Picture this: You’re a content marketing writer, and you’ve been tasked with managing your shipping company’s social media accounts. Not only that, but your manager makes it clear that you’re expected to increase business—significantly—through your activity.

Gulp. No pressure.

As you’re plotting a social media strategy, you ask yourself: What would make me want to give this company my business? It seems like a worthwhile question to ask, and several things come to mind. Among those, you realize, is guaranteed same-day shipping.

Now you begin drafting posts highlighting the fact that your company is so fast and reliable that customers can expect their shipments that day!

But then you remember that there was an order last week that was large enough to necessitate next-day shipping. And one from this morning that is complicated enough to warrant an extra day—at least—in processing. And there are a number of regular clients who need shipments to various locations, which always delays results.

The bottom line? Your company is very good at getting shipments out diligently. But it simply can’t guarantee same-day shipping.

Now you find yourself in a pickle. Why would anyone get excited about a company that promises diligent work? Every company promises diligent work. You want your company to stand out.

In a situation like this, it can be only too tempting to fudge—only a little, you tell yourself. After all, most of the time, your company does manage same-day shipping. So, it isn’t a lie. If anything, it’s…optimistic. It gives your company something to shoot for. And it will definitely increase business. And that’s definitely a good thing.

So, it isn’t unethical, surely.

Right?

Reasons Behind Unethical Content Marketing Schemes

The scenario described above is an example of why it is so crucial to hold your organization, and all of its members, to a high ethical standard.

It’s easy, of course, to dismiss unethical content marketing practices as glaringly obvious, designed by greedy individuals with cartoonishly beady eyes.

Maybe they’re chewing on a cigar, too, while they write their content. Maybe they boast a tough guy accent and even a trench coat, like a gangster in an old movie.

Maybe some of these unethical content marketing issues are designed by people exactly that obvious.

But many of them aren’t. Many of them are designed by people who are just as altruistic, just as forward-thinking, just as other-centric as anyone else. The pharmaceutical company that hides the 8% of trial patients who had a negative reaction to its newest cancer therapy—in favor of the 92% who got better. Or the environmental thinktank that funds important research—and offers its CEOs private jets to fly to international conferences. Or the law firm that takes on low-income clients and papers over the questionable practices of its founding partners.

The content writer in each of these cases might argue—maybe even accurately—that the greater good, and certainly the company’s bottom line, is better served by promising more than it can deliver and hiding questionable practices.

So, they might find themselves in situations in which the benefits of stretching the truth—the new business, the boost to their bottom line, and the increased awareness of their platform—seem to outweigh the costs—the inchoate, fuzzy, icky feeling that’s easy to ignore and the possibility of being found out after the fact (which, after all, probably won’t happen).

Maybe it would help to gain a better understanding of what, exactly, is at stake.

Why should content writers care about ethics?

Anyone who took Ethics 101 in college understands that having, and living by, good ethics enables individuals and societies to flourish.

But what about people who missed that crash course, or who even—gasp—just aren’t motivated by the idea of a life well lived?

Luckily, ethics applies to them, too.

Studies abound that show ethical content marketing is just good business.

According to this overview from the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business page: “Companies that operate with high integrity perform better financially, gain more trust with stakeholders, and are more sustainable. The actual return on investment for a company that operates with integrity at its core is quite high.”

The statistics don’t stop there: Studies show that ethical behavior makes up 75% of consumers’ overall trust in businesses, meaning that your company’s behavior is likely to be even more important to potential customers than its competence!

Wintress Odom, founder and CEO of The Writers for Hire agrees: “If [your business] does the wrong thing, your consumers will find out; they’ll be mad at you, and they won’t want to buy from you.”

In this age of lightning-fast, international, multi-pronged communication, the stakes are higher than ever before. One tweet, if it goes viral, can bring down entire corporations. Who can forget the 2017 United Airlines incident, which—thanks to cell phones and social media—reached an international audience and lost the company $1 billion in less than two days?

United Airlines’ trouble in 2017 proves another of Odom’s points: “Consumers are driving the charge to make sure [unethical practices] don’t happen. With the new media—with, basically, any individual being able to be a journalist—[companies] have to be a lot more careful. It’s a lot harder to sweep things under the rug.”

The bottom line? Whether or not you actually consider yourself an ethical person, if you’re reading this, you’re probably a member of some kind of organization. If you have anything to do with the content marketing of your organization, you should never forget that your public persona is a significant portion of your marketing scheme.

It’s just the nature of the beast in today’s marketing world. 

Is your content marketing plan an ethical one?

At the beginning of this post, you imagined yourself developing a content marketing plan that would increase business. But as you’ve now seen, anyone can just write content (even the trench coat-wearing, cigar-chewing, tough guy with the beady eyes). Integrating your organization’s high ethical standards, and doing it well, is the next step.

Izea.com defines ethical content as being “honest, transparent, thorough, original, authentic, valuable, respectful, creative, and accurate … [and making] for more engaging content.”

This makes a focus on ethics a no brainer for any organization. The following are a few tidbits to keep in mind when creating your ethical content marketing plan.

First, remember that pulling information, insights, and statistics from a wide range of sources, instead of relying on only one or two, corroborates your content.

As an added bonus, it will also give your consumers a more comprehensive understanding of your topic.

Wouldn’t it be great to use your marketing plan as a way to help your consumers become better informed?

Talk about a way to build trust!

Second, offering your consumers more bang for their buck is also a good strategy. Izea.com highlights IKEA as one company that does this well. Its website features informative, engaging blogs and videos. This is not done in an effort to “hard sell consumers, but instead [give] them information they can use.” Don’t worry—you don’t have to be fronting a massive, international company like IKEA, but following their lead in offering value to consumers is a great way to build trust and highlight your business’ ethical considerations.

Third, it goes without saying—hopefully—that ensuring accuracy, accountability, and respect in all content is a must. Even if a huge promise will gain business, failing to follow through is sure to haunt you. As Odom points out: “At the end of the day, it brings in customers with unrealistic expectations. Then you have an unhappy customer, and you have an unhappy team. Everyone’s unhappy in that situation! And for what? It’s just not worth it.”

Finally, in all of this, be sure not to lose your company’s unique voice, as Izea.com points out: “Customers want to engage with authentic content.” In other words, reward your customers for making such a good decision to engage with you and not your competitors. Give them something unique—whether it’s uniquely funny, uniquely informative, or uniquely beautiful.

Whatever is special about your business, let it shine through. Doing so will ensure the authenticity of your content, deepen your relationship to your customers, and make them more comfortable about staying loyal to you.

So, how do I put this all together?

Okay, content writer. You’ve addressed the issue. You know the whys of ethical content marketing. You’ve seen the statistics and imagined worst-case scenarios. Now it’s time to put it all together.

How? It all comes down to one word: communication.

Communicate with your team, whether you oversee a staff of dozens or occupy the lowest rung on your department’s ladder.

Develop, or help to develop, a style guide that includes best practices for various scenarios and then ensure that every person responsible for content creation has access to it.

Finally, develop a process by which content goes live only after it’s been vetted by someone well-versed in your company’s ethical standards and guidelines.

Following these steps, says Izea.com, will help establish “a culture of pride in the quality of your content.” That pride will come through to consumers, making them much more willing to take the next step and give you their business.

In the end, it all comes down to this: Develop ethical content. Save the world.