Whether you’re marketing a product, a service, a person, or an entire organization, one thing is certain – you will need to market. But how do you market ethically, and more importantly, what is ethical marketing? Business is a world of its own filled with coaches and consultants teaching the “close the sale” or the “be a shark” mentality. Ethical marketing isn’t a “hot” topic, a buzzword, or even a term that would be considered mainstream. But engaging in ethical marketing brings a ton of value to the recipient and it’s also a much more fulfilling way to reach your end goal as a marketer.
Today on the Launchpad Blog, we’re discussing ethical marketing and why we at New Moon Strategy don’t “sell” our services. We’re going to dive into our ethical move pledge, what our approach looks like, and even discuss some personal development and manifestation topics, as presented by our sister company, New Moon Holistic Life.
Defining ethical marketing & The Ethical Move pledge
If you’ve read any blog from the New Moon Enterprises house of brands, then you probably know that we work differently. We’re focused on fulfillment, passion, purpose, and conducting business with integrity. For us, this means not trapping people in contracts. This means under-promise and over-deliver. Ethical marketing means being a good human, and being considerate of the person’s time and money. Ethical marketing means being incredibly cognizant of the fact that business only STARTS at closing the sale. Ethical marketing is about the greater forces at play in a business transaction – the relationship. First of all, consider how you would feel if you felt pressured to put your life savings into a marketing project to *potentially* grow your business. Imagine how you would feel if that business relationship started by you feeling like you were pressured, or worse – forced – into making a decision that you weren’t comfortable with. This is part of the “hustle” and “shark” mindset of the current business landscape. It’s about scaring you into making a decision. But all around the world, this is changing.
Enter The Ethical Move. The Ethical Move is an organization that aims to create a new standard of marketing based on transparency, trust, and honesty. The ethical move is a beautiful initiative that helps small businesses and consumers alike, all while creating a community around this notion of integrity in business. The Ethical Move calls it like it is: utilizing psychological manipulation to close a sale is unethical. They have a pledge that anybody can take, and it’s about becoming a part of the movement. The pledge has seven components to it, requiring that one commit to not engaging in: charm pricing, countdown timers to drive sales, false scarcity marketing, lead magnets, bait and switch marketing, leveraging social issues to drive sales, or acting as if one’s product or service contains industry secrets. We’re very proud to have taken the pledge! The Ethical Move is a fantastic organization and you can read more about them and their pledge here: https://www.theethicalmove.org/pledge/
Our Approach to Sales & Marketing
All of this ties in with how we do business with all of our brands, but especially with our full-service digital marketing agency for health & wellness businesses, New Moon Strategy. Our focus is, put simply, on being an authentic, genuine human. We don’t consider anyone a “lead” and we don’t sell. We grow our businesses and find clients by networking. That means we don’t take a 30 minute meeting to try to sell someone and close a sale, we use it as an opportunity to learn about them, their business, and their goals. We learn about what drives them and what their vision is for their brand. We take an active role in listening, first. Then, when it’s time to talk about ourselves, we simply explain what we do. We know that the person may need our services, but we don’t push that on them, we don’t imply that they should buy, etc. We introduce ourselves, we talk about our value and expertise, we talk about best practice marketing and getting things done properly, the first time. We talk about our passion for helping others and helping people improve their quality of life. In short, we make what we do known, and let people know that we’re there if they need us, but we don’t beg for their business. This approach is about being human – people don’t want one more advertisement fighting for just a little bit of their time, nor do they want the discomfort of having to repeatedly turn down an offer.
So, I know what you’re thinking – “Does that actually work?” YES. Our intentions are focused on building a network of health & wellness business owners. We learn from them and we have our own value and expertise that we can offer them, but by creating authentic relationships, people build trust. Trusting us means that they’re willing to come to us and ask for more information, they’re willing to do business with us, and they’re willing to refer us to others. Being genuine and authentic and conducting business with integrity brings unbelievable value, because people appreciate authenticity. Furthermore, by expanding our network, we know an infinite pool of people who could benefit from our services – we trust that they will come to us when the time is right for them.
Listening first gives you a better opportunity
The other important component here is listening. By listening first and holding a genuine curiosity about the person that you’re networking with, you create a supportive, comfortable environment for them. This means that people are willing to open up and be vulnerable with you, which means they’re more likely to trust you and do business with you. When you engage in deceptive selling, you can’t be good for your clients, because you didn’t take the time to listen to them, hear their needs, and know how you could serve them best. Listening first means that people are more likely to talk about their family, their hobbies, or a vacation, etc. All of which adds a more personal element to your business relationship – it makes it more fulfilling, too.
Growing your business happens internally, too
Ethical marketing and our approach to selling are an important topic in manifesting and the law of attraction as well. These are concepts discussed more thoroughly on The Healing Corner Blog at New Moon Holistic Life, but the relevance in business is incredibly apparent. Let’s reiterate – do you really want to start a business relationship by pressuring someone so that you can close a sale? Let’s go deeper, why do you want to pressure people? The answer is fear. Many people are living in this fear that if they don’t close the sale, they won’t meet quota, they won’t get the business they need, or they won’t be able to pay their bills. It’s not that these fears aren’t real, it’s that their decisions are being made with this same fear. In comparison, if you conduct your business and your sales techniques with the understanding that if you are being authentic, providing value, and believe in your business’s mission – then no matter what, your clients will come, and your sales will come. You will do just fine by simply being yourself. At the core of all of this, is confidence, and being comfortable with your relationship with giving and receiving.
Does this approach work? Yes. It works unbelievably well – we meet about three to four new people every week, and oftentimes, one of them becomes a client within a month. People come to us because they have a deep appreciation for how we do business. We’ve discussed our approach, we’ve discussed The Ethical Move, and we’ve discussed confidence, the law of attraction, and giving and receiving. But let us leave you with this: change your perspective. You’re not “hunting for clients,” you have valuable products or services to offer that they may or may not want to purchase from you, but you’re just meeting people.
Utilizing ethical marketing and conducting business with integrity speaks for itself, and that means people refer their own network to you. This creates the ripple effect needed to write your success story.
For digital marketing services from New Moon Strategy, contact us.