ETHICS - THE BEST FORM OF MARKETING

Every organization starts with the purpose of fulfilling the desires and needs of people. Companies are born when they understand the customer needs, find the gaps in the industry, provide the target group with their services and then promote their activities and products so as to reach to maximum customers. But there comes a time in the life-cycle of every organization, where extensive marketing is not needed for brand recognition and retaining customers. The main factor which creates a place in the minds and hearts of consumers is the ability of the company to serve the people ethically and responsibly.

One of the biggest examples of a company being responsible and morally correct towards its consumers is the recall of over hundred thousand vehicles, due to defects and malfunction, by automobile giants Toyota. Toyota recalled many vehicles from across the globe to rectify the problems detected by them, because for the organization, the safety of its customers was its prime priority. Despite the financial instability caused due to recalling of such a huge number of vehicles, Toyota went ahead so as to be morally correct towards its own principles. This benefitted Toyota as it generated a lot of goodwill and was able to gain the trust and loyalty of its existing as well as prospective customers. Thus, by managing to make customers their priority in the real sense, and facing a few financial hiccups by being ethically correct, Toyota reached people with the unimagined but best marketing strategy.

Similarly, Cadburys and Pepsi took responsibility and apologized to its customers, when its products were found to be unsuitable for consumption due to the presence of worms and pesticides respectively. Although this incident hurt the companies in the short run in terms of sales, but in the long run it enhanced their image of being morally accountable.

On the contrary, organizations which lack vision and are afraid of short term losses, try to avoid the customer problems by hiding their unethical practices. This however, backfires in the long run due to which not only their customer loyalty reduces but the overall image of the company is damaged beyond repair.

Therefore, extensive branding, marketing promotions or using celebrities as brand ambassadors, are beneficial for organizations in attracting customers into purchasing their products. But by being emotionally attached with your consumers, making their problems yours and doing things which are ethically correct, would generate respect for the company's brand, and would be the best marketing strategy.