AMA SF spoke with Heavenly Johnson , Head of Marketing at San Francisco-based career development platform Reforge, to learn the key role consistency plays in marketing to diverse, multicultural communities. Here, you’ll learn Johnson’s take on what customers expect from brands, on treating awareness months as highlights and not singular events, and tips for building authentic marketing campaigns that resonate.

Black History Month: February is a highlight, not a standalone event

For Johnson, consistency is a core term in marketing to the Black community, or to any community with a highlight month on the calendar.

“Consistency doesn’t end on February 29th, and I think this is a good litmus test for a company — how will their commitment to Black communities move forward the rest of the year?” Johnson said.

Johnson noted that many high-profile pledges were made by companies in 2020, after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. The public outcry after Floyd’s death marked a tangible shift in how companies express sorrow, solidarity, and pledges to contribute to a better world – and the attention paid by the general public to those statements.

“How many of those pledges panned out, what do we see after the cameras are off?” Johnson said. “If you’re being consistent, then it’s truly in your values and behavior all year round. We might be talking about the moment in a specific month, but if you’re consistent, it’s in your everyday.”

What do customers expect from brands?

Johnson said that brands are now in a “dialogue” with customers in a way they’ve never been before, partially driven by the adoption of social media. That degree of accessibility has made demands for corporate accountability more visible.

“When I started my career in consumer goods… it was very much a one-way conversation,” Johnson said. “I think consumers now expect to be in dialogue with the brands and the businesses that they’re supporting or considering. I think consumers are more and more interested to know what they’re supporting with their dollars.”

This increased visibility means more scrutiny of a company’s actions. While Johnson said Gen Z leads the way in desiring corporate accountability, data shows that customers of all ages and backgrounds are asking these questions.

“Whether it’s regarding the decisions being made, or who’s actually in your employee base, or who’s sitting on your board, folks really expect transparency now,” Johnson said. “There’s not a space for you to show up and have one message, and then for folks for you to find one that you’re living in a very different space.”

Building rapport with a customer base takes time, too, which means that marketing efforts are less likely to succeed if they’re confined to one time of year.

“If there are groups of folks who a brand hasn’t built a relationship with, that’s something that may have to be earned over time — it’s not easy to shortcut it,” Johnson said. “There aren’t really quick fixes, so folks should start the right way now.”

When it comes to Black History Month, Johnson points to an overall shift in how observance months should be seen as a highlight, and not a standalone event, in the marketing calendar.

“You may put out the message, but what is the actual experience of Black employees at your company? What does your board look like? What impacts are you having on those communities? These are some of the questions that folks are asking… [and] the messages that we portray as marketers really need to be consistent with what is going on behind that marketing message inside of the organization.” Johnson said.

Johnson pointed to two recent campaigns from Target and Google as examples of companies doing it right.

Johnson cited Target’s development of a year-round program highlighting small Black-owned businesses as an ideal example of consistency.

“It’s run throughout their business model year-round,” Johnson said. “Therefore, when it shows up in marketing, it’s natural.”

Google’s 2020 Black History Month campaign, titled “ The Most Searched ,” leveraged search data to highlight the most searched performance (Beyonce), guitar solo (Prince), female poet (Maya Angelou), athlete (LeBron James), and other common search terms — all led the way by Black Americans.

“In this campaign, it feels like the community is in the forefront of the story and the creative and not the brand,” Johnson said.

What kind of campaigns don’t work during Black History Month?

When a brand feels that they need to be a part of a moment, instead of feeling driven to action a genuine desire to celebrate the contributions of Black leaders to their company or field, is when campaigns can feel off the mark to Johnson.

“Things that are performative and flat and aren’t grounded fall short,” Johnson said. “It can feel like a brand is inserting itself into a moment and putting itself first, versus a celebration of whatever the community might be for that month. The story and the creative should be at the forefront, not the brand.”

3 tips for developing authentic marketing campaigns that resonate year-round

1. Advocate for voices that aren’t in the room

According to Johnson, the right balance of voices from a diverse group of people is one of the most important ways to ensure a campaign is hitting all the right notes.

“This isn’t just for Black History Month — it’s for any month that you’re celebrating a group of people,” Johnson said. “We shouldn’t be speaking for folks whose experiences we don’t have.”

Johnson emphasizes that year-round inclusion is the best path — and in some ways, the only path — to developing authentic, heartfelt, and impactful campaigns.

“If you’re getting the right voices in the room all the time, in those celebratory months where we’re focusing on one audience over another, it doesn’t feel disconnected from what you’ve been doing the other 11 months,” Johnson said. “It truly does feel like a moment to highlight and celebrate, not like a reach or a stretch that feels forced for your brand.”

2. Overindex input from Black communities in advertising campaigns

Over-indexing refers to weighing the point of view of a specific culture or group more heavily than others as a way to identify upcoming trends. Johnson said that “Black culture tends to drive culture,” which may make over-indexing something for marketers to consider prioritizing.

“If you want your creative and your work to be on trend, you should actually probably over-index multicultural audiences,” Johnson said. “And maybe, by the time that you launch your creative, you’ll be right on time for the trend.”

 3. Tell human stories

The human element of any campaign is key to its success, ensuring the content resonates with the target audience. Looking inward to find uplifting, celebratory narratives that tell your brand’s story ring more true than any “Happy Black History Month” graphic may achieve.

“This comes back to noting who’s in the room, and asking whose voices we’re listening to,” Johnson said. “If you’ve got that representation as you’re developing your creative, you’ll know that story resonates.”

Good marketing is multicultural marketing

As marketers plan ahead for future campaigns, whether that’s Black History Month or another time to celebrate the contributions of a marginalized community, Johnson emphasizes that this is not a trend or something off-base. It’s a mainstream approach that customers not only want, but expect, from companies in 2024 and beyond.

“If you look at demographic trends, multicultural marketing is gen-pop marketing,” Johnson said. “It’s something that brands are going to have to lean in and start doing. Hopefully, it becomes much more natural for marketers across the board.”