The Positive Effect Of Neurodiversity in Brand Culture
‘Neurodiversity’ and ‘brand culture’ are two terms that many people wouldn’t expect to see in the same sentence. They come from two diametrically different fields. One is in the neurological field, whereas the other comes from the marketing world. Professionals in the former field may even dismiss the latter as being ‘airy fairy’ or something similar.
However, neurodiversity has a significant influence on brand culture, as we’ll show you in this article.
But before we explain the link between the two, we need to define what neurodiversity and brand culture are.
What Is Neurodiversity?
There’s an increasing push to focus on our brain differences, not deficits. This broader view of “normal” is a massive part of neurodiversity. Advocates hope that the idea expands how we think of developmental disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The term ‘neurodiversity’ describes the notion that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways. There is no one “correct” way of thinking, learning, and behaving.
Although it refers to the range of differences in an individual’s brain function, behavior, and information processing abilities, it’s frequently used in relation to autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in addition to other neurological or developmental conditions, such as learning disabilities.
The neurodiversity movement arose during the 1990s. Its aim was to increase the acceptance and inclusion of all people, while at the same time embracing neurological differences.
Via online platforms, more and more autistic people had the ability to connect and form a self-advocacy movement. Concurrently, Judy Singer, an Australian sociologist, coined the term neurodiversity to promote equality and acceptance of “neurological minorities”. Nowadays, 1 in 3 people identify as being neurodivergent, so awareness has definitely increased dramatically.
While it’s mainly a social justice movement, neurodiversity research and education are increasingly important in how clinicians view and address certain disabilities and neurological conditions.
If the idea goes mainstream, it could lead to huge changes in education and workplace norms. It does make individuals take a few steps back so that they can think more creatively about the different ways of doing work tasks.
What Is Brand Culture?
The definition of ‘brand culture’ is the inherent DNA of the brand and its values that govern every brand experience, brand expression, and interaction with customers. It also influences employees and other stakeholders of the company, together with every touchpoint.
It’s the culture created and defined by the business in which the employees live the core values of the brand. In doing so, they solve the problems of the customers, formulate strategic and fruitful decisions, and deliver a high-quality and branded customer experience externally.
A business that has a fruitful and well-balanced brand culture molds the future leaders of the industry. Its employees are emotionally and strategically engaged in every operation of the company as they’re always motivated and rewarded for their endeavors.
In addition, a company that fosters a healthy brand culture has the ability to keep brand promises on both intrinsic and extrinsic levels.
At an intrinsic level, the employees are motivationally driven by the rewards and recognition that assists the brand in accomplishing its objectives. This results in attaining the extrinsic brand promises to the customers, vendors, investors, sponsors, and other stakeholders. Products and services are offered that are high quality, and customer service levels are top-notch.
What Are The Brand Benefits Of Neurodiversity?
The advantages for any brand of recruiting a neurodiverse workforce are broad and transformative. From leading new innovations and assisting marketers in attaining true diversity of thought and enhancing the broader company culture, having a neurodiverse workforce makes good business sense.
Not only does more diversity and inclusion (which come with neurodiversity) contribute to a more aligned society, in terms of marketing it allows companies to target new audiences. Plus, it allows for an increase in response rates with relatable messaging and this helps to boost bottom lines.
Although neurodiversity is a subject most commonly discussed by HR professionals and executives striving to create strong, inclusive workplaces that thrive, building more accessible marketing programs that talk to a wider range of audiences (specifically in this case the neurodiverse) is also very important.
When you deliver quality marketing for neurodiverse people, you will see that news spreads like wildfire on social media. As a result, this audience will do the marketing for you because there are currently only a few marketers who make the effort to be more accessible. Also, there’s a multiplier for marketers, because it’s not only about communicating with the neurodiverse community but their families and their supporters as well.
Connecting With The Neurodiverse Community
The challenge with reaching out to this market is that there are so few studies or research that guesstimate the market size in the first place. So, when you can’t determine how many people there are, it’s quite easy to ignore it. However, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. As we’ve mentioned, 1 in 3 people identify as neurodivergent, so this is a good starting point.
The key to engaging with this rich community is creating content that is accessible. If they don’t consider accessibility, marketers and brand managers will create barriers that prevent people from understanding or engaging with their brand.
Have your message created in all different formats and make sure that anyone can understand it in the format they prefer. Augment storytelling with technology. Include lots of visuals with texts, and publish content in video and audio formats. Implement ‘best practice guidelines’ around accessibility. For visually dominated mediums such as social media, it’s as simple as including text descriptions and subtitles. You can use YouTube video transcriptions wherever possible and make it a rule to include alt text for any online images.
Marketers need to consider who they want to represent in materials. Visible representation in marketing goes a long way toward boosting your ROI. Making far more of an effort to source and reach out to neurodivergent voices and give them the opportunity to speak for themselves.
Neurodiversity makes brand culture more diverse and interesting. No longer is the culture of a brand a one-size-fits-all approach. Having a neurodiverse mindset adds more depth and speaks to people in the way that they want to be spoken to.
