Inclusive Content Strategy

Inclusive design is not just about the font you choose. It is about how your content behaves when it meets a different nervous system. Last week, we pruned your typography. This week, we are looking at the soil. We are auditing your media and structure. In our rush for "engagement," corporate communications often rely on visual shortcuts like flashing GIFs, color-coded alerts, and walls of emojis. Marketing calls these "hacks." I call them Barriers. When you rely on a color change to signal "danger," you lock out the colorblind. When you replace words with a string of emojis, you create chaos for a screen reader user (hearing "Face with tears of joy" five times in a row). When you post a video without captions, you tell the Deaf and Auditory Processing communities that they are not your audience. Accessibility is not a "feature" for a minority group. It is an indicator of Organizational Health. If your content requires perfect vision, perfect hearing, and neurotypical processing speed to understand... your content is flawed. Below is The Inclusive Content Audit (Part 2). We moved beyond fonts to look at media, structure, and interaction. Here are 9 Ways to Operationalize Inclusion in your content: 1. The Emoji Restraint ❌ Barrier: Emojis read aloud via screen readers as clunky descriptions. ✅ Fix: Use clear words to convey tone. Keep emojis at the end of sentences rather than in the middle. 2. The Caption Mandate ❌ Barrier: Audio/Video posted "naked." ✅ Fix: Burned-in open captions. (This helps ADHD brains like mine focus just as much as it helps Deaf users). 3. The Contrast Rule ❌ Barrier: Text over busy, semi-transparent backgrounds. ✅ Fix: Solid color backgrounds behind text blocks to reduce visual noise. 4. The "Color + Shape" Rule ❌ Barrier: Using only color to convey meaning (e.g., Red = Error). ✅ Fix: Pair color with a distinct shape or icon label. 5. The Alt-Text Discipline ❌ Barrier: Images with file names like "IMG_5920.jpg". ✅ Fix: Descriptive, concise Alternative Text. 6. The Header Hierarchy ❌ Barrier: Manually bolding text to look like a header. ✅ Fix: Using actual "Heading Styles" (H1, H2) so screen readers can navigate the structure. 7. The Motion Control ❌ Barrier: Auto-playing GIFs or flashing content. ✅ Fix: Static images or user-controlled "Play" buttons. (Protect your team from vestibular triggers). 8. The Data Summary ❌ Barrier: Complex charts with no text explanation. ✅ Fix: A simple text summary beneath the visual. 9. The Permanent Label ❌ Barrier: Form field labels that disappear once you start typing. ✅ Fix: Labels that remain visible above the field. (Reduces cognitive load and working memory strain). The Verdict: Low-friction content is high-impact content. Stop making your audience fight your design to get to your message. #Accessibility #InclusiveDesign #WCAG #Neurodiversity #Leadership #ClinicalStrategy

If Unilever is putting inclusive campaigns on the CMO scorecard, that’s the tell. Inclusion isn’t a value statement anymore. It’s an operating metric. This changes the CMO job. You’re not just the guardian of brand voice. You’re accountable for social credibility you can measure and defend. What gets measured gets resourced. That means representation in assets, accessibility standards, creator and media choices, retail partnerships, supplier diversity, and how all of it shows up in penetration, repeat, and sentiment by segment. The dashboards I look for are simple and hard to fake. Share of spend with inclusive media and partners. Asset compliance and accessibility pass rates before flight. Lift and repeat across underrepresented cohorts. Complaint rate trends. Retailer feedback on brand fit. A quarterly read that ties this to cash, not just clicks. This only works cross-functionally. Marketing sets the standard, HR moves the org, legal keeps you clean, procurement aligns suppliers, and commercial protects the promise in promo and shelf. One cadence. One scoreboard. Hiring shifts too. The shortlist tilts toward CMOs who have turned values into governance. They can show the trade-offs they made in real time. Where they stopped a campaign. Where they paid a premium to stay consistent. Where they proved inclusive reach was incremental, not just nice. If your board wants this, make it explicit in the brief. Name the KPIs, the evidence path, and the decision rights. Fund the measurement and the partners on day one. Otherwise you’re asking for optics without outcomes. My read: tying inclusion to CMO KPIs is not “political.” It is brand safety, growth, and trust in a market that audits you in public every day. If you had to add one metric to your CMO’s scorecard tomorrow, what would prove credibility without creating theater? #CMO #BrandTrust #Inclusion #FMCG #CPG #Marketing #ExecutiveSearch #Governance #Measurement #ConsumerGoods

This is just how I work now. Every piece of content… I think about who’s being left out. Not because I’m trying to be perfect. Because I’ve been on the other side of inaccessible content. I’ve made it myself. When I sat down with Jack we spoke about what accessibility really looks like in content. Not just captions. Not just a nod to inclusion. The real stuff. The things people feel when they engage or can’t. We spoke about audio that doesn’t overwhelm. Visuals that consider clarity before aesthetics. And image descriptions that make people feel invited, not excluded. But the part that’s changed how I create the most? AI. Because it’s hard doing it all manually. It takes time. Energy. Focus. And AI doesn’t replace that… It supports it. I use it to draft image descriptions. To think through design choices. To catch the things my brain doesn’t when I’ve been editing all day. It’s not about making content for everyone. It’s about giving people options. And making inclusion part of the process not the fix at the end. That’s where I’m at now. Still learning. Still getting it wrong sometimes. But working differently than I used to. Full conversation can be heard here: https://lnkd.in/einidPyU Because I can’t go back to creating content that doesn’t consider access. Not now I’ve seen what’s possible. #AIForAccessibility #InclusiveContent #DisabilityPrideMonth ID: In a cozy, purple-lit studio, Isaac with a thoughtful expression is deep in conversation. He's sitting in a high-backed black chair, which is part of his red electric wheelchair. He's rocking a cool, vintage-style cream t-shirt for the "Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden" and comfy red trousers. Peeking out are his purple socks, adding a pop of colour! A professional microphone is set up right in front of him, ready to capture his words. The shot then cuts to a wider view, showing more of his setup. In the background, there's a desk, a leafy plant, and a framed poster. Throughout the clip, white subtitles appear at the bottom, transcribing his speech.

What if... Instead of building AI strategies around efficiency, profit, and productivity, we built our strategies around accessibility. 🤔 The ancient Greeks had a concept called metis—cunning intelligence. Not cleverness for its own sake, but the practical wisdom to find adaptive solutions to complex, changing problems. I think accessibility represents the best form of this cunning intelligence for content professionals working with AI. Here's why: ➡️ When you design content for screen readers, you're creating the same semantic structure that language models rely on to parse information hierarchy. ➡️ When you write in plain language for cognitive accessibility, you're building the clarity that reduces AI processing errors. ➡️ When you create logical information architecture for diverse navigation needs, you're constructing the relationships that machine learning systems depend on. That's practical wisdom in action. The content professionals who understand this aren't chasing every new AI tool. They're building human-centered content systems that work effectively with AI by design. Accessibility isn't just a matter of ethics ... Its a strategy and a way of thinking. The best AI strategy isn't about prompts or tokens. It's about building content that serves diverse human needs in ways that also optimize machine processing.

30% of people can't even read the posts you are uploading. Why? Because of hearing and visual disabilities. So while writing a post, focus on these things to make your post more inclusive for the users: 1. Be concise - Stop writing paragraphs to make your content informational Instead be concise and say in fewer words. 2. Use fewer emojis - Stop using emojis as it gets weird while somebody is listening to it as audio. Avoid it if you can. 3. Consider color and contrast - Wrong color contrast of the images makes it hard for people to view or read information. Color vision deficiency is super common. (1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have color deficiency) 4. Keep normal formatting - Don’t use bold or italic or some random font to make your post more attractive. Use the same formatting of LinkedIn as it is. 5. Add captions and audio to videos - While posting videos, add captions for people with hearing impairments and proper audio of the same for people with visual impairments. 6. Keep your post short - Don’t go over 1000+ characters when you can, unless the post requires it. It makes it easier for people to read or listen to your posts. 7. Make hashtags accessible - Capitalise the first letter of every word to make it easier for people to read hashtag #LikeThis 8. Add ALT text to the image - Add a brief 3-4 word description in every picture so that people will get the idea of what the picture is about. P.S.: Be more inclusive towards your community while posting the content so that more people are able to read and view it with no difficulty. I hope it brings more awareness. Do Repost and make sure that more people will read this to be inclusive with their content.

When leading change, accessible communication isn’t just a “nice-to-have”—it’s essential. Clear, inclusive, and accessible messages ensure everyone can understand, engage, and adapt to the changes happening around them. But here’s the thing: we often overlook how small barriers—like complex language, inaccessible visuals, or non-inclusive formats—can leave people out. From a change management perspective, this creates resistance, confusion, and disengagement—things no leader wants during a transformation. Here are 5 Tips for Accessible Communication in Change Management. Swipe through the carousel to learn how to: 1️⃣ Provide plain-text versions of communications. 2️⃣ Add context to visuals like charts and diagrams. 3️⃣ Use clear, concise language that avoids jargon. 4️⃣ Offer multiple formats (videos, transcripts, PDFs). 5️⃣ Test communications for accessibility. Accessible communication also supports neurodiverse team members. --> For anyone of us with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or other differences, clear and inclusive messaging can make all the difference in how they engage with change. --> Small adjustments, like avoiding jargon or providing alternative formats, help ensure that everyone feels valued and included. Inclusive communication is effective communication. It builds trust, reduces resistance, and empowers everyone to contribute to the change. How do you ensure your communications are inclusive? Let’s share ideas in the comments! P.S. Did you know that when we use bold or alternative texts on LinkedIn we are creating barriers for people who use text conversion tools. #ChangeManagement #Accessibility #ChangeLeadership #neurodiversity -- 👋 Hi. I'm Mel posting about all things organisational change & leading change. ➡️➡️➡️ Share to get the message out there are about how to be more inclusive in change and on LinkedIn