Staying Ethical In Direct Mail

When determining the best marketing solution, many businesses often wonder the same thing: is using direct mail ethical? The short answer is that direct mail advertising is indeed considered ethical by most of society, but only if certain enumerated rules are followed in the transmission of the said mailings.

When looking into the ethics of direct mail, the first result you will most likely stumble upon the website of the “Direct Marketing Association.” Abbreviated DMA, this organization, similar to a “watchdog interest group,” manages the rules adopted into the business of direct mail marketing. If you are sending out the mail yourself, it is very important to make sure that you adhere to all of these guidelines, or a lawsuit or worse could take place as a result.

If you are hiring a company to send out your marketing flyers, it is also imperative that you make sure that they are following these guidelines, although most companies hire professionals who would never break these said ethical guidelines.

You may find the word-for-word copy of every DMA guideline on their site – www.the-DMA.org. This article, however, will go over some of the most important points that you may not have thought of or known before.

One rule that many organizations often break while engaging in direct mail advertising is Article number ten of the DMA handbook. This states that a business may not disguise an offer as an invoice. Doing so is considered very unethical, and your business could perhaps end up in an undesirable state as a result.

Another commonly broken article of the DMA handbook is Article number three, outlining the ethical rules regarding “Clarity of Representations.” This article says that any pictures included must resemble the actual product.

Many businesses will provide for grandiose expectations, only leading to disappointed customers who cannot return the merchandise once it is opened. If you feel that you need to “bolster the appearance” of your goods in direct mail to sell them, it probably would be a better idea to redesign the product so you will both not risk a lawsuit for misleading advertising and get returning customers as a result of your honesty.

You should always remember that your customers will not trust your business if they cannot even trust the direct mailing you send out. While disguising your advertisement as an invoice may get more customers to open your mail, you are only hurting your business by doing so. Customers will open it, wondering what it is, only to be quasi-surprised by an advertisement inside. They will likely be angry and disregard the information, thus making the money you have spent a complete waste. Likewise, they will not buy any other goods from you if the information in your marketing flyer is to the contrary of the actual appearance of the product at hand.

Always remember that direct mail marketing can be done ethically, but it must be your decision to do so.