(Newswire.net — September 17, 2017) — Ryan McAweeney is a household name amongst marketing communities throughout the United States. The veteran advertising executive gained prominence by opening a top tier digital marketing agency in San Diego a decade ago. Since his entry into the industry, McAweeney has been able to forge a reputation for being an astute innovator in the direct marketing game. He’s adapted over time from being an expert in radio and print marketing, to a pioneer in the digital advertising sphere. His ability to adapt and understand new trends is one of the keys to his success. Now McAweeney is speaking out about a new trend he has seen in the marketing industry – unethical marketing.
McAweeney recently spoke about segments of the marketing community have been increasingly using technology to utilize unethical marketing techniques. He believes this has a negative impact on the consumer, and reflects badly on the advertising industry.
“There has always been unethical marketing in the industry – you’ve seen it since the dawn of advertising,” McAweeney says, “But the problem is that it has been able to be amplified through the use of technology and other modern components. It means that people using unethical marketing techniques are able to take advantage of consumers on a much larger and effective scale.”
These techniques include guerilla marketing, the wide selling of faulty products, misuse of customer data, and cloaking advertisement graphics on social media. McAweeney claims that social media has made these techniques even more profitable, as you can pinpoint and target specific user groups with ease. In fact, using unethical marketing techniques may be easier now than ever because social media companies are able take the burden of cost away from the advertiser – companies can pay a small fee for advertising access to pre-determined segments.
Regarding guerilla marketing, McAweeney stated: “Guerilla marketing isn’t always unethical – but problems arise when you use certain techniques. Certain things such as using fake viral content, or promoting disinformation in order to instill fear in consumers is unethical – but we are seeing it grow as a technique throughout the industry. It’s important that advertisers know that this form of marketing isn’t beneficial to society as a whole.”
Creating false paranoia may seem like commonplace in the marketing community – but it isn’t if you are doing so with the understanding that you are spreading false information. Bringing someone awareness regarding a certain danger is different than creating a false danger in and of itself.
The wide selling of faulty or incorrectly described products has also increased with advances in technology. “It’s very easy to sell bad products now,” McAweeney says, “Because of how well you can present products in videos and photos it has become increasingly easy to sell sub-standard or faulty products to a large number of people. On top of this, you don’t have to have any real credibility – you can sell a large amount of product quickly and then move on to something else. These ‘pop up shops’ are all over social media.”
Individuals are buying products directly through companies on social media rather than through larger retailers. These products can sometimes be faulty or produced in other countries with low restrictions or protocols. This can also make certain products dangerous. Electronics coming from Asia that have not been certified can create real problems for individuals and even cause injury or harm from malfunction. McAweeney claims that taking on clients who sell these products is unethical in nature.
“What you have to ask yourself is whether or not the product you are selling offers any real value to the customer,” McAweeney says, “It’s hard to build an ethical marketing platform around a product that doesn’t provide any advantages for its consumers, especially if that product is dangerous or malfunctioning. That’s why I’ve always worked with clients that provide real products that need an extra edge on the sales side.”
Technology has proven problematic as well. Technology has increased the capabilities of advertising agencies but it has also meant that people have been able to use it to their advantage. It has become a double-edged sword for consumers and producers alike. Online social media companies attempt to prevent nefarious marketing techniques, but computer programmers are also efficient at getting by these methods. In recent years, advertisers have been able to use a form of ‘cloaking’ on platforms like Facebook and Twitter in which they convince the social media provider that they are uploading a different advertisement than they are. This allows them to use guerilla marketing that may trick consumers into purchasing goods.
“Technology has been so great for advertising,” McAweeney says, “We’ve been able to do all new forms of segment targeting, and it’s great for consumers too as they are given the ability to see more products they want to – gone are the days that a 21-year-old is marketed life insurance policies. But on the other hand, there has been a huge amount of fraud and unethical activity that has resulted from producers using this technology against consumers.”
But this isn’t necessarily a producer driven problem, there are plenty of great companies that employ marketing firms who then use unethical marketing techniques to help sell their clients’ products. This has the potential to put an individual’s brand at risk without companies realizing they’re in bad hands. By employing an unethical advertising company, you’re putting your entire business model at risk, explains McAweeney. It is now more important than ever that companies are fully aware of the individuals they are hiring to promote their products. They’re an extension of your brand, and have just as much power to ruin it as you do.
On the other hand, McAweeney believes that marketing firms must also be vigilant about the products they market, and resist the temptation to take short cuts that may result in unethical marketing. “The short road is often easiest,” says McAweeney, “And that’s why we see so many people using these techniques, it’s way easier to create high sales in short bursts if you use unethical marketing. And that’s the last thing that you should be doing if you consider yourself to be a passionate about advertising – have pride in your work and test your techniques until they’re effective.”
The sudden passion regarding unethical marketing from Ryan McAweeney has actually been a long time coming. He has observed the recent downfalls in the marketing community and felt the need to try and put his voice into the arena. It’s not every day you have a top executive in an industry attempting to rustle feather as much as McAweeney has. But his reputation affords him the ability to call it how it is.
His ten years at building up one of the biggest San Diego agencies has been characterized by success after success. The company started with two primary partners, and has now grown to a large firm with over $4 million in annual revenue. While still considered a boutique marketing agency, the company has landed some of the largest contract in the California region. McAweeney has attempted to make San Diego the marketing hub of the West Coast – hoping one day that the city will rival some of the firms in New York and London.
“I like the idea of San Diego becoming a marketing hotspot for the West Coast of the United States,” McAweeney says, “Currently when you have young graduates who want to work in marketing you can predict they’ll want to move to New York, or maybe even London, but no one considers coming out to the West Coast – I think you’ll see this change in the next decade as San Diego and Los Angeles have growing advertising industries.”
When speaking to McAweeney you can tell that marketing is truly his passion. His comments about his unethical rivals in the industry don’t come out of competition, but instead from a true desire for advertising agencies to be viewed as legitimate and productive members of the economy.
“Advertising often gets a really bad reputation, but it shouldn’t,” McAweeney explains, “There are plenty of great marketing companies that provide real value to the customer. Advertising isn’t about making a person buy something they don’t want – it’s about making an individual aware of a product that fills their preferences. If advertising agencies didn’t exist there would be plenty of products that you use today that you would be completely unaware of – think about if no one ever told you that an iPhone existed, you wouldn’t be able to purchase one.”
McAweeney joins a growing number of entrepreneurs and personalities that warn of the danger that technology can bring to both the world and various industries. The next few years will be vital in seeing whether government and other regulatory bodies have the ability to prevent nefarious use of technology on wide scale. If not, you will see a severe lack in consumer confidence across various segments, which has the potential be damaging for large portions of the economy.
If you would like more information on Ryan McAweeney and how he may be of service to you or your company, head to his personal consulting website at – http://ryanmcaweeney.com/