twtw attends 3rd Annual Sports Diversity and Inclusion Symposium

This week some of the twtw staff attended the 3rd annual Sports Diversity and Inclusion Symposium hosted by the PGA of America. The event was sponsored by all the major sports leagues, the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA/WNBA, MLS, as well as, NASCAR, NCAA, and the US Olympic Committee. The conference was a two day event filled with talks and panels featuring leaders from around the sports world who covered topics ranging from D&I best practices to D&I in sports media, and everything in between.

While you couldn’t easily forget this was a sports-focused symposium, (the sports puns alone were a constant reminder) it was amazing how many of the lessons shared could be applied to any business. Perhaps it should not have come as a surprise, sports leagues are after all, very big businesses.

The biggest takeaway from the event is that diversity and inclusion practices are beneficial in all aspects of your business. Diversity among your staff gives you different perspectives and can protect you against major pitfalls that a group of like-minded people may never have seen coming. Diversity among suppliers can provide you with better and more cost effective options that you may have never considered. And diversity among your customers keeps your product relevant and revenues growing.

So what does market research have to do with all this? Glad you asked. Knowing that you want a diverse customer base is the first step, the second step is identifying what groups are most relevant to your business and determining how to most effectively attract them to your product or service. This is where market research can help.

The demographics of the country are rapidly changing and there is no better time than the present to consider how these changes impact your business.  Market research can help you identify a strategy to diversify and grow your customer base.