Contact, editorial and commercial enquiries

Choose the route that matches the purpose

Contact routes work only when the purpose of an enquiry is clear at the outset. A correction is not a partnership proposal. A story suggestion is not an application for a directory entry. Sponsorship is not editorial input. Keeping these routes separate helps readers, contributors and commercial contacts understand what can be discussed, who should handle it and what cannot be promised.

Use the existing corrections route when published material contains an error, needs context or may no longer be accurate. Use the existing story-suggestions route to propose a subject, source, document or question that could improve future coverage. Use the existing directory-application route for a request to be considered under the directory’s published criteria. Use the existing newsletter-sponsorship route for sponsorship matters relating to that product.

Use a commercial enquiry only where it concerns a possible future directory, newsletter, affiliate or sponsored opportunity. Such an enquiry is about whether a disclosed commercial arrangement could be suitable. It is not a route to request coverage, change an editorial conclusion or secure a favourable outcome.

Decision rule: if the desired outcome is a correction, use corrections. If it is consideration for editorial work, use story suggestions. If it is directory consideration, use the directory route. If it is sponsorship, use the newsletter route. If it is a future disclosed commercial format, use commercial contact. If it seeks an editorial result in return for payment, it is not an appropriate enquiry.

Editorial contact: corrections and story suggestions

Editorial contact exists to improve the accuracy, usefulness and range of the publication’s work. Corrections should identify the page or item concerned, the specific point believed to be wrong or incomplete, and the basis for the proposed correction. Where a public source, primary document or dated record supports the point, identifying it can help the editorial process. A correction request does not require an argument about commercial impact. The relevant question is whether the published material should be amended.

Story suggestions are welcome where they help identify an unresolved question, a meaningful change in rules or practice, a source that merits examination, or a gap in existing coverage. A useful suggestion explains why the subject matters to beauty or aesthetics businesses and distinguishes evidence from opinion. It need not arrive as a finished article. It should not assume that submission creates a right to publication, quotation, a link, a review or a response on a particular timetable.

Editorial decisions remain separate from advertising, sponsorship, affiliate and directory considerations. That separation applies whether a suggestion comes from a reader, a business, an adviser, a public body or another interested party. Providing documents or background information does not determine the eventual framing, conclusion or decision to publish.

Do not use correction or story-suggestion contact to seek a ranking, recommendation, score, verdict or favourable editorial treatment. Those outcomes are editorial matters, not services available for purchase or negotiation. Where a proposed contribution has a commercial purpose, it should be identified as such and directed through the appropriate commercial route instead.

Directory applications remain a separate route

Directory applications should continue through the existing directory route. That route is for applicants who want their information considered against the directory’s stated criteria. It is not a general editorial inbox and it is not a channel for changing the terms on which entries are assessed.

An application should be capable of being evaluated on the published basis. Supplying accurate, relevant information assists that process. It does not create an entitlement to inclusion, prominence, a particular wording, a score, a recommendation or a verdict. Nor does a commercial conversation alter directory criteria or editorial judgement.

Payment will not buy a ranking, recommendation, score, verdict or favourable editorial treatment. This applies to current and future formats. A business should not be asked, or expect to be asked, to exchange payment for a better editorial assessment. If a future commercial directory opportunity is considered, its commercial nature must be capable of clear disclosure and must not be represented as independent editorial selection.

Applicants should keep directory enquiries distinct from correction requests. If a directory entry contains a factual error, use the correction route to identify the specific issue. If the question is whether an organisation may be considered for inclusion, use the directory-application route. If the proposal concerns a future disclosed commercial placement or format, use commercial contact and describe the proposed relationship plainly.

This distinction protects the usefulness of a directory as a reference product. Readers should be able to understand the difference between editorial assessment, factual correction, an application process and paid material that has been clearly labelled.

Newsletter sponsorship and commercial enquiries

Newsletter sponsorship remains available through the existing newsletter route. Sponsorship discussions concern the relevant newsletter product and should not be used to influence claims coverage, regulatory explanations, reviews, directory decisions or any other editorial work. A sponsor does not acquire control over a subject’s treatment, a right to approve editorial copy or a favourable outcome.

Commercial enquiries may concern future directory, newsletter, affiliate or sponsored opportunities only where the relationship can be disclosed clearly. Clear disclosure means that a reader can identify the commercial nature of material without having to infer it from context. A commercial proposal should therefore state what is being proposed, where it may appear, what disclosure would be used and whether any editorial involvement is requested. Proposals that depend on concealed influence are unsuitable.

Affiliate links, where used in a future relevant format, use the attribute rel="sponsored". Their presence would not amount to a recommendation, ranking, score, verdict or guarantee about the subject of the link. Sponsored material must likewise be identifiable as sponsored. Disclosure is not an afterthought added after a commercial arrangement has been agreed: it is a condition for considering one.

Commercial contact is not a route for product claims approval, legal clearance, clinical endorsement or regulatory assurance. It is also not a promise that a future opportunity exists. It simply provides a route to discuss a possible format where transparency and editorial independence can be maintained.

What payment cannot purchase

Payment cannot buy a ranking, recommendation, score, verdict or favourable editorial treatment. This rule applies across editorial work and across any future directory, newsletter, affiliate or sponsored opportunity. It also applies where a party offers a fee, a free product, access, hospitality, a commission, a reciprocal promotion or another benefit.

A commercial arrangement can be considered only if it is capable of being clearly disclosed and kept distinct from editorial decision-making. It cannot be structured as an inducement to reach a preferred conclusion. It cannot require removal of valid criticism, suppression of relevant context or publication of a claim that lacks adequate support. It cannot make a business’s inclusion, position or assessment contingent on payment.

Editorial treatment includes decisions about whether a topic is covered, what questions are asked, which evidence is included, what language is used and whether a conclusion is warranted. These are not inventory for sale. A sponsor or affiliate relationship does not determine them. A directory application is also not a purchase of an editorial outcome.

A clear disclosure can explain a commercial relationship. It cannot turn paid influence over editorial judgement into independent editorial work.

People making enquiries should describe any material interest that could be relevant to the request. This enables the enquiry to be routed correctly and reduces the risk that a commercial proposal is mistaken for an editorial contribution. It does not prevent contact. It makes the basis of the contact intelligible.

Statements about reach, results and advice

Digital Gloss does not claim existing reach, verification, results, partners or revenue. Enquiries should not assume any of these things, and no commercial discussion should be framed as though such a claim has been made. A future opportunity, if considered, would need to stand on its disclosed terms rather than on unverified assertions about audience, performance or commercial return.

Digital Gloss does not provide legal, regulatory, medical, tax or accounting advice. Editorial material may discuss rules, claims, business decisions or public guidance, but it is not a substitute for advice tailored to a particular product, treatment, transaction, tax position or regulatory situation. An enquiry does not create an adviser-client, clinician-patient or professional-services relationship.

For the same reason, a commercial enquiry cannot obtain approval of an advertising claim, confirmation that a product complies with a legal duty, validation of a medical statement or an assurance about financial treatment. Questions requiring a formal assessment should be directed to an appropriately qualified adviser or the relevant authority. Publication of a subject, or a decision not to publish it, should not be treated as professional advice or a compliance finding.

Where an enquiry contains personal, commercially sensitive or health-related material, send only what is necessary for the stated purpose. Avoid assuming that editorial contact is a secure route for information that must be handled under a separate professional, contractual or regulatory process.

Limits of this contact framework

This framework explains how to separate contact purposes. It does not set directory criteria, promise a response time, guarantee publication, create a commercial opportunity or decide whether any proposed relationship will proceed. It does not apply a legal, regulatory or medical classification to a particular product or treatment.

It also does not apply to requests for individual legal, regulatory, medical, tax or accounting advice. A business deciding whether a claim, label, treatment description, contract, tax treatment or professional obligation is compliant needs advice suited to its own facts. This page cannot provide that assessment.

The framework does not convert a sponsorship conversation into editorial access, or a directory application into a recommendation. It does not offer sales representation, performance assurance or audience verification. Digital Gloss does not claim existing reach, verification, results, partners or revenue, and readers should not infer those claims from the existence of an enquiry route.

Finally, this page does not cover arrangements that cannot be disclosed clearly. If a proposal depends on undisclosed payment, concealed affiliate treatment, editorial control by a commercial party, or a purchased ranking or verdict, it falls outside the scope of appropriate contact.