From its inception, TechRefs decided that transparency was a core value.

To ‘walk the walk’  we are publishing this policy.

Most of these initial “rules” have come from questions we’ve experienced over the years, having been on both sides of the issue.

So what exactly is transparency in a business context?  And why is it important?

Transparency is a higher level of disclosure that is typical in the circumstance. It means more than just telling the truth; but rather telling the whole truth.

No surprises. No hidden agendas.

The key reason for transparency is that builds trust.

But it is also the right thing to do. There is nothing worse than finding “something you once said” unexpectedly appearing as an endorsement on the website of a company you do not, actually, intend to endorse. This has happened to us, and we did not like it.

Transparency also saves time.  People are proud of their contributions to their industry, but they will speak more freely if they know when and where the information they give will be used.

Our policy is to let people we interview know:

• Who we are calling for, and why

Let’s say Ms. Smith VP of X has assigned us to gather some case studies and along the way, see if we can obtain a testimonial.

We will probably never contact a source and tell them, “Mr. Smith the VP of X Company asked me to contact you to get a quote bragging about how great their software works.”

But we will tell them,  “Ms. Smith, VP of X  is sponsoring a program to share best practices using the platform,  and has mentioned you have had some great success, can we schedule a time to talk? ”

After the case study is done, we’ll request permission to use excerpts in other ways if needed.

If we are writing for a third party, the same rules apply. “Mr. Jones, VP or Y, has nominated your company for a Sample Award. We like to write up an article/entry to submit.”

Our company is co-owners of LocalMediaInsider and MediaExecTech, so we write direct submissions to those media if they fit the standards and criteria. If not, they can still become part of the “Brand Insights” program and run as native content.

• Where the content will be published initially

Sometimes executives would love to share, but don’t want competitors to see what they are doing, or they have other concerns.

We let interviewees know if the content is intended for the back page of a client’s resource center, an email capture program, or a cover story for Forbes magazine.

• If the content is being repurposed, we send a ‘heads up” email.

Even taking a few lines from a case study to use in a testimonial requires courtesy email, but not a formal “yes.”

Rather we will send a  quick, “Hey, we are going to put this up on our website. Let me know if you have any objections.”

• No “on the record, off the record”, is used.

In the years we’ve spent writing case studies, we’ve never found a time when it was appropriate to override a professional’s request to kill a quote or even a whole story.

If a source asks “don’t include that” after they said something, or in an email a week, it is taken out.

• If a problem arises with the story itself, we take it down.

It is more important to keep the circle of trust intact, even if we have to pay for content we cannot use now and then.

Having said that, here is what we will not do in the name of transparency:

• Send a note to the source saying, “Please edit.”

That’s just asking for problems, as well as asking people who have spent time on the project to do more than their share of the work.  If they look it over and have no objections, that is plenty.

• Send a note asking: “Is it’s OK to publish this?”

We will send the article with a publication date on it, so they can respond by that time.   They will let you know if there is a problem

• Itemise every channel the information may be used in advance.

Saying that “we plan to use this interview in a webinar, the best practices one sheet, and lead generation case study on LinkedIn. Do you agree to that?”  would scare the heck out of anyone. Use the place, and most public place, the information will appear.

Afterwards, we just send notification of future uses, with a “Let me know if you have any objections.”

• Engage in multiple requests for ‘style changes’

Occasionally we find someone who loves to edit! At some point, there has to be enough respect for the client or source to just leave the copy alone.

Finally, we realize that trust is earned. It builds the same way any brand does, over time, with consistency across all of the relationships.