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Do you want your proposal to be more competitive? Then make sure that your broader impacts have solid methods grounded in the literature, a plan to assess outcomes, and are budgeted with resources needed to do the job well.
You don’t need to hit every broader impacts button. You just need to do what you are doing well, and you convince the reviewer that you’re taking it seriously by giving it thought and demonstrating that you have learned what it takes to do your BI so it will actually have impact.
Most proposal do not have excellent broader impacts. Because they are merely an afterthought rather than an important part of the project. You actually can tack BI on after you’re done with the IM but you still need to do it well.
Having a little bit of BI in several areas (minority recruitment, K-12 outreach, conservation applications, curriculum development, science communication) is much worse than picking one thing and actually making sure it will succeed.
You know how your proposal has methods with very specific steps, citing the literature and details to assure the reviewer that the hypotheses will be adequately tested?
(some) Reviewers expect this detail for broader impacts too. Make your proposal stand out and do this.
(some) Reviewers expect this detail for broader impacts too. Make your proposal stand out and do this.
It doesn’t require several pages. But on a few paragraphs you can cite the appropriate peer reviewed literature, explain what you will do naming people and places and methods, with measurable outcomes that will keep you accountable.
And you know what? If several years later, your results from prior support don’t show measurable outcomes from meaningful BI, reviewers are going to 
as well. Because like it or not, the funding agency cares about this and so do reviewers and program officers.
as well. Because like it or not, the funding agency cares about this and so do reviewers and program officers.
Last thing: most proposals mentioning minority recruitment do this poorly and superficially. There are two fixes: One is to fund a partner who has expertise in this area, who already does this work well. The second is to give yourself a genuine and deep education in anti-racism.
(and to be honest if you have great BI and you additionally give standard lip service to minority recruitment, you’re better off just deleting those lines from your proposal because it weakens the overall ethos)
(and before I get a round of DMs asking me to critique or advise on a proposal in development, save everybody’s time and make sure you can afford the hourly rate before you ask. Or if you want to recruit our students, make sure all the labor is budgeted appropriately)
(if you're wondering what I charge, it varies greatly, but it's vaguely scaled to institutional endowment per student. So if you're at an institution with a tiny endowment, I'm glad to have this conversation at no cost)
If you're looking for suggested reading, here's the equity reading list from @NeedhiBhalla: https://www.bhallalab.com/equity-reading-list
