06 Feb The Proper Legal Way to Market and Advertise Your Business Online
One of the best things about internet marketing and advertising is that even if a person is running their business from their garage, they can market and advertise around the world. But with that powerful advantage comes a lot of responsibility. So, my post this time talks about “best practices for internet marketing and advertising” and the Legal Way to Market and Advertise.
Failure to adopt these practices can lead to serious fines from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Following is a synopsis of the FTC regulations and rules that make your adoption of best practices vital to your business’s growth and financial security.
Rules to Advertise and Market Your Business on the Internet
The purpose of the FTC is to protect the consumer and promote competition. Above all else, your advertising and marketing online must always be truthful and all claims your company makes online must be substantiated. So, what exactly does this mean?
1. If the intent or effect of your marketing and advertising is consumer deception, you automatically fail any test of best practices for your company’s messaging.
2. What is consumer deception? It is any practice that misleads consumers and has an affect on the consumers’ purchasing decisions about a product or service. Your claims may be thought as deceitful if you leave out important information about your product or service, or claims, as mentioned earlier cannot be substantiated.
3. All disclaimers and disclosures should be easy to read and understand.
4. Product demonstrations, such as a video online, must show how your product performs under ordinary use.
5. Your company must honor any refund promises that it made in its advertising.
6. Children present special needs for advertising and marketing online as they may be unable to evaluate the claims you make in your advertising. In fact, the Council of Better Business Bureaus has a special unit known as the Children’s Advertising Review Unit, known by most by its acronym CARU. For those of you who advertise to children, they have developed special guidelines for advertising to children.
The above list is what you need to make your customers and potential customers trust your brand – be it a store, a product, or a service. The last holiday season saw tremendous growth in online buying, so both the number of consumers online and the number of advertisers and marketers online continues spiraling upwards. The FTC has made it clear that the same rules and regulations that cover advertisers and marketers in print, on television, or on the radio will be applied to the internet marketing space.
Webociti is your one stop for all your internet marketing and advertising needs. Call my office today to find out how we provide our clients with responsible, legal, and effective online marketing and advertising the legal way to market and advertise. Call today 678-892-7157 or use our online contact form.
Until next time,
Joe
