The legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States just celebrated its six-year anniversary on June 26. Each June, members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which took place in June 1969 and kicked off the modern-day Pride movement, with festivities and parades to promote the acceptance and equality of LGBTQ+ peoples.

As Pride Month comes to an end, it is important your brand maintains and supports the LGBTQ+ community for more than just one month out of the year. Simply changing your logo to rainbow colors is not enough. As with any DEI initiative, your support needs to be authentic and part of a continuous work within your company.

When it comes to your organization’s PR, we put together four approaches you can incorporate into your messaging to sustain Pride in your brand year round.

Recruit a diverse workforce

For starters, having upper-level executives and thought leaders within your company that identify as LGBTQ+ is a great way to ensure that your brand encompasses representation. When that can’t be accomplished, identify LGBTQ+ consultants and thought leaders who can support your executive team with insights and training to be more inclusive and equitable towards LGBTQ+ peoples. 

It is also important that you diversify your workforce, as well, with people who openly identify as LGBTQ+ and give them a voice in messaging by providing them with a platform. Whether it be in content and social media planning or establishing a safe workplace that promotes allyship, this will let your employees and customers and other stakeholders know how your organization is actively supporting LGBTQ+ perspectives and not participating in performative activism

Incorporate inclusive content

Think outside the month of June for your Pride-related content. Timely and relevant content during Pride Month is meaningful for brand exposure and advocacy, but having everlasting material that reflects your audience year round  brings a whole new meaning to consumer relations. Your audience will expand as you produce valuable content throughout many news cycles that encourages them to engage with your business and eventually trust it. 

Expand your media reach by consistently reaching out to journalists and influencers of diverse LGBTQ+ backgrounds to open gateways of opportunity for your business to embody Pride support. This is a great way to begin cultivating a relationship with the LGBTQ+ media community instead of only pitching when Pride Month rolls around. This is a great opportunity for an LGBTQ+ community member or ally  on your staff  to oversee media outreach from an inclusive perspective. 

Be mindful of inclusive language

Including pronouns in email signatures and LinkedIn bios are becoming the norm for many companies. This is when someone adds she/her, he/him or they/them (their “preferred pronouns”) in parentheses beside their name to state how they wish to be addressed. Using pronouns correctly demonstrates respect for those with whom you’re working. Don’t be hesitant to ask for someone’s pronouns even if you’re engaging in person to demonstrate respect for their identity.

Further, be mindful of how your language is inclusive of everyone. Be diligent to avoid using offensive terms and words with a negative connotation and hold others to the same standard. In office conversations and in your messaging, you should also shy away from using terms like “hey guys” or “hey ladies” and instead say “hey everyone” or “hey team” to address a group.

Take the time to learn about the history of Pride

To truly understand something you must know its history. In order for your brand to put out more meaningful Pride content, you will need to do some research and become familiar with its origins. After all, Google is only one click away. Being well-informed will show your audience that your marketing and PR efforts aren’t opportunistic or inauthentic. 

Don’t be unwilling to share the new enlightenment and awareness you gain of the LGBTQ+ community with consumers, friends and family. Moving away from misconceptions, having an open mind, and learning history are all steps in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go. Staying engaged with stakeholders and being up-to-date with current news and events within the LGBTQ+ community will enrich your support year-round!

About Kennedy Nunez: Kennedy is a Business Development Associate for Swyft, which is a tech PR firm in Austin and Houston and a top digital marketing and PR agency in Denver since its founding in 2011. Swyft recently opened a satellite office where it offers tech PR in San Francisco. Swyft was also listed as one of the top tech PR agencies in Texas by the B2B services review site, Clutch.co.