The 1 Rule You Need to Follow to Authentically Build an Inclusive Brand Follow Rihanna's advice to win diverse and niche customers.

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter Movement, many companies have gone to work ramping up their diversity and inclusion efforts. I've talked with a number of brands during this time, and one area many of them have been struggling with is how to authentically build an inclusive brand.

Many of these companies had made statements back in June taking a stand against racism and declaring their support for the Black community. Some had even made donations to causes and started down the path of cleaning up their internal policies and practices around diversity, inclusion and belonging. But figuring out what more to do, particularly around building a brand that consistently wins diverse and niche customers, is an area they found themselves getting stuck, which limited their forward progress.

They wanted to engage but weren't sure what to say. They were nervous about making mistakes. They didn't want to come off as performative, opportunistic, disingenuous, offensive or hypocritical in the way many brands had been called out for in their attempts to engage diverse customers.