The Ethical Marketer

During the past few years one topic that's really appealed is the idea of ethics within the world of SEO and digital marketing in general.

At one point I felt that it would be really interesting to reach out to a few people and ask for their thoughts on various topics of note - not just ethics but things that often fall by the wayside when talking with other SEO's and marketing specialists.
I settled on the name "The Ethical Marketer" but I'm not sure if ethics does really cover the whole spectrum of things I wanted to talk about here. Things like:

Being more sustainable (and how can I reduce my carbon footprint?)
Being more inclusive and encouraging a more diverse digital marketing community
Working with ethical, green brands or "for purpose" brands
Finding your purpose as a digital marketer

I'd also like to make it abundantly clear that, in doing this series, I by no means consider myself as being "the most ethical marketer" - however you would go about defining that term. This wasn't my goal at all in starting this feature - I simply like the idea of trying to encourage more people to talk openly about some of these topics, as well as giving others a platform to talk about their work and thoughts.

I hope you find these mini-interviews as interesting as I did when I first began thinking of questions to ask these experts - whether they're copywriters, search marketers, web developers, designers - I think we can all learn a thing or two from the brilliant people I've spoken to below.

Thanks to everyone who is reading or who has participated in one of these interviews!

The Interviews

Below you will find the interviews I've carried out to date. Note: I'm slowly adding more interviews here, don't forget to bookmark / revisit to read more!

Content Strategy for B2B Brands – an Interview with Content Marketing Strategist Rebekah Mays

I've been aware of Rebekah Mays for a while now, and have always enjoyed reading her thoughts on sustainability and environmentalism. Whilst I honestly can't remember how I first became aware of her, I was really interested to hear how she had transitioned to working with sustainable and impact-driven brands in her role as a content strategist at Thrive Copywriting. Rebekah is from the United States originally but moved out to the Netherlands several years ago - and this was another point of interest for me personally - having lived outside of my own home country for several years now.…

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Marketing for Purpose-Driven Businesses – an Interview with Maria Soleil

Interested to find out what it means to work with purpose-driven businesses? "What even is a purpose-driven business" I hear you calling out from behind your screens - surely every business has a purpose? In this edition of the Ethical Marketer I spoke with Maria Soleil of Soleil Marketing, a marketing consultant based in London. I wanted to hear her thoughts on transitioning to work with businesses that "do good" to people or the environment, and to get her thoughts on a range of other business and environmental issues, knowing first-hand how passionate Maria is about vital issues like climate…

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Ethical Copywriting – An Interview with Joe Clarke of Snail Studio

Joe Clarke is a very talented writer that I first encountered in the Digital Marketing Union (DMU), where admittedly I've been lucky enough to rub shoulders with many other skilled and ultimately very, very, nice people. This is vital if you're working remotely in digital marketing or a similar field; having access to a community of like-minded people. I was always really impressed (and slightly jealous!) of Joe's brilliant ability to articulate his thoughts and ultimately, through his work, to help other businesses really crack their tone of voice and bring things to life. Speaking to Joe it's clear he's…

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Ethical SEO and Agencies – Interview with Natalie Arney

I was over the moon when Natalie said yes to the opportunity to speak with me here in my series about Ethical Marketing. She's someone I've followed in the SEO world for a while now, and always impressed me with her ability to stand up for the various things she's clearly very passionate about 💪. Not only is she a champion of many very worthy causes, but she's a brilliant SEO - and (like myself) thinks of herself as a bit of an all-rounder, allowing her to cover lots of ground in her role as an SEO consultant. If you're…

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Ethical Copywriting – an Interview with Sally Fox

I'm really excited to finally be launching my new "Ethical Marketer" series with the help of Sally Fox, a copywriter from the UK that now operates under the Lumen and Fox brand, and who like me is also based out in Spain. I first became aware of Sally via the DMU, and her being based not only in Spain but also in Galicia (kind of the county equivalent) I was always keen to keep in contact with her. When I first had the idea to do a series that interviews other people who work in a similar field as myself…

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Matt's Musings on Ethics, Sustainability, and other topics

Sometimes I like to put pen-to-paper (in digital form) and write about topics relating to ethics, sustainability, and other less covered but still important areas within digital marketing. By no means am I an expert on any of these topics - I just really like to explore them, and ultimately to learn more about them. I'm always very interested to hear the perspectives from others too - so do join in by adding a comment or sending me some feedback.

What does it mean to be an ethical SEO?

I've been thinking on this one for a while - what is it that makes an SEO consultant ethical? Or what does it even mean to be an ethical SEO, if it is even possible? I'd decided that in the end, as with many things in life, the answer is fairly complex. Nothing is as simple as it's often made out to be. In this piece I'm going to explore what I think it means to be an ethical SEO. I by no means feel this is a shut case. I believe, as with many things, it's very open to…