Don't Let Your PR Ethics Become a Slow Fade

"If people like you, they'll listen to you, but if they trust you they'll do business with you." ~ Zig Ziglar

Building trust is an important part of the PR business, for our reputation and ideas are the "product" we sell. When public relations practitioners earn the APR designation, they commit to follow a professional code of ethics that guides their work and dictates how to act when questionable situations arise.

According to the Public Relations Society of America, our code of ethics calls us to:

• Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.
• Foster informed decision making through open communication.
• Protect confidential and private information.
• Promote healthy and fair competition among professionals.
• Avoid conflicts of interest.
• Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession.

While these core values may seem obvious to most practitioners, here are a few ways we can put them into practice to build integrity and trust from our employers and clients.

1. Avoid talking negatively about your coworkers, current or past employers, and current or past clients.

2. Respect people's different religious, political or philosophical views, and resist the temptation to knock others' views in public.

3. Don't promise more than you are able to commit to, and don't guarantee results that are beyond your control.

4. Be honest and genuine, don't be fake, and don't exaggerate about your experience or capabilities.

5. When someone tells you something confidential, keep it to yourself. Most cities are smaller towns than you think, and when rumors spread, it can come back to haunt you.

6. Whenever possible, allow yourself to get "caught" saying something good about a person or business. People like to do business with positive people.

A favorite song of mine by the Christian band Casting Crowns has these lyrics:

"It's a slow fade when you give yourself away. It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray. Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid when you give yourself away. People never crumble in a day. It's a slow fade."

Personal integrity is the key to our business, and by committing our work to a code of ethics and values, we build our own reputations as well as that of our profession.