As marketing professionals, communication is at the root of everything we do—from the projects we work on to our interactions with clients to how we collaborate with our fellow team members. Before we begin working with a client, one of our first, and most important, tasks is understanding their audience, how they want to be reached, and what messages resonate with them best based on their own unique experiences. We do this because we want our message to be accessible and effective to whoever we are marketing to, so they take action and connect with our client’s brand. While this process is crucial and helps us create successful campaigns, it also emphasizes how different everyone’s communication needs, preferences, and styles actually are!
Diving in to Learning Differences and Communication with Our Intern, Coco
Before completing her summer internship at D&A, our PR intern, Coco Cameron, hosted a lunch and learn presentation to teach our agency about something relevant to her and her life while also sharing information that would help our team improve our professional development.
Coco’s lunch and learn presentation focused on learning disabilities and communication. She shared her personal experience with slow processing and how she has discovered and navigated her individual learning and communication styles. Coco’s presentation highlighted the fact that communication is the transmission of information—if you fail to understand disabilities and the many different ways people communicate, or if you fail to ensure your message is accessible to everyone, you could be missing important information or the opportunity to share your message with the people who need it most.
After she addressed the intersection of communication and disabilities, Coco finished her presentation by suggesting a few ways we can continue to advance our inclusivity efforts at D&A. She taught us a great deal and gave us valuable awareness into how we can be more accessibility-friendly for our employees and clients—and now we’re sharing what we learned with you!
Coco’s Tips for More Inclusive Communication
- Ensure your marketing vehicles—from your website to your social media—are accessibility-friendly.
Key things to think about:
- Alt text that describes what is being shown on the website for viewers with visual impairments.
- Color contrast so text is readable and is clear to see against the background color or image.
- Captions on any videos.
- Resizable text options on your website.
- Allow meetings to be recorded or transcribed so your team can be present in the moment and then reference the notes afterwards.
- Make space for people—whether they are coworkers or clients—to share how they prefer to communicate or manage tasks. Sharing can create a more welcoming and accepting atmosphere.
- Keep in mind that anyone can have a learning disability and that it’s important to honor people’s communication styles and preferences and help them in any way that you can.
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