From community-building, brand creation, storytelling, and immersive spatial audio and beyond, female founders, entrepreneurs, and marketers can learn a lot from Beyoncé. 

Beyoncé’s Renaissance blasted in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with this year’s biggest week by a woman. Beyoncé’s seventh solo No. 1 album – is the first album released by a woman in 2022 to top the Billboard 200. The last woman at No. 1 was Adele with 30, which ruled for its first six weeks on the list (charts dated Dec. 4, 2021-Jan. 8, 2022). Notably, both 30 and Renaissance were released via Columbia Records (with Renaissance issued through Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia). More on Beyoncé and Adele’s sisterhood later.

Admittedly, Beyoncé has me personally entranced since the album dropped. I’ve started every morning this week and the last pressing play. A love letter to so many communities, here are 8 lessons founders can learn from Queen Bey.

Most often referenced in pop culture as ‘Renaissance Man, the term ‘renaissance’ has been reserved to describe ‘a man of many talents. Historically, the period of the Renaissance was significant because it cultivated a new change in art, knowledge, and culture, it evolved the way people thought as well as new discoveries in travel, invention, and style. In French, the word ‘Renaissance’ translates to “rebirth”. 

I love the word “rebirth” as it signifies transformation, important because if you haven’t been paying attention, Black women are in the middle of a Renaissance, or rebirth of our own, a period where our existence can no longer be plagued by the negative stereotypes perpetuated in all forms of media for the last 70 years. We are in the midst of an era I can only refer to as The Black Ascension, a time when Black billionaires are born, Black voices are amplified, negative perceptions are being dissolved, a time when the contributions of our talent and gifts are valued and monetized on platforms we own or hold an equity stake in.

I don’t know Beyoncé Knowles-Carter at all but if I had to guess the outcomes derived from her art start with the intention she sets forth from its inception. What she wants fans to take away from the experience she designs likely informs the lyrics, sounds, and visuals she chooses and how she artistically. Transcending space, genre, and time, Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’ flows back and forth between modernity and classic rhythms from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. No fadeouts, no fade-ins, each song melts into the next gifting music enthusiasts the sonic experience we didn’t know we needed. 

If you listened through your headphones, you likely caught the throttle of the album from one ear to the other. This immersive audio experience was brought to you by spatial audio technology, an audio technology used to create immersive three-dimensional sound and visual experiences. 

1. Intentional About Innovation. To deliver personalized branded experiences across channels and in formats preferred by digital-first customers, your marketing team must be intentional about innovation. 
2. Female-Founders: Be THAT Girl – An award-winning actress, artist, creator, curator, entrepreneur, storyteller, singer, dancer, mother, wife, daughter, sister, and auntie amongst other things, Beyonce puts in work. After seven studio albums, five live albums, three compilation albums, one soundtrack album, two karaoke albums and 83 singles (including 15 as a featured artist, 11 promotional singles, and 6 charity singles) Beyoncé has a freshness and unrivaled dynamism that continuously delivers a pulse of innovation and vibes unmatched. According to Forbes, women made up more than half of the U.S. population, and controlled or influenced 85% of consumer spending pre-pandemic. One thing Beyoncé does better than her counterparts is place women and culture at the center of her art and business. People who identify as women and girls collectively feel seen by her melodic candor on the topics of power, love, relationships, pain, and the struggle to simply let a mutha f*cka know, we’re THAT girl.

In 2017, UK’s very own Adele said the quiet part out loud when during her Grammy acceptance speech, she looked directly at Beyoncé, her fellow Album of the Year nominee, and said, “But I can’t possibly accept this award. And I’m very humbled, and I’m very grateful, and gracious. But, the artist of my life is Beyoncé, and this album for me, the Lemonade album, was just so monumental. And so well-thought-out, and so beautiful and soul-baring. And we all got to see another side to you that you don’t always let us see, and we appreciate that. And all of us artists adore you. You are our light. And the way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my Black friends feel is empowering, and you make them stand up for themselves. And I love you. I always have. And I always will.” Adele then broke her Album of the Year Grammy in half and gave part of it to Beyoncé. 

3. Close the pay gap. Did you know August 3rd was Black Women’s Equal Pay Day? I certainly didn’t. It marks the additional 214 days that Black women have to work to catch up with what white, non-Hispanic men earn in a year. This means Black women have to work 579 days to make what white men do in 365. F*ck this. The disparity in pay is all too real. I have personally experienced this firsthand more than once in my career. Don’t be the Founder who lets their micro-aggressions or those of their leadership team f*ck this up for your brand(s), investors, and stakeholders. Instead, pay your ‘Brown Skin Girls’ and other BIPOC hires equally to their counterparts and tells the world about it. 
4. Tell the story visually – Beyonce’s cultural bombshell ‘Lemonade’ reignited a movement of visual storytelling. A vibrant, rhythmic visual tell-all of self-reflection and perseverance, the often mysterious Beyonce likened her life experience to so many of our life experiences in personal relationships. She exposed the inner lives of Black women and gave members of BIPOC communities permission to tell our stories, to free ourselves from narratives we never deserved, to proclaim our futures, informing, igniting, and inspiring us to celebrate our existence and contributions to American culture. Does your brand content inform, ignite and inspire your customers to engage or purchase?
5. U-N-I-Q-U-E  – The uniqueness of well-executed UX and UI design on your website is a way to elevate brand awareness to brand affinity. For brands with e-commerce websites and apps, it is extremely important your content delivers a consistently seamless experience across all platforms. UI allows marketers to be thoughtful about unique entry points along the purchase path. By designing a digital ecosystem (loaded with micro-iterations) to personalize the buying experience to customer purchase intent, brands can gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Ask yourself, does Beyoncé have any real competition? No.
6. Ascend to Affinity – Brand awareness alone is not going to cut it. You need brand affinity and you need it fast. Invest in building a community of passionate advocates of your work product. Study Beyoncé’s BeyHive, an army of ‘WTF did you say about Queen Bey?’ super fans who fuel, ignite, inspire, protect and celebrate the artistry and influence of Beyoncé.
7. Bet On Women – Women possess a very unique set of skills. We’re progressive, according to research, we problem-solve more efficiently due to higher emotional intelligence and are intrinsically future-focused. Every decision we make is collaborative, carefully planned, and driven to build better futures. In ‘How To Be Culturally Relevant To The Women’s Consumer Market’, Forbes.com Contributor Bridget Brennan wrote, ‘women earn the majority of associate’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and even doctoral degrees in the United States. Part of a global shift: this means that women are not just the dominant consumer of today, they are also the power consumers of tomorrow’, she goes on to recommend brands adjust their strategies accordingly.
8. Get In Formation – Take a note from the book of Beyoncé, when you elevate the visibility of people of color, people of color take notice. With Black spending power driving toward $1.7 trillion, Black women’s consumer preferences, experiences, and affinities are proven to generate revenue impact in the positive. I don’t know about your brand but I know Beyoncé isn’t sleeping on the opportunity to capitalize on improving her revenue outcomes in any format.

Schedule a call with a female-founded and led global digital product development team. Laser-focused on innovating at the intersection of where people connect and buy online, we would love to build the future of digital in collaboration with you.  Schedule a virtual coffee and strategy call with me today.  

I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which I work and extend my deep respects.

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About Askia Underwood

Askia Underwood is the first-ever U.S. Business Director of the award-winning, global digital product development studio Miroma Project Factory (MPF). Askia brings more than 16 years of experience in strategic omnichannel campaign planning, development, and execution to MPF. Her expertise in digital strategy and content monetization lends to campaigns designed to motivate consumers to take action online.

A Certified Metaverse Expert and cultural illuminator, Askia’s focus includes innovating at the intersection of where shoppers connect, consider, and purchase online, and the development of advanced format immersive, experiential, and impactful digital content, products, and brand experiences.  

Her past work includes migrating more than twenty-five million dollars from traditional advertising mediums to higher-performing digital, social, and search platforms working with clients in the consumer, automotive, retail, sports, pet product, beauty, and non-profit categories. Priding herself on actively driving consumer behavior, Askia is often tapped to curate experiential brand moments that motivate consumers to act (watch, share, buy or donate) online. 

Expertise: Digital Strategy and Content Monetization