Marketing your business
Good marketing helps you get customers for your business and build strong relationships. Make sure the marketing you create is clear and straightforward.
Before you start marketing your business, it is a good idea to find out more about your prospects. For example, you can do market research to find out who your customers are and how you can best solve their problems, survey different sectors, and investigate how your main competitors are doing. If you are not sure how to get your message across or which channel is best for your business, contact a business advisor.
Free advice at NyföretagarCentrum
Be clear in your marketing
All your marketing must comply with the Marketing Act and you must design it so that it is clear that it is marketing and not information, facts or anything else. It must also be clear who is responsible for the marketing, and it must not be misleading. The aim of the Marketing Act is to prevent misleading and aggressive marketing.
What is misleading marketing?
Marketing is misleading if it does not contain important information, if it gives false information or if the information is unclear. It may also be misleading if the key information is provided in an unclear, incomprehensible, ambiguous or other inappropriate way.
More and more companies are communicating their sustainability efforts. It is important to substantiate your claims. You should be able to explain how a product is “climate-smart” if your company claims this in its communication.
What information do you need to include in your marketing?
The Marketing Act sets out requirements for how marketing may look and what information it must contain. The information requirement means that you must provide information in your marketing that may be of particular importance to a consumer, such as information about the product's content, characteristics and price. The law does not contain a complete list. It is up to you to make your own assessment.
There are also more detailed rules on information requirements in other laws, including:
- The Price Information Act (in Swedish)
- The Act on Distance Contracts and Off-Premises Contracts (in Swedish)
- The Electronic Commerce Act (in Swedish)
Prohibited marketing practices in the Blacklist
The Marketing Act contains a blacklist of 31 prohibited marketing practices.
Prohibited marketing methods on the Riksdag website (in Swedish)
Anyone who violates any of the 31 prohibited practices risks paying a market disturbance fee of between SEK 5,000 and SEK 5 million.
If you fail to follow the law
If your marketing violates the law, the Swedish Consumer Agency may contact you to tell you that you need to change your marketing to bring it in compliance with the law. If you do not voluntarily change your marketing, the Consumer Ombudsman can refer the matter to the Patent and Market Court if you cannot reach an agreement. The Patent and Market Court may prohibit you from continuing your marketing, or require you to provide certain information in your marketing.
Do you handle personal data?
If you process personal data in your business, for example if you have employed staff or a customer register, you are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Data protection in the EU at the European Commission