Understanding Marketing and Legal Implications

Marketing is a complex dance of creativity, numbers, meeting deadlines and innumerable “little things.” But what if you happen to miss one of those little things? Like the precise definition of what makes something legal under Washington State law? Ignore this, and you could be facing consequences from an unhappy client or stakeholder.

Marketing requires an understanding of what makes people “tick” – how a tiny universal principle can turn the average Joe into a loyal customer. But what happens when you start dealing with more than one region or culture, and you’re faced with different laws from state to state? You’ve got to be up to date on those laws. As an example, Washington State does not recognize common law marriage.

Ad agencies, digital marketers, content creators – all need to understand the implications of the law, especially when it comes to marital status, in order to effectively target your desired market. This creates a trickle-down effect that eventually gets passed on to the consumer or client. When you’re creating an article about common law marriage, or a marketing campaign, or any other content that could have real-life implications for a target group, understanding common law marriage in Washington should be high on your list of questions to ask.

The question of whether Washington State recognizes common law marriage should be high on every marketer’s list of questions to ask. The reason for this is the simple fact that you do have specific groups of people for whom this is a practically important piece of information. The last thing you want is for them to read your advertisement and think, “Hey, do I actually need to sign a marriage license with my partner?”

The impact of being “wrong” in your copywriting can be financially devastating. A major marketing publication has estimated that companies spend upwards of $724 billion annually on corralling their ads and websites for errors. That includes omissions, like failing to mention that Washington State does not recognize common law marriage.

This is why it’s a good idea to stay up-to-date on region-specific legal issues. You never know when you’re going to come across a subject that might be problematic, or might not be of interest to the target client.