Responsible Addiction and Recovery Marketing

Marketing is a competitive and dynamic field that must evolve to continue getting people’s attention. That can lead some companies to engage in less-than-savory marketing practices that may grant an edge but are harmful. 

These practices are hazardous when directed at those living with addiction or working through recovery. That’s why ethical marketers, like those at Content Journey, focus on developing responsible addiction and recovery marketing.

At Content Journey, we follow our guiding principles for all mental health and addiction marketing. These principles ensure that we work to reduce stigma and protect potentially vulnerable audiences while connecting people with the help they need and deserve.

Responsible marketing is critical to building and maintaining long-term trust. That’s always important, but especially so when speaking to a potentially vulnerable population. By designing your marketing to speak to the true needs of your audience, you can operate effectively and ethically while building a relationship with potential clients. 

Word of mouth and social currency are challenging things to come by, but if done well, responsible marketing builds true brand familiarity. That turns into brand loyalty when paired with a fulfilling, meaningful client experience through the full process. At the same time, deceptive or unethical marketing tactics negatively impact clients and will eventually be reflected on your treatment center.

There are consequences to unethical marketing, and they’re felt most keenly by those who may have been deceived. Irresponsible short-term strategies can cause long-term damage, and these negative experiences can make it difficult to break through and connect. This difficulty can be particularly true among the addiction and recovery community.

Prioritizing genuine and responsible marketing is key to connecting with these audiences meaningfully. The goal is not just to reach people in need but to positively impact their lives.

What is Responsible Addiction and Recovery Marketing?

Addiction and recovery marketing seeks to reach the 46 million people in the U.S. living with substance use disorders in a way that’s honest, transparent, and aimed to leave a lasting positive impact.

Hallmarks of ethical marketing practices include:

• Honesty. Treating the audience with respect and communicating without misleading or deceiving.
• Transparency. When speaking to those living with addiction or in recovery, the goal is to connect them with options. Be clear about your motivations and what you’re offering without resorting to manipulative tactics.
•  Avoid Aggression. Assailing an audience with aggressive advertising or marketing tactics, whether online or in person, is considered invasive and leaves a negative impression.
• Empower the Audience. Inform your audience and give them the resources to decide on their own. Empowering a decision is better than prescribing one.

The addiction and recovery journey is rarely a straight line. That’s why developing a long-term relationship with your clients is vital. You may be speaking to someone who isn’t going to take any action until possibly years later. Staying top-of-mind and helping them take the next step when they’re ready isn’t possible without sustainable, respectful marketing practices.

It also means that it’s paramount for companies and marketers in this space to consider the impact their decisions and actions have. 

Marketing to people facing one of the most difficult challenges of their lives comes with a responsibility that isn’t there when you’re promoting widgets. 

If marketers in the addiction and recovery space make false promises or fail to follow through, there may not be another opportunity to reach a person. Any ethical lapses are ultimately taken out on those people who slip through the cracks as a result, making it more difficult for someone with an addiction to find a way out.

This responsibility must be at the forefront of all discussions. There must always be a balance between business goals and the marketing strategies used to attain them, but the responsibility in this field lies primarily with those in need. If companies and marketers pair that with continued accountability to their audience, there are also long-term business benefits.

Building Trust and Credibility Through Responsible Marketing

I’ve referred to the audience here as “the addiction and recovery community,” and that’s broadly accurate. But the reality is that there are millions of people at different points along their personal addiction and recovery journeys, and they fall into dozens of diverse groups and backgrounds, each needing their own message.

When reaching these communities, one size doesn’t fit all. The first step to any marketing effort should be an earnest attempt to understand what needs a specific community is facing and tailor the message and delivery from there. Beyond traditional metrics like demographics or location, there are some additional considerations when marketing to the addiction and recovery community.

• Stage of the Journey. Are you speaking to those living with addiction but not seeking treatment or those who are actively seeking assistance? Tailoring this message to your intended audience helps you prevent coming off as patronizing.
• Resources Needed. Not everyone can access the same resources to follow up on your message, even if received. Be sure you’re communicating something realistic.
• Importance of Trust. Never forget that the single most valuable thing you can gain through responsible marketing is trust. Trust is crucial with the addiction and recovery community, where vulnerable people are often taken advantage of and may be wary of any communications as a result.

Once ethical marketers can reach their intended audience, they’re left with an opportunity to impact someone’s life. When speaking to the addiction and recovery community, remember that any follow-up action may come days or weeks later, and increasing the pressure on the audience via aggressive marketing will backfire.  

Connecting the audience with informational resources and the chance to learn something they didn’t know works. Whether that’s short instructional videos about taking physical care of others in an emergency or simply providing ways to contact recovery resources, removing barriers for those living with addiction has shown to be effective.

Responsibly marketing to these communities also helps remove the stigma around seeking help, a significant barrier to those living with addiction. 

The nature of addiction leaves people looking to find a way out, and the perceived embarrassment around seeking help prevents many from taking action. Marketing to these communities actually helps people. 

Effective Strategies for Responsible Recovery Marketing

Digital marketing is key to reaching today’s audiences. That means addiction treatment centers must consider what information people seek and how best to deliver it to them online. 

Again, the principle of respect applies. Don’t bombard your audience with late emails, early morning texts, or other forms of aggressive marketing, and seek constant feedback from your audience about how your message is connecting.

Digital formats, including social media and website content, also offer an opportunity to specifically showcase the power of storytelling in recovery marketing. With the rise of short-form video and the means to easily produce it, in addition to more traditional forms of marketing like newsletters, marketers can share recovery stories directly from those who have experienced it.

An excellent example of this is the stories of recovery shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These short video spots can be edited down to clips for social media, and they center the person sharing their recovery story. Putting a face and a name to a story that resonates with many and doing so in a way that respects the experience without shame is critical to removing the stigma around seeking help. In all these ways, it’s an example of how marketers can share stories of recovery to connect with those seeking the same for themselves.

Of course, any time you share someone’s face or name, you want to make sure they agree and understand the impact of the loss of anonymity. But you also can tell these stories in ways that protect potentially vulnerable people by providing only first names in the text or creating videos that don’t show faces or provide names. 

These strategies can be tweaked over time to better serve specific needs. By tracking whatever indicators you feel are most important, whether that’s clicks, sign-ups, or key information being retained, you can define which parts of your message are being well-received or need more work. 

While performance indicators are key to business goals, remember that traditional marketing indicators should be considered along with larger factors, like the overall impact the marketing might make on people seeking recovery.

Let Content Journey Guide Your Addiction and Recovery Marketing

In the same way that bad actors using unethical marketing tactics damage the credibility of the entire field, like-minded partners can lend each other credibility and reach. All of this combined shows that you can market ethically to the addiction and recovery community. That’s our goal at Content Journey. Contact us today, and let’s talk about how we can partner to help people in need.