There is a plethora of different ways to market a business: social media posts, event hosting, YouTube videos, Facebook ads, attending networking events. These are just five, but the list goes on. To make sure everything flows and supports the company’s overall values and goals, integrated marketing communications are essential.
Understanding marketing communications
When you hear the words, marketing communications, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Sales pitches, networking events, high-pitched voices, lots of smiling?
For me, I picture social media posts with fun graphics; sticky-note pads and tiny mint-tins stamped with logos.
Marketing communications is so much more than that though. In broad terms, it’s the process of delivering a message to influence others in a way that will maximize value for a brand. It’s your voice and deliverance- what you say and how you say it. It involves observing and exploring your industry’s population to identify their needs and sentiments so you can deliver quality content that resonates with them.
Understanding ethics as they relate to your marketing communications will help prevent future promotional initiatives from being unlawful or unethical.
Quality comes from authentication. Authentication comes from honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency, and citizenship. These are not based on opinion, either. These are ethical norms that all marketers are obliged to follow- all of which are outlined in the American Marketing Association (AMA) Statement of Ethics. It isn’t uncommon for marketers to use tactics such as exaggerated words or phrases to sound enticing. While these exaggerations are not illegal, they can be misleading. That’s why it’s so important to keep ethics in mind, whether that includes advertisement slogans or direct interactions with customers.
Understanding ethics
“Ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues . . . Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty.”
Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks S.J., T., & Meyer, M. J. (2010). What is Ethics? Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/what-is-ethics/
Businesses build their reputation on a foundation of ethics by establishing trust with stakeholders. Likewise, marketers represent the company through communications. Therefore, there are some specifics to be particularly mindful of when marketing or advertising your company’s products or services.
As you read through the list, you might notice that most of these fall into a grey area. Ethical standards help delimit those grey areas. Much of this is done using instinctive right-and-wrong reasoning combined with basic common sense. However, it’s not always that simple.
Here are a few examples of where marketing communications really missed the mark:
- The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently revoked a YouTube influencer’s pilot license, after it was determined that he had crashed a plane on purpose for publicity. Apparently, after the youtuber posted the video, aviation fans were immediately skeptical of whether the crash was real or not. The FAA ultimately determined that he had violated federal aviation regulations. All for an attempt to gain views and likes for his YouTube channel. His aviation-fan audience clearly weren’t impressed, and instead found the video to be careless and unethical. (4)
- In another example, a lawsuit was filed against Volkswagen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Volkswagen’s advertising campaign to promote clean diesel vehicles reportedly “deceived customers”. The FTC filed a report with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In the end, the car company repaid over $9.5 billion to car buyers who were deceived by the campaign. (6)
These are just some examples that can potentially occur when ethical best practices are not followed. In the next section I have listed some ethical best practices for your integrated marketing campaign to avoid such cases, and maintain your brands’ authenticity.
Ethical Best Practices
The American Marketing Association provides an array of ‘norms’ for marketers to reference to ensure marketing communications are ethical. For example, the AMA discourages marketers of accepting gifts or “any item of substantial monetary value more than $75 from any person or entity.” (3) This is a valuable guide for ensuring that marketing campaigns are using best practices. I would highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the guidelines that the AMA has provided: AMA Behavior Expectations.
“As marketers, we recognize that we not only serve our organizations but also act as stewards of society in creating, facilitating and executing the transactions that are part of the greater economy. In this role, marketers are expected to embrace the highest professional ethical norms and the ethical values implied by our responsibility toward multiple stakeholders (e.g., customers, employees, investors, peers, channel members, regulators and the host community).”
AMA Statement of Ethics. (2021). American Marketing Association. https://myama.force.com/s/article/AMA-Statement-of-Ethics
When drafting an integrated marketing campaign, one of the most important things to keep in mind is to be as up-front and honest as possible. Don’t exaggerate or make unsubstantiated claims.
A few months ago, my husband and I decided to go away for a weekend. We ended up choosing a cabin in the heart of the woods that we found off Airbnb. The photos were gorgeous: it was clean and spacious, a beautiful view of the water, and a large TV with (according to the posting) access to Netflix as well as an array of DVDs to look through. We quickly discovered though that the photos must have been old because it looked worn-down, (wallpaper was actually peeling in some spots). Kitchen accessories were not provided as specified, nor did we have access to Netflix. Ultimately, we were happy to get away, so the little things were trivial to us. However, we couldn’t help but feel deceived by the posting. Did we have an awful weekend? No, but we still wouldn’t go back to that Airbnb, nor would we recommend it.
Just as well, if you have ever worked in customer service, then you know first-hand how frustrating it is to be confronted by disgruntled customers, especially if their bad experience had little or nothing to do with you. Be honest about your offerings, and update your photos if you need to. You gain more respect from people through transparency then through trickery. No one likes that.
When in doubt, ask yourself these 3 questions:
1. Is there real, reliable scientific research to support my claim?
An example of this could be blog-writers. Does your blog have a health/wellness niche? Are you offering readers’ advice that pertains to their health (e.g., vitamins, supplements, herbs)? Are you a health expert with accredited licensure (e.g., ARNP, MD)? If the answer is no, consider coming clean about that from the get-go. “As a reminder, I am not an expert and I recommend consulting with your doctor before adding any additional supplements to your regimen.” Then cite the original research that was used.
2. Were you, or someone you hired compensated for the claim or review?
Paid blog posts are okay, but let the reader know. The FTC recently ruled that, “Bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers.” (5) That also includes whether you were paid to advertise or try the product. Best practice? Include a note in your post. “Note: This post also contains affiliate links and I earn a commission (at no additional cost to you) if you use them to make a purchase.”
3. Is the content authentic?
Is the claim featuring real results, or are they exaggerated? Is the advertisement an accurate representation of the product or services benefits? Could the advertisements’ content be misinterpreted by someone? Here’s an example from the FTC website:
“An endorser who says she lost 20 pounds in two months using the advertised product. If the advertiser doesn’t have proof that the endorser’s experience represents what people will generally achieve using the product as described in the ad (for example, by just taking a pill daily for two months), then an ad featuring that endorser must make clear to the audience what the generally expected results are.” (5)
The key takeaway here is… transparency! Transparency sells, and people like it.
Citations:
(1) The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU). (2022). Truth in Advertising. https://truthinadvertising.org/resource/the-childrens-advertising-review-unit-caru/ (2) Federal Trade Commission. (2022). Truth in Advertising. https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_statements/self-regulatory-organizations-and-ftc/050411selfregorgs.pdf (3) AMA Behavior Expectations. (2021). American Marketing Association. https://myama.force.com/s/article/AMA-Behavior-Expectations (4) Medina, E. (2022). A YouTuber Purposely Crashed His Plane in California, F.A.A. Says. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/us/trevor-jacob-youtube-plane-crash.html (5) The FTC’s Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking. (2020). Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking (6) In Final Court Summary, FTC Reports Volkswagen Repaid More Than $9.5 Billion To Car Buyers Who Were Deceived by “Clean Diesel” Ad Campaign. (2020). Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2020/07/final-court-summary-ftc-reports-volkswagen-repaid-more-95-billion-car-buyers-who-were-deceived-clean
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