The Essentials of Ethical Marketing
Examining and developing intentional marketing methods is an important step for anyone wanting to practice business consciously.
Conscious marketing is not the current norm for business owners to practice, making it all the more important for conscious business owners to not only learn what it can look like to approach marketing consciously, but also how to implement conscious marketing practices into their organization.
Marketing consists of the actions business owners take to promote and sell their products or services. Creating a marketing strategy goes far beyond simply developing content to post on social media. A marketing strategy consists of many factors, from identifying your business goals, vision, mission, and purpose… to researching and understanding the industry you are a part of as well as the community you want to be serving. Conscious marketing strategies call us to examine and meaningfully craft our messaging in a way that fully considers our community’s current as well as future needs.
When we focus on weaving ethics into our marketing strategies, we establish moral principles that govern our behaviors and actions. Taking a conscious approach to marketing is about moving beyond the sole focus of “how can I profit?” to “how can I best serve and support my community in an honest, ethical, transparent, and compassionate way?” When we switch out of traditional marketing approaches that we commonly see business owners upholding and into conscious marketing approaches that are rooted in ethics, we claim our social responsibility. Practicing marketing in a socially responsible way is all about making sure that our actions meet the present needs of our community as well as our business while also preserving and advancing the needs of future generations. Conscious marketing has us considering the impact we are making on people today as well as how our actions will make a mark on the world in the future. The goal of conscious marketers is to promote and sell in a way that also creates wellness, sustainability, and an environment of equity. The best interests of the community we serve, society we are a part of, and world we belong to are all taken into consideration just as much as our own personal interests as business owners.
Marketing and its impact on people
If we are to practice conscious marketing, we must consider the very impact marketing has on people. By asking ourselves whether our marketing approaches serve the interests of the very people we are marketing to, we can begin to reveal what our intentions are as marketers and whether said intentions are healthy for those we are promoting and selling to. We must also examine how we may be causing harm toward those we are marketing to, whether it be consciously or unconsciously. It’s impossible to be completely harmless with our efforts as business owners, but when we are working to practice conscious marketing we must commit to consistently analyzing how we could potentially be causing harm to others.
Harm could be being caused through taking actions such as:
unethical pricing models
deception or manipulation marketing tactics
pressure selling
false advertising
exaggerated storytelling
unsafe or exclusive offerings
planned obsolescence
poor service
performative marketing
creating false wants
creating an obsession with materialism and overconsumption
establishing an environment of cultural pollution
leaning into scarcity tactics
taking a savior marketing approach
….and many more examples are possible for us because unfortunately the above marketing tactics are all too common of practice!
Taking a conscious approach to your marketing efforts calls for taking responsible actions… and its up to both the business and consumers to be responsible.
Creating a culture of empowering marketing does ask business owners to transform their approaches to marketing. Yet, it also asks consumers to change their consumption habits. Conscious marketing is an all hands on deck effort where the business, consumers, society, and the planet are all protected. As business owners, we are often taught to focus on protecting ourselves. Yet, as conscious marketers we must ask ourselves “Who is protecting consumers?” and “Are our business practices creating sustainability for the future of people and the planet?”
Some things you will want to begin questioning within your business:
selling processing and selling decisions
advertising processes and decisions
what barriers of entry there may be to your products or services
what your product and service processes and decisions are
what your pricing standards and practices are
what your packaging and service or product delivery processes are
what your messaging is and whether it is ethical, transparent, honest and compassionate
how your organization is potentially causing harm due to language, imagery usage, or approach to marketing
what your business goals, mission, values and vision are and how your marketing reflects them
“Good ethics is a core aspect of conscious marketing. We must admit to ourselves that unethical marketing tactics harm society and the planet as a whole and commit to establishing new marketing policies as well as standards with the hope of reducing said harms. When we embrace ethical values as conscious marketers, we put priority on marketing in a way that is fully transparent, honest, responsible, fair, compassionate, and ethical.”
Types of marketing to practice if wanting to integrate conscious marketing principles:
Consumer oriented marketing: The consumers point of view is deeply considered in all marketing efforts, where the market commits to sensing, serving and satisfying the current as well as future needs of their community.
Customer value marketing: Building consumer loyalty, relationships and trust is hugely emphasized and done so by continually improving the value being given to your community. Being of value is what drives marketing efforts so to create an environment of reciprocity.
Innovative marketing: Making constant improvements to your products, services and marketing efforts as a way to consistently commit to harm reduction and ethical business practice. Having the willingness to change, learn, unlearn, and grow is a necessity for conscious marketers.
Sense of mission marketing: Shifting out of a self centered or product/service focused mission and into a mission that incorporates broader social purposes helps conscious business owners weave ethics into their marketing approaches. When promoting and selling no longer is just about making a buck, but is about making more meaningful impact on people and the planet, your marketing tactics will naturally become more considerate of the influence you have on people and the planet.
Now that we understand what conscious marketing is and why it is so important, lets discuss the key aspects of establishing an ethical marketing strategy.
As mentioned above, establishing a marketing strategy is much more than just creating content and sharing it on your social media accounts. Bringing strategy into your marketing efforts helps business owners to become more deliberate, thoughtful and ethical with their promotion and sales efforts. A lack of strategy can easily leave room for a lack of ethical business standards and practices. The more strategic we get as business owners, the more meaningful our business actions become.
Establishing ethical marketing strategies depend on the type of business you are running, the goals of your business, and how you personally wish to grow your business. A marketing strategy will look different for every single business, therefore there is no one size fits all way to establish them.
Here are some core things you want to begin defining so to begin establishing ethical marketing methods.
market research
pricing
targeting
social and environmental considerations
quality
value
messaging
branding
promotion channels
offering development
offering delivery
Creating an ethical marketing strategy for your conscious business will have you establishing a thoughtful, human centered journey for your community to go on with you.
It will have you not only determining what you are going to say and do to market your products and services, but how you will get people to see your marketing and how you will nurture relationships with those who are a part of your community. A marketing strategy will have you defining how you understand your community, reach your community and connect with your community. When we weave ethics into the way in which we do so we put the wellbeing of those we are here to serve and impact at top priority, fostering an environment of inclusion, accessibility, respect and equity between the business owner and consumers.
Looking to weave ethics and sustainability principles into your marketing efforts within your business? We’d love to help!
Check out our resource library that is part of the School of Business with a Conscience Membership, where you can gain instant access to classes, training, and tools that can support you in beginning your journey with practicing conscious marketing! Would a more hands on and high touch avenue support you better in establishing conscious marketing methods? Reach out to Natalie Brite to learn more about her business and project development services!
Until next time…
Natalie Brite <3
