Crossing the Line with Online Marketing Techniques

In a world over-filled with products and services that must be viewed as unique to get attention and sales it is, well, mediocre, to follow standard marketing formulas. Being different and daring is encouraged in the business world and often hugely rewarded but where do you draw the line. 

There is a fine line between ethical and unethical practices in online marketing. Here are a few examples of tactics that might be considered unethical. What do you think?

Questionable Marketing Tactics

Realize that your marketing strategy might be negatively questioned – and your business could suffer the repercussions - if you misuse one of these tactics. Of course, there may be value in shocking your customers, so this in not necessarily a “Do Not Use” list, but more of a “Think Twice” list:

• Fluffing up the truth to be more than what it really is
• Being misleading, or involved in something that could be perceived as a bait-and-switch or trick
• Fake testimonials
• Marketing to children with any type of hard sell or unhealthy products
• Encourage credit purchases to those that cannot afford to pay, then making a profit on interest
• Selling with sex
• Using health scare tactics

Attracting Customers on False Pretenses Equals Unethical Marketing

The first stage of your marketing plan may be to drive more traffic to your site. Potential customers will feel burned if they think they are coming to your site for one thing (e.g., free plans) only to find a big sales pitch. Here are just a few examples of questionable techniques used to draw website traffic:

1. Using article-spinning software to change the words of existing articles enough to pass them as unique content and avoid web spiders that look for duplicate content for search engines.
2. Frivolously posting on other people’s blogs with meaningless content just to drive people back to your site. Using poorly engineered software that will post on other blogs and forums.
3. Including irrelevant reciprocal or affiliate links in your content or asking other irrelevant pages to list your link(s).
4. Creating trick banners that say that you have won a prize, or look identical to your operating system alerts.

Create a Clear Hook to Set Yourself Apart

Set yourself apart with out-of-the-box techniques that are not blatantly unethical. One good way is with a few great buzz words and a hook. Buzz words do not always have a clearly defined meaning, but by using what is hot in the moment and tying that to your industry, you can pull in people looking for something that is new, unique, and related to what’s going on.

Using a hook will help establish yourself as an industry leader. People will remember you based on your hook, and they will repeat it. Here are a few tips for creating a killer hook for your business:

1. Keep it short and focused.
2. Be positive. Enthusiasm is contagious.
3. Consider humor. People like to know that a business has a good sense of humor.
4. Rhyme it, if you can do it tactfully.

Stand Out Amongst the Clutter

Controversial marketing techniques will never end and I am not even recommending that you use them. This is simply a discussion. What I can recommend is that you do your best to stand out amongst the clutter like the guys who set up the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Marketing Stunt in January of ‘07, which, for some ridiculous reason sent the Boston police into a frenzy. I believe the network had to pay a hefty fine but there are a million other ads and marketing efforts I don’t remember at all. 

Here’s more academic view (pdf) of ethical and regulatory responsibility in advertising.

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