Marketing Doesn’t Have to Be Evil

Short version:

Some marketers are evil. All they want is money. They don’t care how they get money, or how they get money for their clients. They don’t care about morals, authenticity, reputation or karma. But marketing doesn’t have to be evil. It can be authentic, honest, open and useful.

Long version:

Marketers have a bad reputation. Why? Maybe it’s because they often prioritise selling over ethics. Maybe it’s because they use sneaky, manipulative gimmicks to increase sales. Maybe it’s because they are relentless with their marketing messages, rarely stopping to listen.

Marketing is not inherently evil. Marketing does not begin from a default position of evil. Marketing has become loaded with negative connotations, but all it means is offering a product or service – originally the process of taking your farmed produce to the market, where you would sell or barter it for money or goods.

Now, assuming that your products and services are not evil, and that they are genuinely useful things that people want or need, and can derive some benefit from, then offering those things for sale (marketing) can’t be evil.

I’m working on a guide to selling on the web, which won’t contain a single evil idea. All of the advice will be nice ways to sell genuine products in an authentic way.