If you run your own business in the UK you may be aware of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that is the independent regulator of advertising in the UK. They regulate advertising across many forms of media including the printed press, radio and television and you may have heard of some of their rulings where adverts have had to be withdrawn after complaints.
What you may not know is that from the 1st March 2011 their remit has been broadened to include websites (and the quaintly named “other non-paid-for space under their control”). This means that if someone complains about the marketing on your website, in your wordpress blog or on your twitter or facebook pages for example the ASA have the right to look at the marketing and if found not to be legal, decent, honest and truthful and that the advertising misleads, harms or offends then they have the power to demand that the advertising is changed or withdrawn.
What does this mean to you as a business with a website? Well if I take some examples (and please bear in mind that these examples and applications of the rules are mine and not the ASA’s) from typical website statements :-
- You will get top place rankings in the search engines : misleading as no one can guarantee that you will get top place rankings in any of the search engines.
- Free holidays, just pay the tax, return flights and an admin charge : this is not truthful, if the holiday is free then you should not have to pay anything.
- Earn £1,000 a week by working for an hour a day using our software : certainly misleading as it is extremely unlikely.
- You will save tax if you use us as accountants : probably misleading as not everyone can save tax
- We are the best at …. : really?
As you can see, many of these statements appear on the web and possibly on your own website – you can say that you think you are the best at what ever it is you do or that you think your product is the best but unless you can prove it you should qualify the statement.
Now may be the time to take a look at your website (and any facebook pages / twitter messages / external blogs or other pages that you control) or any advertising on websites that you do and make sure that it abides by the regulations, if not and someone complains, be ready for the phone call from the ASA saying that you have to change it.
And finally…
If your online marketing and advertising is decent, honest and does not mislead you have nothing to worry about.