Martinique Lewis: Why Diversity Is Crucial For Business Growth Now More Than Ever
Martinique Lewis: Why Diversity Is Crucial For Business Growth Now More Than Ever
With everyone staying at home because of COVID, there's undoubtedly been a game-changer in how business leaders plan their content marketing strategies. No matter what industry you are, as an entrepreneur, trying to stay afloat during this ever-increasing digital age competition is essential.
For some time now, we’ve started a blog series titled Rediscover Marketing, where we interview leading Market or Growth Consultants to gain more knowledge on visionary approaches post-COVID. This has proven to be well worth the effort as we've gained insight into some of the best marketing strategies and plans that didn't only work during COVID but will also enable businesses to evolve and thrive in the following years.
Our guest today is nothing short of a vibrant, passionate entrepreneur. It's not every day you're referred to as "...a force to be reckoned with!" and "...a total pro in this industry". That's what another expert in the same industry had to say about our guest.
The business marketing strategy that she provided within the short but intelligent conversation we had with her is rarely spoken about. We bet you're excited to meet her and discover what she had to tell us, so let's jump right in.
Who is our Guest?
Totally crushing it in the travel industry today, Martinique Lewis is a Diversity in Travel Consultant, Creative Lead for Nomadness Travel Vibe, and President of Black Travel Alliance.
With all of those titles under her belt, you can already tell she's got a busy schedule with top brands queuing to meet with her. Just by speaking with her, we could already tell how much passion she's got to revolutionize the industry into a more inclusive one.
By working with tourism boards, she provides better techniques to diversify their brands on social media.
Her newly formed community, Black Travel Alliance, which started in June 2020, comprises a group of Black Travel content creators whose aim is to project the voices of black travel professionals on diversity and alliance. The community now serves as a valuable network resource that fosters a healthy online community where black travel professionals can ask questions and get more opportunities to excel in the travel industry.
Nomadness Travel Tribes is another community for black and brown travelers that started nine years ago in the U.S. Martinique creates all their social media content. The community has witnessed significant growth to over 100,000 black and brown travelers.
As one of the top-leading black travel movements, Nomadness Travel Vibes appeals to all kinds of travelers, be it solo travelers, adventure travelers, multi-generation travelers―you name it!
Perhaps her most notable achievement this year was writing and publishing her book: THE ABC TRAVEL GREENBOOK. Yes, we know what you're thinking; that adds another title to the list―Author. Since it launched on August 23rd, her book has been featured on CNN, Blavity, Travel and Leisure, and Black Enterprise.
Martinique's Most Notable Learning in 2020
Martinique mentioned that out of everything she's learned, she's incredibly proud that she was able to stick to her passion despite the struggles of the pandemic. We understand that it can be challenging to remain focused on your niche and brand.
For business owners who had to switch to other niches, this implied that they had to stop what they loved doing. In fact, one would say that she had more excuses than ever to pivot because her industry was one of the most affected during the lockdown. This wasn't the case for Martinique.
"I was able to figure out a way to still talk about travel and make it very relevant even though we were all sitting at home without being turned down," she said.
According to her, it's this secret that's made her excel to incredible feats in her career.
Advice For Content Marketing Strategies in 2021
While you may have gotten used to hearing Marketing leaders recommend the same niche marketing tips and strategies like sales funnel and email marketing, Martinique has taken a somewhat different approach to this.
- Adopting diversity in your business
She believes that companies need to implement diversity in their team. Diversity shouldn't only emphasize people of color or different races, but also recognize any group of people with unique traits. This includes people of varying age groups, gender, sexual orientation, and even physically maimed people.
Did we mention that this strategy works for every industry?
Here are some of the benefits of having a diversified team in your company:
- Diversity helps your business get new results by including new marketing schemes.
- According to this research by McKinsey & Company, diversity helps to increase your business earnings.
- Better hiring results, as people are willing to work with brands that cater to their specific characteristics. According to Martinique, "Black people alone are 70% more likely to do things with brands when they see themselves reflected."
- Including a variety of people in your business will also improve the team's creativity and innovation power.
Martinique strongly believes that diversity needs to be talked about more than it is. As we head into the fourth quarter of the year and also the first quarter of 2021, Marketing leaders need to take charge and tap into the well-spring of opportunities that this provides.
- Doing Research Work
Appropriate research is another strategy recommended by the 32-year old entrepreneur. As a Diversity in Travel Consultant for Black Travelers, Martinique relies heavily on data.
It's one thing to have your team do research while relying on available data from previous research. However, there's no record of any studies that provide statistics for Black Travelers, which was new for her.
Providing an updated stream of data every 6-9 months will help stay on track with the regular changes.
Leave us a comment below to let us know what you think about Martinique's marketing strategy!
