Ethical Marketing Policy

Last revised January 2023.

Why Ethical Marketing

At Pour'd Drinks, we understand marketing is about creating connections with your target audience by providing genuine value. That's why our strategies are built on honesty and respect for people's personal data - it just feels right! In addition, we've created a policy statement to ensure everything we do meets or exceeds industry standards – so rest assured that you could trust us when looking out for your best interests in marketing.

We Commit to Honesty in Marketing

We pledge to promote with integrity, ensuring our marketing stands for the truthfulness and nothing less than that. We're here to serve you honestly each step of the way!

We pledge to:

  • Never use dishonest marketing tactics for any of our marketing communications, including:
    • False advertising: exaggerating values and benefits of our products and services
    • Fake or overly doctored reviews and testimonials
    • Any negative comments about any competitor
    • Claims of being the best without reputable evidence to back
  • Never "cherry pick" specific data points to use in marketing and communications that are not representative of a client's overall impact.
  • Not withholding negative information or data from the public solely to protect our brand's image.
  • Only use words that are realistic descriptors of the products, services, or impact we are promoting.

Ongoing Project-Based Reflections

At first glance it's simple to think we're doing honest work, but the truth is that being truly forthright requires a lot of discipline. We challenge ourselves every step of the way when managing campaigns - from strategizing through implementation and beyond - by always asking "Are we staying true?". Honesty takes effort — are you up for the task?

Questions we ask ourselves:

  • Are we clearly communicating our product value without exaggerating or misleading our key audiences?
  • Are we using language that honestly communicates our products' features and benefits?
  • When we share reviews or testimonials, are we accurately quoting our customers and team?
  • Is there internal pressure to communicate false information within our marketing and communications coming from team members or the leadership of your company or organization? If so, we will push back or disengage from the project.

We Commit to Rejecting Impact Washing

Impact washing is like a wild game of hide-and-seek where businesses try to trick us by exaggerating their social and environmental good deeds. In reality, they're hiding the fact that their business model causes negative effects on society or nature – not cool!

 

Impact washing is a broad topic that includes:

  • Exaggerating impact by inflating numbers, cherry-picking data, or focusing on stories that aren't representative of overall outcomes;
  • Communicating false promises or making unrealistic claims about expected results;
  • Sharing stories or creating impact initiatives that aren't rooted in an authentic mission or intention for good–but purely for the marketing benefits;
  • Using a social impact initiative to distract from negative social or environmental problems caused by their core processes, products, or services.

We pledge that our campaigns:

  • We are sincere and transparent about our work's social and environmental impacts.
  • Review marketing and communications strategies and tactics to ensure they are not engaging in impact-washing.

We Commit to Cultural Sensitivity

Crafting meaningful marketing campaigns isn't just a job - it's an art form! To ensure messages aren't hurtful or inappropriate, we must stay aware and open-minded during the creative process. Including perspectives from different types of people can help create thoughtful messaging that resonates with everyone.

 

We Commit to Permission-Based Email Marketing

Seth Godin's permission-based marketing isn’t your typical spam-filled inbox. Instead, it focuses on the recipient and making content that is utterly relevant to them! It combines personalization with anticipation in a way sure to make any marketer smile – all while maintaining respect for their opted-in status.

We pledge to focus our email marketing on:

  • Creating value within any free content (including videos, recipes, blogs, social media posts, etc.),
  • Being GDPR compliant
  • Maintaining the trust of email lists by continuing to offer value and restricting messaging to content related to the original opt-in intent.

We Commit to Ethical Digital Advertising

Content is key when it comes to advertising, but that doesn't mean you should sacrifice accuracy and ethics for attention-grabbing ads. Here at POUR'D, we believe in being upfront – honest content brings lasting success!

Digital advertising has revolutionized the way brands reach their audience. But if we're not careful, it can come at a cost - data privacy! Sophisticated tracking technologies like Facebook and Google give advertisers incredible granular targeting capabilities, allowing them to hone in on exactly who they want to reach. With this powerful tool comes crucial ethical considerations surrounding user safety and personal information that are constantly changing as consumer attitudes shift over time. It's up to all of us involved in digital marketing make sure our practices stay legal –and more importantly– moral for everyone’s sake!

Our Approach to Ethical Advertising Includes the following considerations:

  • False advertising: This one speaks for itself. If an advertisement makes untrue claims about a product or misrepresents what is offered, then it is false advertising which is an unethical marketing tactic.
  • Websites can sometimes be like an annoying salesperson that won't leave you alone. Pop-ups, pop-unders and modal windows are common techniques used to try and get people's attention - but let’s face it: no one likes being interrupted when they're trying to browse or shop online! Despite the fact that many of these tactics offer distorted figures about how effective they really are, some websites still rely on them too heavily. If used responsibly though, modals for things such as contact forms or email sign ups can help make a user experience more enjoyable – just don’t overdo it!. Here are a few best practices for modal window use:
    • Use them in ways that offer clear value.
    • Limit how often they are used, and allow people to opt-out of modal windows.
    • Make it easy to close them.
    • If a user closes a modal window save that info so that they don't see them over and over again.
    • If a user completes a modal window for an opt-in, then you don't need to show that user the window again.

We Commit to White Hat Search Engine Optimization

If you want your content to stand out, it pays off literally and figuratively to play by the rules! While there are many ways people try to cheat their way into search engine rankings (aka "black hat" tactics), they rarely hold up over time. On the flip side, taking a more ethical approach ("white hat") with valuable and helpful information can pay massive dividends -- making sure users find what they're looking for while simultaneously winning points from those pesky algorithms.

We Practice and Encourage the Following Best Practices for White Hat SEO and Content Marketing:

  • Link building: Create valuable content that people will want to link to
  • Using PR and aligned partnerships to build links
  • Proper use of redirects to help users find the right content
  • Creating helpful, well-branded 404 pages with functional navigation
  • Put the user first, focus on value, and create content that aligns with our mission.

Black Hat SEO: Tactics that We Avoid and Discourage

  • Purchasing links – Paying for links from other websites. Links should be built organically out of merit and from genuine relationships and partnerships.
  • Automated link building – Using software or online bots to build links.
  • Hidden content and links – Intentionally hiding content or links so that only the search engines can see them.
  • Automated, stolen or plagiarised content generation – Using content scraping technology, AI content development, or direct content theft to generate high volumes of content to build your site's size and perceived authority.
  • Keyword stuffing, over-optimization – There is a fine line between manually optimizing content for SEO best practices (white hat on-page optimization) and over-optimization, which can also be called keyword stuffing. Learning where this line is from experience and a deep understanding of the latest algorithms. As the algorithm changes, the line may shift over time.
  • Misdirection – Unethical redirects: Cloaking and doorway pages. There are a variety of shady redirection schemes used in black hat SEO. These typically involve redirecting people away from long-form content into pages more focused on conversions/sales, affiliate marketing, or paid advertising. In these cases, the content that appealed to the search engine algorithm, which resulted in the high organic ranking, is not what the user sees after they click the link.

We Commit to Updating these Practices as the Industry Evolves

As technology advances, so do the expectations for ethical marketing practices. It's a wild and ever-changing world out there with Google, Facebook, and other search/social platforms rolling in new updates that could potentially blur the line between what is right or wrong when it comes to data targeting tactics. We're staying on top of all this craziness by keeping our eye on different channels and adjusting accordingly—so we can keep doing good things (the ethically correct way)!'

Questions and Feedback

At our company, making sure we're doing the right thing for our clients is always top of mind. Our ethical practices are one way that shows how dedicated we are to this effort - but don't just take it from us! If you feel there's something more we can do better or have an opinion on what else would help, please drop us a line using our website contact form! We'd love to hear your ideas and feedback =)

  • To request more information.
  • To provide feedback
  • To access, edit, or delete the personal information we may have about you.
  • To register a complaint.