Article 2: The Ethics of Self-Promotion

by Brian Forrester
Copyright � 2005 by Brian Forrester.  All rights reserved.

As we travel the Internet today and see many great sites, we find many new award programs wishing to establish themselves in the award community.  The new award program may feel that, in order to establish themselves, they will need to promote their program using self-promotion.  While self-promotion can be advantageous to the program, we must first examine the ethics of this venture.  In order to fully understand what this entails, we must first understand what ethics and self-promotion actually mean.

Ethics is defined as:

1) Plural but singular or plural in construction: the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation.

2) A set of moral principles or values; a theory or system of moral values concerning the present-day materialistic ethic; the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group (professional ethics); a guiding philosophy.

Self-promotion is defined as:

The act of furthering the growth or development of something, especially the furtherance of the acceptance and sale of merchandise through advertising, publicity, or discounting.

With this in mind, we must ask ourselves how can we accomplish our task and still stay within our own personal ethics and the ethics established for the award community.

The new award program may feel that putting their URL on their award graphic is the best and easiest way to accomplish this self-promotion.  But by doing this they have begun an advertising campaign that can only lead to a
downward spiral.  While getting their URL out to the general public by using their award graphic, you must remember that by doing this you have, without permission, inserted a link onto the winner's website.  This action is not only ethically wrong but is also in violation of the code of ethics set down by the awards community.

Another way the new program may try to promote itself would be to solicit applications.  While this would be a great way to get applicants, this only cheapens the program and results in a reputation of being a giveaway award.  This practice is also against the code of ethics that all award programs aspire to maintain.

So now you are asking yourself, if I may not do any of these things, how do I ethically promote my site?

Today's award community is full of ethically-established rating programs.  These programs have been established to meet the needs of the award community and to allow the award-seeker a chance to apply to rated, ethical programs that follow a strict code of ethics.  While these rating indices do not support any programs, they do maintain the integrity of the program by handling and investigating any complaints concerning the program.  Having an award program listed with these different indices is the best way to advertise your program and still maintain the ethics that you have sworn to uphold.

Another way is to become a member of an ethics program such as CEM/CEMA or APEX.  These ethics programs are the cornerstones of the awards community. By being a member of any of these programs you are telling the award seeker that you will uphold the ethics set down by the award community and that you will evaluate their site ethically with your criteria.

The final and most important way to advertise your program is by your actions as the award program owner and by the way your evaluators review a site.  If you and your team adhere to your criteria and review sites without prejudice or forethought, then you can honestly say you have upheld the ethics of your program.  This will gain you respect and notoriety, not only from award seekers but also from your peers.

We have now covered what is ethical and what is not.  Now it is up to you as to what road you wish to take.  We wish you many years of success in the awards community.

About the Author

Brian Forrester lives in Springfield, Illinois.  In his own words:

"I am the grandfather of a fantastic 4-year-old grandson and work as a security and safety supervisor.  I have been involved in the awards community for over 5 years and am webmaster of the new SFG Designs.

My knowledge and qualifications include: a background as a graphic artist, an accomplished web designer and extensive knowledge in all major graphic programs; owning and running a successful AP (SFG Awards) for 5 years that was rated in all the award rating indices.  I was an evaluator for several awards programs: Global Ethics (closed), Lone Star Awards (closed), Witheridge and UWSAG (an awards index), and was on the board of UWSAG as well.  I am certified in evaluations through the WECP, TOTW and TEAM programs and am a former member of CEM/CEMA and a member of APEX (ethics organizations).  I have written articles on ethics that can be found on the TEAM and WECP sites."

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