How To Draw The Line On Unethical Marketing


Ethical business practices are important in every industry, including digital marketing. Consumers are often distrustful. The public hasn’t forgotten past ads that they suspected were too good to be true that turned out to be less than truthful.

I’ve found that past deceptive marketing practices have caused consumers to look for tricky wording in ads, read the fine print, read consumer reviews and do background research on companies. Likely due to bad marketing practices, many of today’s consumers expect transparency in marketing — the assurance that companies solidly stand behind their claims.

Ethical Versus Unethical Marketing

Our core beliefs are grounded in our personal ethics and extend into our work practices. In marketing, it’s less of whether you think your marketing practices are ethical and more of whether consumers believe they’re ethical.

Ethical marketing means making honest claims to attract potential customers. When customers perceive your marketing practices to be honest and genuine, they can begin to trust in your brand. Mutual trust works to develop brand loyalty, which keeps customers coming back and motivates them to spread the word about your business.

What Is Unethical Marketing?

On the flip side, unethical marketing sends the wrong messages out to prospects about your products and services. These practices can lead to legal problems, but more importantly, they can lead to reputational loss or destroy your brand.

Unethical marketing practices aren’t always obvious. Deception in subtle ways is just as misleading. These practices are major turn-offs for consumers and, sometimes, they can be illegal, too.

Here are some common unethical marketing practices to be aware of:

• Misleading advertising.

• Contacting people without their consent.

• Inciting controversy.

• Emotional exploitation.

My advice is: Avoid these unethical marketing campaigns and practices at all costs.

1. Misleading Advertising Misses The Mark

Misleading ads are unethical, and they’re illegal, too. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulates truth in advertising, and it expects marketers to make accurate statements in their advertising campaigns, back claims with scientific evidence whenever possible and be transparent about negative features.

It’s common for marketers to highlight the best features of their products and downplay the negatives to improve sales. The line between ethical and unethical gets a little murky in these types of ads. Marketers cross the line to the unethical when they can’t prove their claims.

2. Contacting Consumers Without Consent 

The FTC enforces the CAN-SPAM Act which sets commercial email standards, such as not contacting prospects without their consent. Upon consumer request to unsubscribe, you must take them off your list to abide by the law.

Before you’re tempted to buy a list of prospects, consider that bugging the wrong customers too many times will do you more reputational harm than good.

3. Insensitive Controversy May Stir Up Trouble 

Some marketers try to stir up controversy or present an unpopular opinion just to get people talking. Bad news often gets as much attention as good news, but that doesn’t mean that it will send customers your way. Take caution — relying on this unethical practice may result in more enemies than customers.

4. Emotional Exploitation Can Explode In A Bad Way 

A great ad can make you bust out laughing, bring tears to your eyes or help you recall a pleasant memory from “way back when.” Using ads to prey on consumers’ emotions can force a bond with your brand. But they can also backfire on you just as easily. Be careful about crossing the line with tasteless ads that exploit human emotions.

What About Black Hat Link-Building?

Perhaps one of the most controversial marketing strategies, even among marketers, is black hat link-building. Whether it crosses the line to unethical practices depends on how marketers implement it.

In search engine optimization (SEO) expert Craig Campbell’s presentation on black hat SEO, he talks about the importance of considering the client’s budget. Many smaller companies just don’t have the funds to run multiple campaigns. In these cases, it makes sense to implement other practices, like using paid blog posts. Some people may perceive them as “black hat.” In truth, they’re more strategic SEO practices with return on investment (ROI) in mind.

These practices may be the only way to move the needle at times, and as long as they’re not hurting the customer, they don’t cross the line into the territory of unethical practices. Campbell states that “there is a difference between being clever and being spammy,” and that’s a philosophy I can agree with.

Earning inbound links to your website is a practical way to boost organic search. I’ve found that there is a right time and place for clever backlink-building.

Here are two keys to how I hold the line on ethical marketing:

1. I use content to reach the target audience and cite original research that relates to the brand.

2. Paid blog posts are okay as long as they’re honest and don’t hurt the customer.

For instance, one of my clients struggled to get reviews, so I ran an internal promotion with a reward for the salesperson who got the most reviews. This isn’t unethical because I trained the sales team on how to get more reviews, and the reviews were authentic.

When using SEO tactics, however, avoid these unethical practices:

• Spamming comment sections.

• Leaving links on forum threads.

• Hacking websites to plant self-serving links in them.

• Paying for links and reselling them for more to marketers who lack the knowledge on how to use them effectively.

As a marketer, it is your responsibility to net ROI marketing while holding the line on ethical marketing practices. Customers expect transparency, and newer technology will give them access to it. It’s time for us to rise to the occasion and quit pretending unethical practices are acceptable.



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