The best marketing strategies embrace diversity, but not just for the sake of it.

That’s according to Shutterstock CMO Lou Weiss, who recently spoke with B&T about all things diversity in marketing.

In discussing Shutterstock’s efforts in the space, Weiss presented the business case for diverse campaigns.

“Forget that it’s the right thing to do, it’s simply good business to reflect your audience, your target, in your marketing campaign,” he said.

“By definition, those targets are diverse in all of the directions that diversity exists. To not reflect that in your media, marketing, website materials or advertising is just missing an opportunity.”

His message was simple.

“It’s not about diversity for the sake of diversity, it’s about diversity for the sake of good marketing. Good marketing reflects the audience that you’re trying to communicate to.”

And while there has been a notable shift towards more diversity in marketing campaigns recently, Weiss said there is still more to be done.

“I think the industry as a whole is evolving towards sharing more diversity in marketing campaigns globally,” he said. “But I don’t think they’ve caught up to reality yet.”

“I don’t think they’ve caught up with the desires of the consumers, or the customer base.”

Weiss added that the diversity in Shutterstock’s library – which features 280 million images and tens of millions of video clips – ensures “that anybody can make anything they want from the content”.

It is also imperative for campaigns to avoid seeming tokenistic when creating these campaigns. According to Weiss, the best way to do this is to keep the audience in mind.

“Done properly, it’s simply a product of knowing your audience and marketing accordingly,” he said.

“It shouldn’t be something that’s done in a checkbox way, because that inauthenticity will come shining through.

“It should be done simply as a natural part of reflecting your customer base in your market.”