As ethical marketers we commit to communicating with honest and transparency in our marketing for our own campaigns and for customers, artists and partner driven projects. We continue to build a place of trust and connection with customers sharing our values and offering a meaningful product that supports our community needs.

We pledge to:

• Never use dishonest marketing tactics for our marketing campaigns, including:
• Fake or overly doctored reviews and testimonials.
• Inflated analytics or highly particular data points when creating messaging for advertising and communication that are not representative of our overall impact.
• Communicate our product and service’s value without exaggerating or misleading our key audiences.
• Only use words that are realistic descriptions of the products, services or impact we are promoting.

As a team we constantly ensure our efforts are honest by continued discipline and open discussions that may involve internal conflict that ensure honest marketing is met.

To ensure this we ask ourselves the following:

• Are we clearly communicating our product or service’s value without exaggerating or misleading our key audiences.
• Are we using language that honestly communicates the features and benefits of our products and services?
• Are we accurately quoting our customers, partners, and team when we share reviews or testimonials?
• Is our use of data and examples honest and accurate when promoting our features, benefits, or the impact of our products and services?
• Is there internal pressure to communicate dishonest information within your marketing and communications coming from team members or the leadership of your company or organisation? If so, we will push back, bring it to attention or disengage from the project.

Impact washing is similar to greenwashing and happens when a business exaggerates their positive impact to gain a marketing advantage or uses “feel good” marketing to cover up or distract from negative outcomes that their core business model is having in other areas—socially or environmentally.

As part of working towards a B Corp certification, we to commit to explicitly rejecting this practice. 

• 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:

• Are fully honest and transparent about the social and environmental impacts of our work.
• Review marketing and communication strategies and tactics to ensure that they are not engaging in impact-washing.

Many marketing campaigns and messages have the potential to be insensitive. It takes a combination of self-awareness and inclusion of others in the creative process to avoid marketing campaigns that are insensitive.

We pledge to reject:

• Non inclusive communications in our campaigns.

We pledge to:

• Take steps to avoid any exploitation, appropriation, or stereotyping of underrepresented or historically oppressed people or groups within marketing content.
• We commit to educating ourselves on deeper understanding to increase awareness of cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness, in the product creation and responsible marketing.
• Seek out feedback on the appropriateness and sensitivity of marketing content. This looks different for different projects, but often involves working with the client to seek stakeholder input, and engaging the target audience via surveys, focus groups, or interviews.

The term “permission marketing” was originated by marketing thought leader Seth Godin in his 1999 book by the same name to describe marketing where the recipient of the marketing messages provides permission to receive marketing materials. 

We commitment to providing permission-based email marketing.

• Ensure email pop up has a double sign up (opted-in) and clear and easy unsubscribe terms on all email content.
• Creating value within free content (including blogs and social posts etc)
• Maintaining the trust of email list continuing to offer value and restricting messaging content related to what the original opt-in intent.

Information is clearly stated across digital advertising. Extra information is easily available. If an advertisement makes untrue claims about a product or services or clearly misrepresents what is being offered then it is false advertising, which is clearly an unethical marketing tactic. 

We aim to always be accurate, ethical, and honest. 

• Information is clearly stated across digital advertising. Extra information is easily available with links to content.
• Pop ups and modal windows – are used in ways that offer clear value – incentive on sign up.
• Limit how often they pop up is 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 repeatedly.
• If a user completes a modal window for an opt in, then you don’t need to show that user the window again.

We vow to put the user first, focus on value, create content that aligns with our values and mission.

The ethical practices we follow for SEO and Content Marketing: 

• All content shared provides values to our customers. If items are gifted to our interviewees, we will always state this.
• We do not work with paid advertorials.
• We do not purchase links. Any links used are organic and align and support the content shared with collaborators and real relationships. 
  

We can all expect for ethical marketing practices to continue to evolve along with the technologies marketers use to discover, reach, and engage audiences. 

• We will continue to update our systems as per bcorp requirements and Industry updates.
• As a team we will continue to monitor the state of the field across different marketing channels and tactics and update our practices accordingly with online training and sharing information within the team.
• We will openly take on feedback and act accordingly.

Transparency is an ethical best practice. We encourage and invite to follow up with questions and offer feedback by emailing info@nancybird.com and the appropriate person will respond to you within 48 hours.