: mobility, cognition, hearing, vision, independent living, or struggling to do errands alone, and self-care, or difficulty caring for themselves.
1.3 billion people worldwide are a part of this community, and they control more than $134 million of discretionary spending with nearly $8 trillion in buying power. Additionally, at least 2.3 billion consumers are family, friends, or are connected with someone differently abled.
Most businesses lack adequate representation of their differently-abled consumers in their marketing campaigns, or they create campaigns that do not reflect their needs. Given as much, businesses are losing out on potential sales, and simply disregarding a diverse group of consumers who make up a significant portion of the population.
For businesses to rectify this, they must understand their differently-abled audience more deeply and authentically. When marketing to this community, they should approach an empowering and respectful strategy, offering products and services accessible to a range of abilities. Your marketing campaigns should not make caricatures or stereotypes of their circumstances. Move away from creating campaigns that insinuate that their physical and mental impairments put them at a disadvantage to access your products and services or that your products and services are “saviors” to this community.
Tip #1 Language matters and your business should honor it
There is some debate on the semantical differences when referring to a differently-abled person. Some people prefer the term “disabled,” and some don’t mind being referred to as the relatively newer term “differently-abled.” Handicapped, however, is completely inappropriate for most consumers as this implies that their abilities are a product of their own actions and they are somehow “in lack” because of it.
Terminology is incredibly important for this demographic because the offensive and demeaning language have been used for so long when referring to their community. Therefore, your business must think about the language that is being used to show respect and reverence to the fact that their physical and mental impairments do not make them less than others or cast them out from taking advantage of your products or services. Instead, they may simply need enhancements to make your business more accessible to them.
Tip #2 Internal and external representation matters
Typically, people want to see themselves represented when looking for products and services to buy. Particularly, for the differently-abled community, your business should create campaigns that show positive representations where differently-abled people are celebrated, rather than made to feel like a victim, lazy, silly, or any other stereotypically unflattering representation. Both ASOS and Benefits Cosmetics, in the last few years, ASOS and Benefits Cosmetics are shining examples of ad campaigns that show positive representations of differently-abled individuals using their products. They did not highlight differences or create a campaign around degrading messages. They showed their products were accessible and easy to use for their differently-abled customers.
Working with Brand Ambassadors and employees with different abilities is your business’s key to honoring the inclusivity of all abilities in your external marketing campaigns. You also may want to partner with differently-abled organizations that are already interacting and communicating with the differently-abled community, which may help you connect and understand your audience’s lived experiences on a deeper level.
Plus, differently-abled individuals are incredibly diverse. The community spans different sexual orientations, races, religions, and genders. That factor must be considered as the intersectionality that genuine representation in your external marketing campaigns.
Tip #3 Sensitivity to accessibility
In order to market to any consumer, they have to understand your brand and understand how your product and services can support their lives more effectively. In order to ensure differently-abled consumers feel a sense of belonging with your brand, you must consider whether they need enhancements to how they interact with it for them to emotionally and physically engage with it.
Particularly, you must consider updating your digital channels because we live in a digital era. For example, adding braille, larger texts, subtitles, and audio messages to your digital channels and physical locations; as well as wheelchair ramps, widened doors, and accessible bathrooms, are not only an inclusive approach, many of these are required for ADA compliance.
Engaging experts and differently-abled organizations can support you here as well because they can give recommendations for what your brand may need in order to accommodate your diverse audience and demonstrate true inclusion.
Tip #4 Listen to your audience (including their caregivers)
Enlist the expertise of disabled consumers to inform your marketing campaigns. Allow them to share their hopes, wants, and needs for your brand. Seek to understand their expectations and how they would like to be represented. Also, consider running your marketing campaigns through consumer research. Develop strategies around working and connecting with social media influencers who are differently abled to help craft a genuine and inclusive campaign.
Consider asking your differently-abled audience through newsletters or social media to share their opinions on your brand and listen to their feedback. Get involved with conferences and events that support and reflect the diversity within the differently-abled community. Reach out to them to understand how they engage with your brand and whether your marketing strategy is effective and meaningful.
Tip #5 Know your customer: build understanding through audience segments
In order to recognize the vast diversity in the differently-abled community, your business may find it easier to consider their disabilities in segments. Your business may find it useful to segment around the six disabled governmental categories and their caregivers. Research the makeup of each of these disability type sub-communities and seek to understand their needs and their challenges. This way, your business may find it easier to understand how your brand can best serve those communities rather than trying to reach a larger group and creating a one size fits all approach that isn’t effective or misses the mark in understanding.
Engage organizations, experts, Brand Ambassadors, and social media influencers to offer you support in truly understanding the segments in which you intend to market to. That way, your brand demonstrates that they genuinely seek to see, understand, and appreciate the entirety of the differently-abled community by seeing them as individuals with their own desires, wants, and needs.
