Breaking barriers with accessible marketing - Emma King and Charlotte White | E15

Breaking barriers with accessible marketing transcript

Charlotte White

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Scaramanga podcast. My name is Charlotte. I'm the Social Media Assistant here at Scaramanga. Today I'm joined by Emma, who is the Social Media Manager.

Emma King

Hello!

Charlotte White

Hello. Today we're talking about accessible marketing and why it's so important.

Emma King

So first we're going to do a little quiz. So you can play along as well, but I'm gonna quiz Charlotte on some disability facts.

Charlotte White

Can I just say, I know stuff about accessible marketing! I feel like I have to disclaim that and say that because we work in an accessible marketing agency.

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

However, stats and numbers are not my thing. So I just wanted to say that because if I get them all wrong, that would be embarrassing without prefacing it!

Emma King

You'll be fine, you'll be fine. It's so that we can sort of open up this can of worms so that people can understand, like the importance of accessible marketing and social media, because I think they're going to be shocked by the figures on here. So, do you want to do a little drum roll?

Charlotte White

(Drum roll)

Emma King

Your first question: How many people are disabled in the UK? 1. 16 million, 2. 18 million or 3. 19 million?

Charlotte White

Do you know for a minute, I thought you weren't going to give me options. I was like, I'll never get it right without options! I actually do know this one though. Only because we had to look at it last week for a campaign we did. So. I'm gonna say the answer is... A or 1? Did you put A or 1?

Emma King

I just put 1, not A, B, C, really. But here we are!

Charlotte White

Okay, 1. 16 million.

Emma King

That is right. Yeah, there are 16 million people disabled in the UK. So...

Charlotte White

That's a lot.

Emma King

That is a lot of people. Okay, second question: What percentage of adults are disabled? So first option is 24%, 2. 3%, 3. 23%.

Charlotte White

What 24%, 3% or...

Emma King

23%.

Charlotte White

Oh, they're just drastically different.

Emma King

Yeah. And then there's two that are quite close together.

Charlotte White

Well, hang on. Now I'm trying to do maths because I know that there's 16 million in the UK, but I don't know, the current population. So I'm gonna say... I'm gonna say 23% and everybody else lock in your answers.

Emma King

You ready?... That's correct! 23%, see I told you you'd be alright!

Charlotte White

I didn't get a B in Maths for nothing!

Emma King

Here's another one that you're going to be like, I need to do the maths. So number three is: What percentage of households have a disabled person? 1. 45%, 2. 64%, or 3. 32%.

Charlotte White

The thing is though, like, I know there's 23% in the population, but you don't know how that's divided into households, right?

Emma King

Hmmm.

Charlotte White

Sorry, can you say the options one more time?

Emma King

45%, 64% or 3. is 32%.

Charlotte White

Okay. I'm gonna say... 32%.

Emma King

You're actually right!

Charlotte White

Yes!

Emma King

I actually thought it would be higher, just because I have a lot of, you know, I know a lot of parents and like mums and dads and older relatives that are disabled. So I actually thought it'd be higher.

Charlotte White

Do you happen to know, is this statistic like... do they include like very minor... I guess they don't include very minor impairments as well, right?

Emma King

I don't know.

Charlotte White

We'll have to have a look for everyone.

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

But I'm presuming it's, if they're talking about households, it's disabilities that maybe affect the household in some way. Maybe they need a mobility chair or something like that.

Emma King

That's what I assume. So that last question, and this one's more relevant to what we do in our job: What percentage of websites are not ADA approved?

Charlotte White

Ooooh!

Emma King

So 1. 92%, 2. 97.4% or 3. 35%?

Charlotte White

Hmmm.

Emma King

And I'll give you a little more insight into this: it is for websites of the top 1 million. So it's the top 1 million websites.

Charlotte White

Right.

Emma King

Out of all of them, what percentage are not ADA approved?

Charlotte White

Is that in the UK, do you know?

Scaramanga Marketing

(Pause)

Charlotte White

Sorry, you're supposed to be quizzing me!

Emma King

I know, bloody hell! Um...

Charlotte White

No it's fine, don't worry. Top million, I'm just gonna presume they would be maybe similar for the rest of the world.

Emma King

I think it's worldwide.

Charlotte White

Okay.

Emma King

If I remember when I had a look.

Charlotte White

I don't think that region will really change much anyway. I don't think it's the 30-something option. I think it's way more. So I'm going to say... sorry, what was the discrepancy between the two?

Emma King

92 and 97.4.

Charlotte White

I think it's going to be... 92.

Emma King

It's 97.4.

Charlotte White

Noooo! Really?

Emma King

Websites, yep, that are not ADA approved, which is shocking, shocking, really.

Charlotte White

That's shocking.

Emma King

It is. It's really bad.

Charlotte White

Wow.

Emma King

The fact that most people who are disabled can't use 1 million websites, because they're not approved.

Not even just not even just 1 million, but 1 million of the most popular websites.

Yep!

Charlotte White

Wow, that's really interesting, honestly. Was that all the questions?

Emma King

Yeah. I've just got a fact for afterwards.

Charlotte White

Oh, okay.

Emma King

Which is more like to do with content wise, but 26% of images found on home pages lack descriptive ALT-text.

Charlotte White

Is that on websites?

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

I wonder... I feel like the percentage will be similar, if not higher for social media as well.

Emma King

Yeah. I feel like it's gonna be higher.

Charlotte White

I feel like it's going to be higher.

Emma King

And basically to everyone obviously that's listening, to help sort of understand. By not making a website accessible, you're actually missing out on a whole demographic of people, potential customers, by not literally being inclusive.

Charlotte White

I mean...

Emma King

That's what I can't get in my head. Why you wouldn't...

Charlotte White

I mean, I guess, yes. From a more business standpoint, that's true. But I think... obviously, of course, it's also just the inclusivity, like, the DE&I aspect as well. Which is the, I guess, the more good intentioned reason. But even for conglomerates that might not care so much about that, then yes, in that case, to not even look at it from their point of view of missing out on more revenue, even though that sounds like a little bit more of a selfish reason to do it for. The fact that they're not even doing it for that, is just... crazy.

Emma King

And I think probably a lot of people who haven't got a disability or suffered in any way, probably wouldn't even think about it, because it doesn't come into their head.

Charlotte White

No.

Emma King

But that sort of leads us on to why we're talking about it today. And it's because we've launched our new service, Digital Accessibility. Our Director, Simon, who has 30 years experience of working in web design, sort of said enough was enough and wanted to make a difference. And Claire, who is our Director at Scaramanga knew there was a gap in the market. And having accessible websites was actually something that's really important and something people just don't put a lot of thought into.

So the services that Digital Accessibility are going to be offering is training, which includes engaging workshops. So it helps you understand the importance of accessibility within your team, and what changes you need to make. They'll also give you an audit of your website to help you understand the changes that are needed and provide free accessible resources, which is very helpful.

They also offer multiple packages. So depending, obviously, on the clients, so for example, one is for technical teams who work on websites themselves that may not know the tips and tricks of what they need to change and if it's actually properly accessible. We also have one for content creators, and then there's a few other ones. So yeah, that's why we launched our new product.

Charlotte White

I think this year, our Directors, Claire and Simon, decided that it was too big of an issue and too big of a... too big of a thing to tackle within the branding of our marketing.

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

So they decided to separate it and have Digital Accessibility.

Emma King

As a separate entity.

Charlotte White

It's technically a separate business, but sort of affiliated with Scaramanga because there's just so much information that businesses and people are unaware of that needs to be shared. And it was becoming a bit muddied within all the marketing stuff we were doing, and we didn't want that. It needs that light of clarity on it, because of how much of an issue it is. So that is essentially why we're launching it as a... or have launched it as a new service.

Emma King

But we also have a new LinkedIn. So make sure you go and follow it, and we also have an Instagram. So make sure you go check it out and give us a follow, and we share tips and tricks on how to make things accessible. Website designing and all the services we offer.

Charlotte White

Yeah, Simon does these really great presentations... workshops, workshops!

Emma King

Workshop videos, and so you can get sort of taste of what sort of subjects he covers. But the workshops have got a really good response and he's worked with some really high clients that we're not allowed to name.

Charlotte White

They are really, really...

Emma King

Yeah. I wish I could say!

Charlotte White

I wish we could say!

Emma King

But we can't.

Charlotte White

But we can't.

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

I think it's, I'm not a business owner. Shock! But if I was, Digital Accessibility would definitely be something that I would consider or consider paying for their resources.

Emma King

Yeah. 100%.

Charlotte White

If I had, say, a medium sized business. Because at the end of the day, it's, it's like, why should a certain population be segregated for things that they cannot help and they cannot do anything about? And moreover, it's, I didn't know much about it when I started Scaramanga back in 2023. But the more I've learnt, the more I realise, at least from a social media standpoint, I can't speak for websites. It's very easy.

Emma King

Like, it's some of the smallest things that make a difference. And you should go watch Charlotte's video that she did the other day. It's on TikTok and Instagram and LinkedIn. And it was really informative about the stuff that she's learned since she's been here and social media wise, what you can do to literally improve your content, and it is so simple, such as ALT-tags, and making sure you've got live captioning on your videos.

So it's just really simple things that people forget about. And do you know what I love? Is now when I go on social media, I watched a video the other day, I was like, I actually commented and said can you make this accessible? Because there's no captioning on it. But I couldn't play the video out loud. I was in like, an environment where I couldn't have it. And I was like, I really wanna watch this, but I can't. So, I actually commented.

So, I like that I'm a lot more aware. And it's also like things that I didn't even realise. Websites, which, people should go on to our website and there's articles on there about these but...

Charlotte White

Yeah.

Emma King

Just like typeface, colours. I just always thought someone who's colorblind, they can't see the colour, does it really matter? Well actually, yes, it does matter. And I didn't know that different colours affect people's minds when reading stuff. I obviously know from someone who's dyslexic that I can read better with a different colour. And it's more pronounced, it's easier to read. But I didn't really think that there's like a wide range of colours that you can and cannot use.

Charlotte White

Yeah, I think Simon's taught us a lot about that, because Simon is actually colorblind as well. So I can't speak as to whether that was part of his motivation for wanting to do more accessible design and marketing. But...

Emma King

I think so and I think Claire as well.

Charlotte White

Yeah, Claire also does have minor visual problems. But this is the thing like it's, of course, inclusivity is not just one thing, it's a spectrum. It's going to cover people who have major disabilities, deafness, blindness, where they can't hear your video, so they need captions, they can't see your picture, so it needs ALT-text.

It can also be for very, very minor impairments, like dyslexia. And I mean, colorblindness is a spectrum too, but say, like minor colorblindness. Also, for me, like, I have captions on everything, because I have tinnitus. And sometimes, it's so loud that I need the captions just to relate, I can still hear it, but I sometimes struggle. So it's, it's not just one, you know, like, I've lost the ability to articulate myself!

Emma King

I know what you mean But I think also, from a business point of view, it says a lot about you, if you're championing it, because what you've got to remember is, you could have a business that got a huge team of people. There's somewhere on that team, you're gonna probably have someone who's dyslexic, someone who has hearing issues, whatever, but you're gonna have multiple disabilities.

Now to show them that you care about them as a worker and show that you've been supportive, then championing digital accessibility is really, probably like a highlight that you could do as a company. And I think it's worth investing the money because people might be like, "oh, it costs a lot", or, "you know, we don't have the budget for that". But you should have the budget for that.

Charlotte White

Yeah, it's just I think, if you're not doing it as a business, it's like, why? If you have the resources. I mean, I say that, but also like, you have Google, I don't think anyone doesn't have enough resources, at least to do something. And I think for businesses as well, for me as well, it's been a journey. I still make occasional slip ups, because I'm learning. But the learning is a process and also the rate with which things change.

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

Is something I'm also trying to keep up with, but I think you have to, at least as a business, be on that journey and be committed to at least taking those steps. It's the commitment to saying that you're gonna...

Emma King

Do it for years to come basically.

Charlotte White

Do it for years to come and, and adapt accordingly and learn as much as you can.

Emma King

I think, because it's really, it's a good point, because I think a lot of times company focus on disabilities in the workplace where it's physical. So you've got to have the right chair, you've got to make sure you've got wheelchair access, you've got to have this, you've got to have that, the right mouse or screen at a certain height.

Charlotte White

Yeah.

Emma King

And that is like a law. So they have to do it.

Charlotte White

Yeah.

Emma King

So to me, there should be a law that websites with content, and anything technology wise, should be made accessible for everybody. That's how I see it. So it should have the same. Just because you can't see it all the time. Doesn't mean it's not there. And it's not going to go away.

Charlotte White

Yeah, definitely.

Emma King

We are going to have hopefully a special guest soon in one of our podcasts. So we'll be covering a lot more subjects around digital accessibility and tips. And hopefully, have someone on who can give us a real eye opener into what their day is like. What using technology is like and have a better understanding of how it affects them and why it's important for the work that we're doing and the difference that we're making.

Charlotte White

Yes, I think as well, I would also add. If, you know, if you have listened to all of this and you're someone who is interested in this, has experienced this, or wants a platform to talk about it with people that are passionate about it, get in touch with us because we want to shine a light on it as much as possible, not just from our perspective, but from as many perspectives as possible.

So if there's anyone listening that would like to speak to us, do a session with us, kind of highlight things that maybe we don't even know yet, or experiences that we've not had. We would love that.

Emma King

Yeah that would be nice. That's a perfect way to end.

Charlotte White

Yeah, I actually really enjoyed this podcast!

Emma King

I did!

Charlotte White

Thanks for doing the quiz.

Emma King

That's alright! You actually got it all right apart from one.

Charlotte White

That last one slipped me up, the million most popular websites; I'm coming for you! Yes, thank you for listening if you've listened this far, and we will see you next episode!