Pride Month Marketing: SMS Messages to Send Customers During Pride

Why Is Pride Month Marketing Important?

Pride Month is a time of celebration, so take the opportunity to celebrate your LBGTQ+ employees and customers! But Pride Month is also a time for advocating, so beyond celebration, it’s important to show that your company prioritizes taking action to support the community.

Rainbow Capitalism and How to Avoid It

As with any campaign, like a product release or summer sales marketing, it’s essential to be consistent with your messaging across all channels. Companies do this during Pride Month by swapping out their normal logos for versions with rainbow colors to signify that they are allies with LGBTQ+ customers. While doing so is an easy way for people to see that your business cares about Pride Month, it can easily be seen as “pinkwashing,” which is when a company takes advantage of Pride Month or other celebratory months or movements only as a PR push or to capitalize on it for profits (also known as rainbow capitalism). This isn’t only offensive and ignorant but also bad Pride marketing.

To reach and retain customers, you must avoid pinkwashing and rainbow capitalism and put your money where your logo is. Prove to your customers that you’re committed to empowering and partnering with LGBTQ+ employees and customers, as well as organizations that are doing the work to provide resources and ensure equality for all.

Pride Month Campaigns That We Love

Let’s look at some of the best Pride campaigns we’ve seen in the past few years. These companies participated in a month of celebration, meaningful discussions, and education by partnering with nonprofits and other charitable organizations and stepping aside to promote LGBTQ+ voices.

The Body Shop

The Body Shop has a history of motivating its customers and employees to use their voting power and speak out against certain policies. In June 2022, the company activated colorful signage, videos, and apparel across its North American stores that opposed Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill (also commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill). Along with these out-of-home marketing installations, The Body Shop also released three Pride-themed facial highlighters, which it showed customers using on its Instagram page.

The company has a track record of producing effective Pride Month marketing campaigns and proving to its employees and customers that it advocates for the LGBTQ+ community. Between late May and August 2022, The Body Shop donated $1 of every Pride highlighter sale to youth organizations in Canada and the US.

IKEA

For every Pride Month since 2021, the US IKEA produced a marketing campaign around its STORSTOMMA shopping bag. In 2021, it donated 30% of every purchase of the rainbow-colored bag to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. In 2022, it donated 100% of every purchase to The Trevor Project. Though it washed its iconic bag in rainbow colors, it didn’t rainbow-wash its Pride Month campaign. Instead, IKEA showed customers that it’s serious about donating to organizations that provide safe spaces and resources to LGBTQ+ communities. It also made its efforts and progress in empowering its LGBTQ+ workforce transparent on its website.

Absolut Vodka

In 2022, Absolut Vodka used its platform to shed light on the many LGBTQ+ bars that have closed in the US in recent years. It utilizes website space dedicated to its Out and Open campaign, featuring real-life artists' stories about why these bars are necessary, safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. For every listen of the stories, Absolut will donate $1 to the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

The company not only featured these storytellers (and more!) on its social channels but continues highlighting them throughout the year, expanding its Out and Open campaign beyond June. Absolut Vodka is authentic in the way that it messages Pride Month. Doing so year-round makes the Pride Month campaign even more impactful.

How to Incorporate Pride SMS Into Your Campaign

Pride Month messaging needs to be authentic, empathetic, and human. So, if you decide to show that your company is an ally and perhaps promote Pride-themed products, ensure you’re genuinely and consistently messaging across channels. Here’s a list of ways your business can incorporate SMS text marketing during Pride month to be effective and engaging while growing your business:

• Sharing LGBTQ+ community stories
• Providing Pride resources
• Announcing Pride-related events, initiatives, or promotions
• Running Pride-themed SMS contests or giveaways
• Offering limited-time Pride collections or collaborations
• Sending personalized Pride greetings

Your LGBTQ+ campaign ideas might involve creating special Pride Month apparel, of which you’ll donate a percentage of proceeds to specific organizations. Create consistent messaging across email, SMS, and social channels, notifying your contacts of the promotion and including short product links.

Or perhaps your campaign isn’t tied to your product or service and instead highlights the voices of your LGBTQ+ audience with user-generated content. Invite customers by text message and email to interact with your social channels and link to your website with more information about the campaign.

SMS Templates: Text Your Pride!

For festive texting ideas, you can also use these SMS or MMS Pride templates, and make sure to learn more about when to send SMS marketing messages while you’re here.