That was my thought too Rezbi when I started really getting into copywriting as a career.

Where's the moral satisfaction?

For me, it's using my skills to put a good product out there in front of the eyes of the people that really need it in this alphabet soup that is the world of advertising.

But as an extra kick, I added grant writing and fundraising letter writing to my list of services.

If I feel for a second that my client's product/service is in any way against my morals, I drop it.

But we're all different. No offence intended to those with differing opinions.

Rezbi, if you don't have any moral satisfaction in what you do, make it happen. Create your own moral satisfaction. Make it a part of your business's USP.

Just a bit of friendly advice.

I try to stay pretty solid in my beliefs and morals. Some call it stubbornness, others call it fortitude.

NO. Money should never be your goal. Money is a means to an end. The second you start thinking of money as your goal, you start fighting a losing battle. Because from that point on, no amount of money will be enough. And you'll find yourself compromising more and more of yourself to achieve your goal.

There's nothing wrong with this industry. There's nothing wrong with trying to make money...lots of money. As long as you have your goals set straight, you'll see money as a way (only one of many) to achieve them.

When I first started out online, it was in IM.

Within a short space of time I was making some money but, after receiving a number of emails from my list asking me for advice I realised, after being asked about them, I couldn't recommend some of the stuff I was doing.

It took a few Q&A to even realise what I was involved in was wrong.

It just didn't click before then.

I had to tell these people they needed to look elsewhere as they would lose money, while making making me and others more.

I had some pretty emotional replies back from people who couldn't believe I was telling them all this.

I reckon I would have been pretty much raking it it in if I went the way of a lot IM guys out there.

But...

I couldn't do it.

I ended up looking elsewhere, and that's how I got into copywriting.

I guess I felt it was the more ethical branch of the whole internet marketing scene.

The truth is, it is very difficult to stay completely 'pure' when it comes to making money.

But, I know it's possible... with enough determination.

Good point, Eric and others. Agree re money. When it comes to copywriting (and video production/scriptwriting) I find the most satisfaction is in the craft itself; eg always trying to polish and hone whatever I'm producing to be the best I can, with the expectation that if I do the other marketing activities correctly, ethically, then money will come (which it does).

The thought also applies with "whom to jv/work with" as an ethical choice. I know some very successful marketers who are very promiscuous in terms of who they'll work with - they'll work with Anyone that has a list, regardless of the quality or authenticity of the other people's work - and that to me is not good. For a lot of reasons. Yes you can make more money by working with more people; initially; however anything you recommend that your trusting list buys, that is of low quality, reflects back poorly on you, the recommender/aff/jv promoter, which ends up making your list trust you less.

Seems like most people in the IM arena are all "let's cross pitch as much stuff as we can, with whoever we can, with virtually no regards to judging the value or quality of what we're pitching". Kind of like a Caligula-type Roman orgy of wrongness in marketing. People should only work with ethical people who sell quality products. I feel like a voice in the wilderness saying that (with few exceptions, thankfully many of you here seem to agree). But it's the right answer. "Just because the current model of 'cross pitch anything for a buck' is popular, doesn't make it right, and I'm fortunate in not having to sink to that, like so many others do.

Applies also, as I've posted before, to choice of copywriting clients; hopefully none of you will agree to write letters for crap products. Karma works both ways; being known as a successful copywriter who creates salesletters for top quality products/services, is certainly the best positioning, vs "he wrote a letter that sold a lot, but what he sold, was not good for customers". It's a tough call for many, initially - but doing the right thing in the right way is always the best course of action, in one's life I think.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of products and services in the internet marketing niche (and trading niche for that matter) are low-value, overpriced, ineffective and represent poor values and wasted time for unfortunate customers (and/or hidden continuity bs etc) ... fortunately however there are many other non-IM niches to write for, including brick and mortar local businesses.

I always ask myself "is this a high quality product, that does no harm and represents a solid value, for the customer?" as a guiding light in making decisions.

-k

p.s. there is that school of marketing thought that espouses "let's charge top-ceiling prices, push the market as hard as it will, addon upsells and continuity to squeeze as much money as possible out the niche we're milking, and get a lot of affiliates to do the same". But it's not right. It's important to charge a fair price for high quality products, without taking advantage of the market.

The cost of not doing that, especially in a web 2.0 world, is that word gets out and marketers who do that gain a negative reputation, making them irrelevant and not trusted by the niche. I see this in forums in trading, IM and other niches all the time; where overpriced stuff with clever continuity pitches gets negative consistent reviews from taken-advantage of customers, and the business folds or dwindles in relevancy. It's important to just play it straight, and not try to be an ultra hardcore marketer, because too much pitch costs credibility.

(note to self: stop taking time posting in forums! except mine.. I need to get back to work...)

Great post as usual Ken, thanks.

And credibility, like reputation, is a hard thing to rebuild once it gets brought down.

Rezbi,

Based on what you posted you have already formed the 'line in the sand' that you will not cross - your own 'standards' by which you choose to do business.

You may not believe this today but as you business grows you will develop relationships with clients and business associates who choose to do business with you because you are a 'professional' at what you do, but more importantly because - 'they trust you'.

There are no words, pictures, flash, video or 'sleight of hand' that will ever, even come close to usurping the powerful relationships that can develop between two people, when they trust each other.

In full agreement with you MissMaster I am (I think I channeled Yoda for a moment there, forgive me!). The clients I write for are people I already buy products from or would happily refer my friends and family to. Like you, I like to use my writing talents to help great companies share helpful products with more people who will benefit from them.

Much as you do MissMaster, I also give my time, energy & resources to non-profits that are near & dear to my heart.

Moral satisfaction is definitely necessary for me. I'm not in copywriting for the money; I do this because I love to write, I love to help others and I want to share that love with the world. The money is a by-product but I gain immense satisfaction from my work and in my heart, there is nothing better than that feeling! It's worth a million bucks.

Great discussion - thank you for posting and thanks to everyone for their responses.

Absolutely.

I had an offer to write copy for my first client the first month I launched my business. I was so pumped about it. Then, I did a quick Google search on this individual, and I still remember two words on one of the sites I pulled up: consumer fraud.

I politely declined the job, even though I really needed it. Then, I discovered that this individual had also taken money from people who participate on this forum without delivering the goods. I believe in following your intuition when it comes to these types of situations, and I'm glad I did not form an association with that first potential client. I couldn't--in good conscience--promote a product for someone who had hurt so many people.

Gary B's comment about a gifted product being mightier than a gifted pen makes sense here.

Also, If your product is capable of doing what your copy says it will do, that takes care of the ethical concerns.

As for morality, it's a personal choice. Nobody would ever pick money over their morals. Maybe their perceived morals but not their actual morals.

Depends on the morals...