Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2023 to end affirmative action in college admissions, more than 30 states have introduced legislation banning or limiting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

This trend has adversely impacted DEI initiatives in the corporate world, with companies including DoorDash, Home Depot, Lyft, Meta, Snap, Wayfair and Zoom making significant cuts to their DEI teams. According to data from workforce analytics provider Revelio Labs, DEI jobs, which grew following Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, peaked in early 2023 before falling by 5% and by an additional 8% in Q1 2024.

Though activists have pushed companies, including Ford and Harley-Davidson, to scale back their DEI initiatives, historical marketing data supports the value of diversity in marketing.

Research conducted at Oxford University using data collected by large businesses including Diageo, Kantar and Unilever, found that ads portraying a full range of people increase consumer preferences and long-term sales. The researchers analyzed 392 brands and found a 3.5% increase in short-term sales and a greater than 16% increase in longer-term sales when running ads with a diverse range of people.

A marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania analyzed video commercials for mortgage refinancing and found that ads that depicted minority representation increased advertising elasticity and sales among both minority borrowers as well as among white borrowers.

With marketing research data supporting the value of DEI initiatives, how can advertising and marketing organizations ensure they’re optimizing their teams and work? Here are three ways:

Rebrand DEI

The first and most pronounced challenge around DEI is the name, which has negative connotations for too many people. The most efficient and effective way to address this challenge is to rebrand DEI without using the words diversity, equity or inclusion. As marketers, we know how to rebrand as part of our work, so we know that we can successfully pivot from DEI to a name or term that will provide positive associations for current and prospective employees as well as the other relevant constituencies.

According to HR Dive, industry experts find the term “employee experience” a safe rebrand for DEI. Another option is “employee empowerment.” Both of these terms have positive associations for employees and broader corporate constituencies without negative connotations.

Recruit according to your target audience

A criticism frequently leveled against DEI initiatives is that they don’t provide business value for the corporate organization. The best way to address this challenge is to ensure that there is a business case to support all initiatives being implemented.

Fortunately, many diversity initiatives do deliver business value. One such initiative is to recruit employees according to each organization’s target audience. Therefore, if your organization sells to seniors and minorities, then your marketing organization should include both seniors and minorities.

There have been countless marketing examples where marketing mistakes were made because the marketing team didn’t have representation from the target audience. For example, when AMC Motors launched the AMC Matador in Spanish-speaking markets in the 1970s, the name didn’t go over well with many consumers because “Matador,” used to describe a bullfighter, literally means “killer.” This is but one of many marketing mistakes that could have been avoided with a marketing team representing the targeted audience.

Measure your recruiting initiatives

In our current era of performance marketing, advertising campaigns are continuously being measured according to key performance indicators (KPIs). Likewise, it’s critical to incorporate measurement criteria for any diversity-driven initiatives.

For example, for a marketer recruiting to support target audiences such as seniors, it’s important to establish KPIs to evaluate the performance of those recruited. Effective KPIs can include comparing campaign results before and after seniors were recruited, as well as media, messaging and budget performance changes.

If diversity initiatives are managed like other business decisions and are supported with real performance metrics, it’s difficult for those critical of DEI to find fault in these initiatives.

In the same way that the aforementioned research supports the value of diversity in consumer-focused marketing, diversity initiatives can have a positive impact on the marketing organization. By managing these initiatives effectively, marketers benefit from the value of diversity and a smartly run business.