10 Marketing Rules and Best Practices That Will Keep You Out Of Trouble

Want to know what the FTC and other government entities say about marketing? Well, what’s written in black and white can usually be summed up as “don’t lie.”

Unfortunately, all too often lies are passed off as “marketing.” While some lies aren’t necessarily lies – such as “We’re the best ever!” – other lies ARE lies…like “Lose 10 pounds in two weeks and eat whatever you want!”

If that explanation isn’t clear enough (and I don’t think it’s clear at all), then here are 10 marketing rules and best practices for all businesses to remember. They’ll keep your company clean and out of trouble:

1. Don’t advertise results that aren’t typical.

2. Disclose any paid testimonials.

3. Have a clear and easy to read privacy policy.

4. If you have a written warranty, there are some very specific formating rules you have to follow. See the FTC’s website for details.

5. Be smart with email.

• You must have documented proof of an “opt-in” in order to send someone a marketing email
• Every email you send must have a business name and physical address
• Every email you send should have a clear and obvious “unsubcribe” link, and your unsubscribe process should be brutally simple. If you require someone to login to cancel their email, you’re probably not in compliance

6. No tricks. Many marketers have recently abused the “continuation” or “auto-renewal” model in the following way:

1. They offer a service or product “trial” for an extreme discount. As part of the trial offer, consumers are required to submit a credit card number.
2. Automatic enrollment in a subscription program without warning after a certain amount of time has passed. Once the trial period ends, the consumer is charged as a full-time subscriber.
3. The subscription cost is exorbitant. A teeth-whitening product, for example, is given away on a “trial” basis. Once 7 days have passed, the consumer is automatically subscribed for $90 a month. However, the retail value of the product is $20. This extra $70? Profit.

Technically this marketing tactic follows the letter of the law (for now). However, many regulators have targeted this practice because, fundamentally, it’s nothing more than a trick.

7. Be mindful of tracking and sharing user behavior. It’s entirely proper for a business to track how visitors interact with their website. However, sharing that behavior information can be dangerous if it’s not handled properly. If you’re a mom-and-pop site, the easy answer is “don’t share user/usage data.” If you’re a big company thinking about sharing behavior info, stop reading this post and call your in-house legal eagles. They’ll know what to do, and it will probably involve some sort of privacy notice update mailer just like the letters I get from the credit card company every few weeks, LOL.

8. There are no shortcuts in marketing. Some business owners are always looking for the shortcut that will make them a lot of money without doing a lot of work. The thing is, most shortcuts don’t work. The ones that do? They often border dangerously close to breaking the law. Do it the hard way and you’ll be better off (and it will always work too).

9. Make it easy for your customers to complain, and listen to them when they do. Diffuse complaints before they get too big and you run little risk of drawing regulatory interest.

10. Use the old “What Would My Mom Say? / How Would I Explain This To My Kids?” rule. It’s shockingly accurate.