What is ethical marketing?

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As world consciousness has risen about the state of the world and how we’re all conducting business these days, ethical marketing has slowly become something that more companies are embracing as they realise that unethical marketing tactics leave a bad taste in the mouth – for you and your customer. Find out how you can define what ethical marketing is for you and implement it into your strategy for your business.

What is ethical marketing? And how can you do it for your business?

Let’s first address the elephant in the room when it comes to ethical marketing. This is no black and white issue. Mostly the standards of ethical marketing are subjective and range on a scale.  Depending on who you ask about a particular marketing tactic they may say it's ethical or they may say it’s unethical – that’s where the lines blur on the midrange of the scale.

But there are definite areas at either end of the scale that can and should be defined as what is ethical.

Why does ethical marketing matter?

Well, to be honest, this is also subjective.  If all you care about is your bottom line and you’re not really into the idea of making some kind of change in the world with the products you sell, and you can sleep soundly at night while your Maserati purrs in your underground bat-cave, then of course ethical marketing doesn't really matter to you.

But if you’re reading this, then I’d imagine that marketing ethically is of importance to you. But if you’re reading this, then I’d imagine that marketing ethically is of importance to you.

Side note: You CAN have a Maserati and be an ethical marketer – just saying. After all, they do come as hybrids!

It matters because people are starting to care about where they source their products from and what impact it has on the planet and ultimately humanity. And even if that’s not on the top of the list for a customer's reason for purchasing, then they’ll still want to know that they’ve not been duped, or sold something that either doesn’t work or doesn’t live up to it’s promise.

How to market your e-commerce business ethically 

Align your marketing with your values

This is entirely what ethical marketing is about – having values, morals and (of course) ethics by which your business is guided. But none of this matters if you haven’t defined your values. 

So take more than a moment to think about what your brand stands for in terms of making change, how you operate, how you treat members of your supply chain, where and how your products or ingredients are sourced etc.

It’s no good having an ethical marketing strategy if other pieces of your business are not upholding the same ethics.

It’s good to sell

One of the things that new business owners worry about is “am I trying to sell too much?” 

The whole purpose of your business is to sell your products.  And THAT my lovely, is not unethical. If your products create change, do some good, make people happy, have an impact in any way shape or form, then that’s even more reason to sell, sell, sell. It’s just the manner in which you sell.

Let’s just reframe selling as helping.  If you had a friend who was struggling with something and you saw this and knew you could help them, you’d tell them about the solution they have.  This doesn’t have to be a life changing solution – one small positive change, uplift or moment of excitement or joy is enough to make a difference, so if your products do this, then you need to let people know about them.

One way that business owners shy away from marketing effectively is they feel highlighting people’s pain points is unethical.  Again, this is subjective, but I’d say it’s your duty to remind people of what they’re dealing with right now, so that your product is positioned as the solution.

Honesty

To fully embrace an ethical marketing approach, you need to be transparent and honest about your brand. By allowing your customers to see behind the curtain and learn how your business operates, you garner trust and create loyal customers. If you’re not sure where to start with this, you can see how to write an effective ecommerce about page here.

Another thing you’ll want  to consider to position your brand as honest and trustworthy is to ensure your product(s) get the results that are promised. When making claims for your products, you’ll need to check that they follow any governing rules in the country from which you’re selling. 

Also, you might want to think about how you can back up your claims by offering some kind of guarantee with each purchase. This is an important piece of sales psychology known as risk reversal.

What to avoid in marketing to stay ethical

Inauthentic Scarcity

Using scarcity is another great persuasion technique and works extremely well because it plays on the “fear of missing out”. This can be used ethically if there’s truth behind the scarcity claims. Customers feel manipulated when they find out that there really isn’t only “10 left in stock”. You may think customers won’t find out, but there are subtle telltale signs that customers pick up if they’re in your range of your marketing campaigns. Stay truthful and honest.

Testimonial Manipulation

Using proof is another well-known and effective persuasion tactic but there are many businesses that either manipulate testimonials or make them up completely. 

If you ask your customers to give you feedback, you can be selective in what you use as your testimonials, and can even give them a light edit so that they show the journey of transformation they have achieved by using your product. 

However, don’t add anything to the testimonial to make it sound better. Sometimes you might feel included to correct typos or incorrect grammar, you can choose to do as you wish but often these “mistakes” can show the authenticity of the feedback given.

Discount Claims

Price anchoring is another clever tactic whereby a customer sees an original price with a strikethrough and the current discounted or sale price next to it.

It’s been known for some brands to make up the original price to showcase how much of a bargain the sale price is, but in actual fact, there is no discount because the original price is what is being claimed as the discounted price.

This is one of the tactics that may fall into the blurred lines of what people consider to be ethical, but in my opinion it goes back to how honest you are in positioning your brand and products.

How will you market ethically?

One thing to remember is to always refer back to your company values when considering your marketing strategy. Will this mean you might not produce as much revenue? Possibly, but will you attract customers who value your honesty, absolutely?

When it comes to marketing and selling, your customers are the lifeblood of your business. If you can build trust with your customers by using ethical tactics, then your customers will not only come back for more, but they’ll tell others about your products too.

It’s no good having ethical products if your marketing strategy doesn’t also embrace this philosophy too!