top of page

Thought Experiment: 3 Ethical Design Solutions for Marketing

Updated: Mar 1, 2022





Problem: Truthful and accurate copywriting that is good search engine marketing but also doesn't spread misinformation. For example, selling essential oils. Medically speaking, it does not cure diseases or ailments but smells good, leaving people to feel better. What are some ways to write copy that is engaging but not harmful?


Solution: Search engines love original content. Look to the thesauruses for interesting adjectives and other descriptive languages to describe the product. Search engines also love answering peoples' questions. Include a "FAQ," "how to use," or "dos and don'ts" section on your packaging, website, and social media. For example, you are selling lavender-scented essential oil for a diffuser used to freshen the smell of a room. Here is a sample text:


"Experience a relaxing lavender farm in the comfort of your living room. Just two drops in the diffuser, and your living room will smell calming, clean and fresh."


This text doesn't include any misinformation; it describes how a person might feel and what they think about when they smell a particular smell. Paint a picture with your copyright. It doesn't have to be life or death all the time with products and services. And if your product or service is life or death dependent, show certifications and/or verifications and make them easy to find.




Problem: There are too many platforms to sell. These platforms need to make money, so they spam the audience with the same ad or commercial. This can anger and annoy the client. How do I sell my product or service without annoying potential clients?


Solution:

Step 1: Determine where your target audience spends their time. Not everyone is on every platform. Choose platforms where posts or videos related to your field have the most engagement: conversations, likes, follows, etc.


Step 2: Create different types of posts/videos. For example, one can explain how a product is used or what is involved in the services you are providing, while another is a testimonial about how successful the product or service was.


Step 3: Check to see if you have control over how many times a day the ad will pop up on each platform. For example, YouTube allows the placement of your ads: beginning, middle, or end of a video, and Facebook business pages will enable you to boost your post, which will allow it to pop up more than once.





Problem: I can't afford a professional photographer or web designer. How do I use templates and stock photography that accurately portrays my business?


Solution: Most everyone has a modern phone with a camera that can take decent pictures. If you don't have one, ask to borrow one from a co-worker, relative, or friend. For products, take your product and put a blank piece of paper behind it. This can make a decent product shot that you could place on your advertisements until you can hire a professional to take more precise, more dynamic shots. If your product is in the middle of being developed, look for free or low-priced mockups that come as close as possible to the packaging. A couple of free or low-priced mockup websites I like to use are https://creativemarket.com and https://www.freepik.com. As for web building, there are many free web builders out there: https://www.wix.com , https://www.squarespace.com , https://wordpress.com , etc. The only downside to these free web builders is that the free versions have their branding visible in some regions of your site, and certain features are limited or blocked behind a paywall. This is okay if you are starting, but eventually, you will want to create a budget to remove them later. You can temporarily use your social media as the primary source to sell.

5 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page