According to Hatten (2012), ethical issues in marketing tend to arise as a result of disagreements or conflicting opinions on a particular issue.

According to Hatten (2012), ethical issues in marketing tend to arise as a result of disagreements or conflicting opinions on a particular issue. Principally, the involved parties in marketing transactions have a set of expectations regarding how business relationships and transactions will be conducted. Based on this established expectations and guidelines, the marketing strategy can either result in successful product/service advertising or its failure. 

The first area of ethical concern that I will put into consideration as a small business owner about marketing practices is avoiding false claims about the purpose and importance of the product/service with the aim of enhancing business sales. Although this aspect enhances business sales, it is ethical to establish one’s business based on honesty. For instance, it is essential to inform my consumers the quality of products and services rather than lying to them so as to attract more consumers (Kumar & Mokhtar, 2016).

Another essential aspect of ethical marketing practices is effective market grouping. This aspect is essential since it results in stereotyping that shape undesirable attitudes and beliefs and subsequently affect marketing behavior (Kumar & Mokhtar, 2016). For instance, making an assumption that all individuals like a certain product or service and making the entire advertisement based on this belief. This can be a costly mistake since not all individuals in the selected target populations are intrigued by the selected mode of advertisement. Moreover, such individuals feel that the company is bias based on the mode of advertisement.

Another area of ethical concern that I will put into consideration is effectively dealing with competitors. It is apparent that a majority of companies tend to advertise cheap prices as a mode of attracting more customers from competing companies that offer similar products and services at a relatively higher cost. It is essential to device effective marketing strategies that will not pose a significant threat to competing organizations, particularly based on product/service quality.