Good marketing strategies - Credit your sources
Posted by Audrey Sendrowski-Breuer on Tue, Mar 01, 2011 @ 02:40 PM
I'm in somewhat of a state of shock. Here's why: I was searching for the exact details written by someone about a small business advertising study I'd read. I found the article I was looking for. But the shock was that I found it on numerous websites (6 and counting...) and that none of the six, except one (Enterpreneur.com), credited the source of the article. One of the sites even had "Written by Administrator on Thursday, 21 May 2009 20:30" above the verbatim article. That particular website is for a graphic/web design business located in Sri Lanka. They say "...our interest is to reflect exactly what our clients want to express..." Really? Let's say I'm your client. If you don't credit sources, how do I know you won't take what I "express" and claim it as your own when it suits you? Pardon me. I guess no one will notice because...you're on the other side of the planet?
Crediting sources makes you credible.
This is the age of instant, global confirmation of information. You can't get away with what amounts to stealing someone else's work. Being on the other side of the world doesn't make you immune, either. That's what "www" stands for - "world wide web." Crediting a source that you are quoting or using is respectful, professional and a sign of your integrity. As in, you are not claiming these words of wisdom as your own. It's part of creating good marketing strategies.
Nothing is secret.
Information is all over the internet these days. You can pretty much find what you want in a few seconds. It may be enticing to just cut and paste it. But it may have taken someone days, weeks, even years of research to write a particular article. It's time consuming and sometimes tedious work. It's a courtesy that they publish it (yes, even if it's self-serving) because it's free. So it's just POLITE, if nothing else, to credit them as the source when you are relisting it on your site or in your whitepaper or ebook or any other particular document.
Let's be civilized, shall we?
A large part of being civilized is having integrity, even when you don't think anyone is watching or listening. So let's be civilized, what do you say? If we can't come up with brilliant, completely original text for our website, ebook or whitepaper, fine. Find what we need on the net. Then let's have the guts and good manners to let people know who said it first. It won't diminish us. On the contrary, we'll come out looking professional and trustworthy.
If you don't credit your source and you think no one will notice, remember one thing about the internet: there are no secrets anymore.