Tips for Ethical Marketing Practices

When creating a business, It’s a good idea to spend time thinking about what values you want to represent and how you want to best serve your customers. In this day and age transparency is one of the best practices that a business can implement, both internally and externally. With honesty, your company can develop a mission that is founded on good intentions. Ethical companies offer services and products that serve the company; the consumer; and the environment.

When developing and executing marketing plans, we must keep in mind fair business practices. Rules and guidelines are in place to hold companies accountable. The American Marketing Association’s ethical and professional standards outline many practices that are in the best interest of consumers. These ethical and professional practices are important guidelines that we must always keep in mind when developing products and marketing plans. Some of the AMA codes of conduct include: Do no harm. Be honest. Maintain responsibility to the stakeholders; the consumers; and the environment. Balance the needs of the consumers, as well as the company, fairly and equitably. Treat everyone with dignity, and respect all individuals, as well as all cultures. Endeavor to be transparent in all dealings, and respond to criticisms effectively. Be charitable; support developing countries; and protect the environment. (AMA, 2021)

In addition to following ethical rules, a company must make certain that the consumer know who they are dealing with. Customer service contact information should be prominent on websites, as well as digital accounts, and responses to customers’ concerns should be prompt and thorough. A good practice is to survey your followers, asking about their experiences with your company and products. Think about hiring and training company representatives to respond to customers’ concerns. Problems that arise should be dealt with by your PR department, making sure that a timely solution is reached, and a press release is issued promptly. When you hire social media personnel have them maintain a watchful eye on customer posts and reviews, responding when they can and informing managers of growing issues.

Give-a-ways are a great way to create buzz on social media. An important thing to know is that marketers are required to follow state laws regarding anything that could be construed as gambling. Keep in mind that all laws for contests, rewards, and donations must be adhered to.

All advertising and messaging directed to kids must adhere to The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)s rules regarding advertising to children. FCC rules limit television stations to 12 minutes per hour of children’s advertisements during weekdays and 10 minutes per hour on weekends (Clow, Baack, Page 396, Para. 3). Be mindful of the FTC guidelines as well, ensuring that campaigns make no claims that could be accused of deceptive marketing practices. When copywriting, be certain to not make any statements that can be construed as false or misleading.

References:

American Marketing Association (2021) Codes of Conduct | AMA Statement of Ethics AMA.org Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/codes-of-conduct/

Clow, Kenneth and Baack, Donald (2018) Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications Pearson Education, Inc.