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Ethical alternatives to advertisements for promoting a product or a service? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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We all hate ads, primarily because it is an unethical usage of our data for profits. So, if a person does not want to pay companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft, what alternatives are there to advertise or promote a product or service?

Sure, there are options like posting on online forums, groups and email marketing, but the results do not come anywhere close when compared to paid ads. Are there privacy respecting companies that provides ad placement services? DuckDuckGo uses Microsoft ads, Mojeek didn't reply and Qwant isn't available in my country.

Say, I provide a service to a specific type/group of people, what is the most efficient and ethical, and least annoying way to reach them? Say, I own a restaurant or something. How do I attract more customers? I am willing to pay, but to not data-hungry companies.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Genuine word-of-mouth by actual satisfied customer. As soon as you pay it's no longer ethical.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

I have a small software company. We don't advertise with ANYONE. All our customers are word of mouth. We promote that within our software, but few people use the referral system.

However, we got to a point where our customers have started fully referring us in online groups. They're selling for us. We've worked very hard as a small business for many years, and it feels good to hear our customers tell the communities about us.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I don’t agree. While I don’t like ads, I think contextual ads are okay. As long as they’re non intrusive