4 Important Ethical Attributes for Field Marketing Campaigns

 

Effective Field Marketing campaigns can work wonders for promoting brand image and individual product awareness. However, without due consideration of the potential ethical complications of a campaign, the associated benefits can quickly be lost and you can even cause significant damage to how the public perceive your company. Brand reputation is one of the first things to consider when adopting any field marketing scheme and how ethical your brand appears to the public is undoubtedly a significant factor. Some major brands even class this as one of the most important aspects of their brand. For example, Pret A Manger is keen to use marketing to promote the ethical practices and initiatives the company is involved in to create the image of a caring and charitable company.

Without having to change the direction and image of your brand, there are several factors of field marketing to consider in order to maintain sound ethical practice. Get these wrong and you could not only cause irreparable damage to your image, but also harm the people who you should care about most in any business; you customers. Here are 4 important ethical attributes you should insure your campaign coheres to:

Honesty

Honesty is perhaps one of the most important factors in advertising is also one of the easiest to get wrong. Making sure your field marketing schemes don't promise more than your product can deliver is vital in retaining the trust of the public. Whether they're demonstrations, samplers or leaflets, honest claims and product descriptions prevent customer dissatisfaction which can tarnish the reputation of your brand.

Target Market

Some markets are more susceptible to marketing practices than others. Any field marketing campaign should have a specific target market in mind, it is worth being careful that your campaign doesn't target a demographic that is seen to be more vulnerable than others. Companies have got into hot water in the past for aggressively targeting the elderly in face-to-face marketing. By using unethical techniques such as this, it is possible to encourage people to purchase goods or services they may not need or want. This is certainly an unethical practice and should be avoided at all costs when crafting your campaign.

Privacy

With digital media playing an ever more important role in partner to field marketing, many people are becoming increasingly concerned about online privacy. Many companies collect and store personal information such as email addresses and phone numbers for use in their campaigns. Should your campaign collect such data it is of vital importance that you take the proper steps to ensure that the data is secure and not being sold on to others. This is not only correct ethical practice but the law. For more information on what this may mean for you, have a look at the DataProtection Act.

Controversial Marketing

Another ethical aspect to consider when formulating your marketing strategy is whether your scheme will be controversial or offensive. While edgy or 'out there' campaigns can prove to be very successful, it's important they don't cross the line and cause offence; what may be amusing or entertaining for your target demographic could be seen as hurtful or inappropriate to others. One form of controversial marketing that is not only unethical but often illegal is 'negative marketing'. Negative marketing is where companies discredit rival brands or products in order to promote their own. This can be seen as petty and distasteful in the eyes of the public and should not be considered as a viable marketing tactic.

While it is possible to avoid the pitfalls of unethical field marketing on your own, it may prove beneficial to seek the help of a professional marketing company, such as www.cosineuk.com who have built up a vast wealth of experience by managing various campaigns for multiple companies.

 

Why it Pays to Keep Field Marketing Ethical

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I'm a strong believer that Field Marketing, much like any other industry, should be conducted ethically with profits never taking precedent over the treatment of customers, clients or employees. However, it's important to realise that being ethical doesn't necessarily come at the expense of profits - in fact keeping things ethical can actually have a positive effect on the success of field marketing and business in general.

Firstly it's crucial to remember that unethical business practices can be hugely detrimental to your company and its profits. Making big promises might help attract public interest but if you fail to live up to your promises then you risk leaving your customers feeling short-changed, possibly leaving them unwilling to use your business again. Also remember than making promises you know you cannot keep could also land you in hot water with authorities if your customers take issue. Hiding sneaky get-out clauses in your company small print might make sure you are legally covered but it likely won't win you any fans and may attract negative publicity, for example the Tesco iPad blunder I talked about in a previous post.

Field marketers need to take special care not to cross a line and dip their toes into murky, unethical waters. While the face-to-face nature of many field marketing techniques provides a great opportunity for savvy salesmen to persuade would-be customers to take the plunge, there are also important considerations to be made. It could be tempting to use overly-aggressive tactics to get a sale or to bully or trick a young or elderly customer into paying for something they did not want, do not need or do not understand - however such techniques come at a cost. These customers may have given your their money today but they are unlikely to return. Field marketing agencies also have their clients to consider. If a customer feels they have been taken advantage of they will take it up with the client company, something which will not reflect well on the marketing agency in question and could lead to them not being used again or even dropped immediately.

By contrast, doing things by the book and focusing on customer satisfaction can have a hugely positive effect on business. A customer who is pleased with the treatment they have received is far more likely to return and might suggest you to their friends and family. Good word-of-mouth is something that most businesses simply can't afford to ignore. The potential positives of ethical marketing have been highlighted in a report by Ethisphere detailing  the most ethical companies of 2012. Major brands like Microsoft, Starbucks and PepsiCo all appear, showing it is possible to be both ethical and hugely successful.

The fact is that while it is possible to cut corners in pursuit of a quick buck, in the long term it pays for field marketers to keep things honest. In the long term, ethical equals profitable; a fact that should definitely not be ignored.

The Importance of Auditing

Auditing is a technique which can be very helpful to Field Marketing agencies. It is surprising, then, that thorough audits are few and far-between when it comes to extended field-marketing. This article will address the merits of Audits.

An audit is a kind of self-concerned market-analysis, by which a Field Marketer can gauge the impact of a brand or campaign, and use the information to plan their next course of action. It is often divided into two categories: Internal Auditing and External Auditing.
 

An External Audit covers areas outside of the brand/agency's control, such as the economy, public concerns, the competition or even the market in-general. Such areas are important for a brand, because they must shape their campaign to fit-in with the outside world, or face a potential zero, or negative, Return on Investment (ROI). Internal Audits are less-frequent, which is a shame, as the whole idea of an internal audit is to assess one's current situation in the light of any recent campaign. In short, an External Audit is to know where you are going, whereas an Internal Audit is to know where you currently are.

Auditing, situation dependent, works by comparing results to goals (for example, actual quarterly sales to predicted quarterly sales). Often, in marketing, it also involves comparing actions (past or current) to a number of specifications. To simplify, imagine that a big supermarket chain, such as Sainsburys, has asked for an audit of its marketing campaign for a home-brand of cake. You, the Auditor, are an external agent, and thus are most likely to conduct an external audit, given that internal managers (with knowledge of the company structure) would likely be the more efficient choice for an internal audit. Some external auditing tasks require analysis of conduct against things like 'health-and-safety' or 'company policy' to ensure that a campaign does not negatively affect company reputation, as well as distributing a questionnaire amongst consumers asking them for feedback on the campaign. 

Marketing Audit

In the world of marketing, audits are often used to gauge the impact of a particular campaign. I have previously written on the subject of 'lastability' of a marketing campaign: particularly that field marketing tends to have a short-term effect on its target-audience. However, I feel that Auditing could assist in extending the 'shelf-life' of a marketing campaign. One of the reasons for marketing falling-short of targets is its failure to adapt to a changing market. Customer interests are constantly shifting, and marketing firms like Cosine (cosineuk.com/) must occasionally adjust their approach. One part of auditing, customer feedback, is especially helpful in this sense, as it not only garners feedback on the campaign, but also gives organisers an idea of the direction in which consumer interest is heading. Thus, a campaign can be tweaked, and given an artificial 'boost' to its length of appeal.

It is therefore important for Field Marketers to audit themselves, and their clients. It seems like a basic marketing skill, but a surprising number of Field Marketing agencies do not invest nearly enough in the discipline, preventing their campaigns from growing and adapting, and sometimes perhaps saddling the reputation of their clients with 'outdated' or culturally-irrelevant themes. A marketing campaign which grows and changes, cutting out obsolete content, appearing to take into-account consumer concerns, and yet retaining a memorable image is the most ideal response to a thorough audit. Take, for example, tea-distributors 'PG Tips'. The iconic image of the monkey as the company mascot has been maintained throughout recent years. However, due to feedback and animal-rights movements, the company ceased using live monkeys in its adverts, switching to using puppets. 

Compare the following commercials, and consider the implications, had PG Tips not audited their approach.

                                                                      

    

                                                                Circa 1971

                                                                  

 

 

                                                             Circa 2010

Field Marketing and Ethics

Does field marketing need to be conducted ethically? Do ethical and trustworthy business practices provide tangible benefits and is the longterm view prevalent enough to allow this most basic of business practices to shine through in the modern commercial world?

In the profit driven world of commercialism, ethics might seem like the furthest thought from the minds of some executives. When the aim is to make money, the temptation is always there to cut corners, promise lots and give little because by the time the consumers have bought the product or service it's too late, and with some crafty small print, businesses can fall back on that very well worded text to protect it's sales. So long as you're making money you can't lose; Or can you? The world of marketing when it is 'at-a-distance' is one where very few of the decision makers have to confront their customers. But in the word of field marketing or experiential marketing the people at the coal face are right there and visible to potential and existing customers. The opportunity here is only one of how much goodwill can a field marketing campaign generate towrd a brand and for what budget can this be acheived?

Tesco had an opportunity to act in a manner far outstripping the expected corporate stance recently; it was a minor clerical error with a misplaced decimal point, in their online store, that offered new iPads for £50.00 instead of £500.00. When customers flocked to take advantage of what seemed like a brilliant deal Tesco defaulted on all purchases referring to a small print clause stipulating no deal was complete until shipment. The result was that, although they breached their customer's trust, they did save lots of money on iPads not sold at 90% discount, the moment for their chance to step up came and went and the bad press has clung to them .... for a while at least. At the time of the furore there was a golden opportunity, in field marketing terms, to take this mistake and generate incredible amounts of good will and brand loyalty; face to face in every store and collection point across their considerable network of customer facing venues. They didnt choose to go in that direction and for some spectators at least a perceived opportunity was lost.

What about the long term impact of mistreating customers however? 

 

For Tesco, all of those customers who have had their transactions cancelled may very well now take their future business elsewhere. It is not only the potential iPad sales that have been lost, but all of the unhappy customers have told their friends of their mistreatment and the resultant bad feeling generated that may over time add to the negative brand impact. Word has generally been spread across the country that Tesco made a mistake and then failed to honour their 'in-error' commitment. The same goes for field marketing exercises, the wrong impression created on the day can last and reach to un-imaginable heights and lengths of time. Many of us have experienced bored, pushy or just over zealous face to face marketers in-store, on the street and at our homes, this leaves us with a concious and subconcious reaction to logos and brands that can last for a considerable time - longevity can work both ways.

Other successful businesses have proved that an ethical outlook can be very valuable. Customers like to feel appreciated and clients like to deal with agencies they can trust for their field marketing contracts. The success of entrepreneur Richard Branson is testament to this, his Virgin brand is highly prided on providing ethical, trustworthy services and dispelling the image of hard nosed, sharp suited capitalism, perhaps that's why he even has a friendly beard. 

On the other hand however, that's not to say the image of ethics is not open to manipulation. Apple, the globally successful technology company, is a remarkable success, especially popular amongst younger customers who have been known to respond poorly to the image of corporations and capitalism. Apple appear to have recognised this and the laid back, ethical image was one of the many keys to their success; whether the production methods of the company's products were representative of the same ethical approach is, for many, a good question.

Therefore field marketing agencies that can present an ethical approach will be successful, treating customers well and earning their trust for the benefit of long term loyalty. This approach is a longer term view but as the world continues to evolve and customers become more savvy, the more a company or brand can do to foster long term loyalty the better they position themselves for the times ahead.