Ethical Marketing Policy.

We commit to being transparent, honest and accurate in all marketing communications. That means:

• No misleading claims, inflated results or over-promising
• Clear, accessible language that avoids jargon or manipulation
• Representing our services, case studies and impact truthfully, including the challenges as well as the outcomes
• We’ll never use pressure tactics, scarcity language or emotionally manipulative phrasing to drive engagement or conversion
• We’ll never partake in false advertising, exaggerating values and benefits of our services

The way we market reflects who we value, and we’re committed to making sure that includes everyone. As a team we constantly ensure our efforts are honest by continued discipline and open discussions to ensure honest marketing is met. We do this by asking the right questions, for example:

• Is our language clear, honest and transparent?
• Are we accurately quoting our clients/customers when sharing reviews and testimonials?
• Are we clearly communicating our services without exaggerating or misleading our audiences?

As a business committed to doing social and environmental good, we refuse to use marketing to promote work, partnerships or tools that don’t align with our values. 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, whether socially or environmentally. As part of working towards a B Corp certification, we commit to explicitly rejecting this practice.

We commit to:

• Not supporting industries or clients that contribute to environmental harm, discrimination, surveillance capitalism or exploitative labour
• Only taking on projects we believe in, and that includes how they are communicated
• Never greenwash. If we talk about our environmental impact or sustainability, it’s grounded in facts, accountability and progression.
• Only sharing stories that create impact initiatives that are founded on the business’s authentic mission, vision and values
• Never use a social impact initiative to distract from negative social or environmental problems

We commit to treating people fairly, equally and without prejudice. To avoid marketing campaigns that are insensitive or biased, a culture of self-awareness is promoted, and multiple parties are always involved in the creative process.

We commit to:

• Take steps to avoid any exploitation, appropriation, or stereotyping of underrepresented or historically oppressed people or groups within marketing content
• 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
• Ongoing internal training to increase awareness of cultural sensitivity and inclusiveness

Ethics in marketing isn’t just what we say, it’s also how we gather and use data and where we show up. Permission-based marketing is where the recipient of the marketing messages provides permission to send them marketing materials. Another way to describe this is that they have opted into receiving marketing messages.

We commit to:

• Ensure any email pop-up has a double sign-up (opt-in) and clear and easy unsubscribe terms on all email content
• Creating value within free content (including blogs and social posts, newsletters, etc)
• Ensuring compliance with GDPR

In the world of SEO and content marketing, any tactics that are considered manipulative or unethical are typically referred to as “black hat” tactics. On the opposite end of this spectrum, you’ll find ethical or “white hat” SEO tactics based on providing valuable and useful content that aligns with what users and search algorithms are looking for. At Hive IT we put the user first, focus on value and create content that aligns with our values and mission as a company.

Our practices are as follows:

• Focus on value and only create content that aligns with our values
• Link building by creating valuable content that people would want to link to
• We do not purchase links. Any links used are organic and align with and support the content shared with collaborations and real working relationships
• We don’t use bots or online software to build links

We don’t claim to get everything right, but we are committed to learning, unlearning and evolving. That includes:

• Regularly reviewing our content through an ethical lens
• Keeping up with the best practices around inclusive design, ethical storytelling and responsible use of data
• Running internal audits of our marketing materials to check for tone, bias and accessibility
• Creating space for feedback from colleagues, clients and audiences and acting on it

Marketing should be meaningful. It should reflect who you are, not just what you do. At Hive IT, we use marketing to share ideas, spark actions and help build a better world, where people and planet matter just as much as profit. This policy is designed to further our commitment to doing the right thing by our clients. We welcome any questions or feedback you may have to help us continue to improve. If you have any feedback or questions that you would like to share, you can do so by emailing us at info@hiveit.co.uk, and a relevant person will get back to you.