HOW GREAT BRANDS INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY FOR EVERYONE

Is accessibility on the list of things to include and create space for when developing your marketing strategy? Outside of design, it is usually an afterthought. Any content that excludes people with disabilities, even subconsciously, prevents millions of people from interacting with your brand. To truly center inclusivity and make your organization reachable, accessibility needs to be a core part of your brand and marketing strategy. 

WHAT IS ACCESSIBILITY?

The concept of accessibility answers this question: can your product/service be used by everyone? It takes into consideration how people of different abilities will encounter your content. Not only is it the ethical thing to do, but it benefits all people who seek a connection with your brand. A huge percentage of consumers face challenges due to how disability impacts their interaction with digital interfaces. Consider the amount and vastly different types of accessibility issues people may have that act as a barrier:

• Visual (low vision, color blindness, etc.)
• Auditory (hearing difficulty, deafness, etc.)
• Mobility/motor (wheelchair user challenges)
• Cognitive (dyslexia, attention deficit, autism, etc.)

BUT, IS IT REALLY THAT IMPORTANT?

Yes! Not only does consciously implementing accessible content and graphic design differentiate your organization, but it is also smart business sense. According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 1 in 4 people in the United States have some kind of disability. This is a crucial and highly overlooked market. There are also many measurable KPI’s that benefit from inclusive marketing, such as customer retention, customer service, usability, and digital impact. Without the voices of people with different experiences and knowledge, innovation and growth are impossible. 

WAYS YOUR BRAND CAN CENTER THEIR ACCESSIBILITY ASAP

It may seem demanding to design and account for these challenges. Actually, it is much easier than you think. Here are 10 things you can incorporate into your marketing & brand strategy to create a more inclusive environment in your organization’s digital space:

Use good color contrasts and readable font sizes in your content. Users with low vision benefit from clear writing and a combination of color, shapes, and text that follows a logical/linear layout on the interface.

Give form fields plenty of space and assure that prompted actions are large and highly clickable, rather than demanding precision. Along with that, design for the possibility of speech-only usage.

Use images/diagrams to support text and keep content short, clear, and concise. It is also helpful for users with dyslexia to have text left-aligned with a consistent layout. Bonus points if you can design to allow users to change the contrast between background and text on the screen, and implement autocorrect.

Give users enough time to complete an action and explain what will happen after completing it. This should be a no-brainer – give users the support they need to complete a service, and allow them to go back and check their input before submitting.

• ALWAYS add subtitles or provide transcripts for videos!
• Refrain from using figures of speech or idioms and just write in plain English.
• Make call to action buttons descriptive, not vague about what the action will initiate. 
• Don’t use cryptic names for collateral on your site/app – name PDFs and Powerpoints with clarity and friendliness in mind.
• Optimize organic searches by using Alt-Text fields for describing images/graphics, and creating concise URL names.
• Allow users to choose their preferred method of communication support.

MODERN MARKETING IS ACCESSIBILITY!

Recognizing and removing barriers in your marketing approaches opens an incredible opportunity to expand the reach of your brand. Step one is to stop solving problems solely based on our own experiences and biases. Marketing and designing with human-centered solutions in mind will always drive empathy, and inevitably growth. We at Nolia Roots are always looking for ways to remove barriers for our customers, and that starts with the accessibility of our own content.