Website Advertising: 2 Legal Traps To Avoid When Writing Your Own Copy

By Chip Cooper, ESQ

If you're like most small businesses, you're likely to write your own marketing copy. Be aware that this is a highly regulated area that could result in substantial liability. Most of the regulations belong to 2 basic traps you must avoid.

What is Marketing Copy?

Wikipedia defines “copy” as written material, in contrast to photographs or other elements of layout, in a large number of contexts, including magazines, advertising, and book publishing. In advertising, web marketing and similar fields, copy refers to the output of copyrighters, who are employed to write material which encourages consumers to buy goods or services.

Web copy has one major advantage over offline copy – it is interactive. Hyperlinks provide you with powerful tools to lead a potential customer through a pathway designed by you which ultimately leads to a conversion to your call to action.

Trap No. 1: Failure To Substantiate Claims Before Publication

When you write your own marketing copy, you necessarily make certain “claims” – statements upon which a consumer may reasonably rely in making a purchase decision. In so doing, you're facing another legal pitfall.

Legally, claims are extremely important. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act, 15 USC Sec. 41-58 and accompanying regulations prohibit “unfair or deceptive acts or practices”. Unfair or deceptive acts or practices include claims that are not substantiated before the claim is publicly disseminated.

So review your ads carefully, and be sure that you can substantiate and back up your ad claims.

Here are some examples of claims and the related challenges regarding substantiation and back-up:

If you claim “best value”, understand that it's a promise that is very broad in scope – essentially, you're promising that your offer is worth more than the asking price – if you're going to make this claim, you'd better provide the proof on your site.
If you claim “we're no. 1”, you need to be very specific regarding how you determine no. 1 – no. 1 at what? – in gross sales, in sales growth for a specific period, in the number of widgets sold?
If you claim the “latest and greatest”, “next generation” or words to that effect, you should substantiate how the claim is true – explain specifically how you justify the claim in relation to other competitive products on the market.
If you claim “user friendly” or “easy-to-use”, you need to be specific regarding substantiation of specifically how much time a certain task routinely takes, exactly which steps are automated, etc.
If you offer a “risk-free guarantee”, understand that even a free evaluation is not completely risk-free because the evaluation takes time for the customer to evaluate – time is money, so-to-speak, so a better approach is to promise an unconditional refund, no questions asked.

Trap No. 2: Avoid Untrue And Deceptive Claims

In addition to substantiating claims before making them, be careful not to make untrue or deceptive claims. Certain types of claims should be avoided altogether, including:

never claim that you have a cure for anything – not even large drug companies with products that have been the subject of years of testing will make such a claim, so you shouldn't either;
never specify a level of revenue or profits that a user will achieve, even if you or another purchaser has achieved a specific level of revenue or profits – remember the old adage, “your mileage may vary”;
never promise specific results – again “your mileage may vary”.

The FTC has special rules governing any use of the term “FREE” (or similar words to that effect), which the FTC believes is frequently used in an untrue or deceptive way.

Similar words to “free” include:

- Buy 1-Get 1 Free;
- 2 for 1 Sale; and
- 50% off with the purchase of 2.

According to the FTC:

“[t]he public understands that, except in the case of introductory offers in connection with the sale of a product or service, an offer of ‘Free' merchandise or service is based upon a regular price for the merchandise or service which must be purchased by consumers in order to avail themselves of that which is represented to be ‘Free'. In other words, when the purchaser is told that an article is ‘Free' to him if another article is purchased, the word ‘Free' indicates that he is paying nothing for that article and no more than the regular price for the other. Thus, a purchaser has a right to believe that the merchant will not directly and immediately recover, in whole or in part, the cost of the free merchandise or service by marking up the price of the article which must be purchased, by the substitution of inferior merchandise or service, or otherwise.”

Conclusion

In summary, be aware that what you say in your marketing copy is heavily regulated. You need to be careful not only to substantiate ad claims before you post them to your site, but also use certain key terms with great care so as not to mislead or deceive consumers.

Here’s How To Make Sure You, Your Business & Website Is FTC Compliant

By now it should be clear how important it is for you to be FTC compliant. But how can you do that without spending $7,500-$8,000 or more on Internet Attorneys?

Smart business owners around the world are doing it with the help ofFTC Guardian.

FTC Guardian is a service that is 100% focused on helping to keep you get and stay FTC compliant and fully protected. And right now, we are offering a free training to give you the knowledge, information, and guidance that you need to stay out of trouble with the Federal Trade Commission.

The training is titled: 3 Tragic (Legal) Privacy Policy List Building Mistakes That Can Get You In Hot Water With The FTC Today – Resulting In Your Business Being Shut Down… And How To Solve It!

Here are some of the things you’ll discover on the training:

Real-Life Examples of People Who Didn’t Think They Were At Risk, But Who Got Nailed By The FTC, And Why It Could Happen To You, Too

The 3 Enormous Powers The FTC Has That Can Change Your Life – And Your Family’s Life – Forever!

How to Avoid FTC Claims When Collecting Leads With Optin Forms

3 Privacy Policy Mistakes Every Digital Marketer Is Making, And Why You’re In The FTC Crosshairs.

And Much More…

Remember: legal protection is a massively important part of your business, and it’s one you cannot afford to ignore any longer.

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Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It’s not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Neither the author nor FTC Guardian, Inc. is endorsed by the Federal Trade Commission.