When women are such a large part of your target audience, why focus your content marketing on quotes from Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Richard Branson?
Effective content marketing connects your audience’s wants and needs with the education and knowledge your company wants to share. This connection is most impactful when your content also reflects the demographics of your audience.
It’s time to take a hard look at your marketing content to assess how well it incorporates women as well as other underrepresented communities.
White men aren’t the only great sources
Conference keynote speakers and webinar hosts love to include inspirational quotes. Last week, I watched a webinar use quotes from Albert Einstein about invention and Bill Gates about innovation on back-to-back slides.
A few years ago, I saw Steve Jobs speak four times in four days in training courses, webinars and virtual events. Why did all these content creators choose quotes from Steve Jobs? Did all these people in various organizations really adore Steve Jobs? Did Steve Jobs include a page-a-day diary that week? Was it the top search result when they searched Google for a quote on their slide theme?
That’s when I decided to teach content marketers the three steps to include more female voices in content. You can follow these steps to address any underrepresented voices in content marketing.
See your brand’s past
I hear you protest, thinking you’ve definitely, probably, mentioned women and other underrepresented voices in your content. But everyone can benefit from a brief check. Review the last 10 to 20 pieces of text-based content published by your brand — long-form web content, ebooks, charts, customer case studies, industry reports, etc. Who is referring to this content?
Then check out our latest audio and video content – podcasts, webinars, recorded virtual events, conference recordings and customer videos. Do they include different voices?
In most B2B organizations, women and other less-heard voices won’t show up. It’s even harder to find content with these voices in industries like technology, finance or manufacturing.
Now that you know where your brand stands, you can move forward with plans to create a more balanced representation.
Find underutilized resources
So, you recognize the opportunity to add diverse voices, but how do you find the people to report? You have options, but they may take some work and creative thinking:
- Customer Reports: View your customer marketing database, community or user group. Are there any great beta users who can speak to the benefits of your product or services? Is there a strong advocate in your customer community that could be mentioned?
For a new product launch, I asked a female client to speak at a conference. Her schedule did not allow her to travel to the event, but she agreed to report on the text-based content.
- Industry Analysts: Dig deep into research from leading companies like Gartner, Forrester, IDC or Constellation to find underrepresented voices on your topic.
In a previous role, I often mentioned a brilliant European researcher whose global data was ignored in the United States. She became a frequently cited resource in our content, and when she came to a client conference, people recognized her and wanted to know more about her research.
- Industry Influencers: Many of the loudest voices from underrepresented communities are writing and speaking about your industry. Follow them on social media, build relationships with them and invite them to your events, content and projects.
During a client conference, our team re-shared helpful feedback on social media from an early career tech influencer at the event. This visibility not only helped validate a new product’s position in the market, but also helped build the influencer’s reputation. She is now a featured presenter at huge tech conferences.
- Company executives: How diverse is your executive team? Which leaders can you mention in the content? Don’t forget emerging leaders like product managers, product marketers, and technical engineers.
Build relationships within your company to bring fresh and relevant voices to your content. Carefully evaluate who you can report today and who may need development. I led media training and presentation coaching seminars to develop more women as representatives in male-dominated industries.
- Famous people: When you want to quote famous people, think outside the box. I started keeping a list of strong, accomplished women who could be referenced in content, many of whom are also from other underrepresented groups.
I’m always building this list and collecting more examples. Here are some ideas for women that you can mention in your content.
| Theme | Instead of quoting… | Try the Quotation |
| Innovation | Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple | Reshma Saujani, CEO of Girls Who Code |
| Business | Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler; | Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM |
| Leadership | Peter Drucker, management theorist | Linda Hill, chair of the Harvard Business School Leadership Initiative; |
| First | Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon | Sian Proctor, the first female pilot of a commercial spacecraft |
| Storytelling | Walt Disney, animation pioneer and entrepreneur | Shonda Rhimes, the first woman to create three TV dramas to reach the 100-episode milestone |
| Stamina | Usain Bolt, eight-time Olympic champion | Simone Biles, nine-time Olympian |
| team work | Mike Krzyzewski, coach of five NCAA championship women’s basketball teams; | Caitlin Clark, NCAA basketball all-time scoring leader |
| Creativity | Pablo Picasso, world famous artist | Frida Kahlo, world famous artist |
| Humility | CS Lewis, author of books translated into more than 30 languages | Amy Tan, author of books translated into 35 languages |
Sometimes, audiences aren’t familiar with the people on this featured list — and that’s fantastic. The human brain is more likely to focus on what is different and the person will learn from the least likely sources. What’s more surprising to your audience – a quote from a 22-year-old basketball sensation making headlines on the morning news, or another quote from Steve Jobs?
Projecting a different voice transforms your content from predictable and boring to interesting and memorable.
Keep learning about amazing people who deserve to be heard more
You should continue to expand your knowledge of underrepresented, innovative and citeable sources and make sure they are seen and heard. To achieve this:
- Read lesser known authors. If you’re aiming to read a professional book, consider a book by a woman or other underrepresented community.
- Attend events and listen to podcasts. Many different voices share important information in virtual and live events. Attend one of their sessions on a topic that interests you to see what new perspective you can gain. If you are hiring speakers, seek out different opinions. Do the same for podcasts, whether you’re listening or scheduling guests.
- Start the conversation. Ask your peers who they recommend for expert advice. Who should you know in their network who is a keynote speaker, author or other expert? Share your best suggestions with others.
- Attract customers. Your customer base includes underrepresented communities. Work with your customer reference team to find them so they can be featured in upcoming content.
Don’t stop there
Finally, consider these two more things.
If you see a webinar, event, or meeting with only white men, say something. Whether it’s a private conversation with event organizers or a polite question at the meeting, you have the power to get people thinking about including other voices.
Second, recognize that people have unconscious biases and could still become allies in this conversation. Maybe they never noticed that every leadership suggestion comes from Tom Peters and every innovation quote comes from Bill Gates. A gentle nudge may be all you need to add a different voice.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
