Disability Inclusion in Marketing: What Every Digital Marketer Needs to Know (WCAG)

In our digitally driven world, a strong online presence is essential, yet a significant portion of the population can face barriers when interacting with websites and online content. 94.8% of top homepages contain accessibility flaws. Making websites accessible is more than a best practice; it’s crucial for unlocking your brand’s full impact and reach.

Digital marketing accessibility creates inclusive digital experiences that allow everyone, regardless of their abilities, to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with your online content and campaigns. This can be done best by following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG – the international standard for digital accessibility.

The “Why” Behind Accessible Marketing

While legal requirements for website accessibility provide a compelling reason to follow these guidelines, the true value for your business extends far beyond avoiding pitfalls. Over a billion people globally live with disabilities, representing a significant market. Commitment to disability inclusion in marketing means that elements benefit all users, enhancing the overall user experience.

Prioritizing digital marketing accessibility and inclusive marketing boosts your brand image, builds trust, and fosters deep loyalty.

This can also strengthen your SEO, as accessibility best practices like semantic HTML align with search engine priorities, boosting your organic visibility and ensuring your ADA accessible website truly reaches its full potential.

Understanding WCAG for Marketers

WCAG is organized around four core principles, often remembered by the acronym P.O.U.R.: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. These principles provide a comprehensive framework for creating accessible content.

Perceivable

For content to be perceivable, users must be able to recognize it through their senses. This is where accessible content creation truly shines.

• Text Alternatives: All non-text content, such as images, videos, and audio, must have text alternatives. This means providing descriptive alt text for images, transcripts for audio, and synchronized captions for video. Screen readers, a common form of assistive technologies, rely heavily on these text alternatives to convey information to users who are blind or visually impaired.
• Time-based Media: For multimedia, ensure alternatives are provided, including synchronized captions/transcripts for video and transcripts for audio-only content.
• Adaptable Content: Content should be structured to be presented in different ways without losing information or structure, allowing users to customize presentation (e.g., text size, color).
• Distinguishable: Information should ensure good color contrast accessibility for text and images. Avoid using color alone to convey meaning.

Operable

User interface components and navigation must be properly operable. Users need to be able to interact with the content.

• Keyboard Navigable: All functionality must be accessible via a keyboard alone, without requiring a mouse. Many users with motor disabilities or those using screen readers navigate websites exclusively with a keyboard.
• Sufficient Time: Users should have enough time to read and use the content. This means avoiding excessively short time limits on forms or interactive elements.
• No Flash: Content should not be designed in a way that is known to cause seizures.
• Navigable: Provide clear, consistent, and logical navigation throughout your website. This includes a clear focus order, consistent headers, and descriptive link text.

Understandable

The information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.

• Readable: Text content should be easy to understand; using clear, concise language and structured with headings and paragraphs.
• Predictable: The layout and behavior of your website should be consistent.
• Input Assistance: Help users avoid and correct errors with clear labels for form fields, instructions, and helpful error messages.

Robust

Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

• Compatible: Ensure your content is compatible with current and future user agents, like screen readers, voice recognition software, and alternative input devices. This often involves using well-formed HTML and CSS.
• Future-proof: Designing with established web standards helps ensure your content remains accessible as technology evolves.

Practical Application: Implementing WCAG Principles

Here’s how digital marketers can implement the P.O.U.R principles across their campaigns and digital assets:

Website Design & Development:

• Early Integration for ADA Compliance: Work closely with your development team from the very beginning to ensure your website is designed for ADA compliance website standards. Retrofitting accessibility is often more complex and costly than building it in from the start.
• Navigation and Layout: Implement clear, consistent, and logical navigation across your site (main menus, breadcrumbs, sitemaps). Navigation should be intuitive for all users, not just those with specific abilities.
• Form Accessibility: All forms on your website must be accessible. Use proper <label> tags for every input field (don’t rely on placeholders alone). Provide clear instructions, indicate required fields, and offer helpful, specific error messages if a user makes a mistake. Ensure forms are keyboard navigable with a logical tab order.
• Interactive Elements: If your website uses carousels, accordions, pop-ups, or modals, ensure they are fully keyboard navigable, have clear focus indicators, can be closed easily, and their content is perceivable by assistive technologies.
• Responsive Design: Beyond aesthetics, a truly accessible responsive design ensures that content remains clear, functional, and navigable regardless of screen size or orientation, benefiting users with low vision who may zoom in.
• Regular Accessibility Audits: Integrate regular accessibility audit website checks into your development and web optimizations.

Content Creation:

• Headings for Structure: Use proper HTML heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to outline your web page content. This helps screen readers navigate and improves readability for everyone.
• Descriptive Link Text: Avoid generic link text like “click here” or “read more.” Instead, use descriptive phrases that indicate the link’s destination (e.g., “Download the Accessibility Best Practices Guide”).
• Image Alt Text: For every image on your web pages, provide concise, descriptive alt text that conveys the image’s content and purpose. This is non-negotiable for screen readers.
• Video/Audio Captions & Transcripts: For any multimedia content on your website, provide accurate closed captions for videos and full transcripts for both video and audio. This helps users who are deaf or hard of hearing, and also benefits those in noisy environments or who prefer to read.
• Color Use and Contrast: Ensure color contrast accessibility for all text against its background on your website. Use online contrast checkers to verify WCAG AA compliance. Never rely solely on color to convey information (e.g., “required fields are red”).

Digital Marketing Channels:

• Email Marketing: Apply accessibility principles to email campaigns. Use clear layouts, descriptive alt text for images, and sufficient color contrast. Always include a “view in browser” link to ensure access to a potentially more accessible web version.
• Social Media Marketing: Even social media needs an access strategy in digital marketing. Add alt text to images and video descriptions. Use camel case for hashtags (#AccessibleMarketing) to improve readability for screen readers. Ensure linked content is accessible.
• Advertising Campaigns: Beyond ad creative (legible text, captions for video ads), ensure all landing pages linked from your ads are fully accessible and WCAG compliant.
• Tools and Resources: Leverage accessibility audit website tools and browser extensions to test your content.

Getting Started: Your Accessibility Action Plan

WCAG for marketers isn’t optional—it’s a fundamental requirement for effective, ethical, and expansive marketing. By embracing accessibility standards throughout your website and digital marketing efforts, you’ll not only ensure legal compliance but also unlock new market opportunities, enhance your brand’s reputation, and create a more inclusive online experience for every user.

Inclusive marketing goes beyond just meeting standards; it’s a powerful asset that drives traffic, generates leads, and boosts sales by genuinely reaching everyone. Farotech can be your trusted partner in this journey, helping you ensure your websites and digital marketing efforts are fully accessible and optimized for success.

Download Farotech’s guide for 25 Website Must-Haves for Driving Traffic, Leads & Sales to discover how accessibility is just one of many core components of a high-performing digital strategy.