Back in September the PR firm came under fire after the LA Times uncovered that Coghlan was affiliated with fake news site, News Hawks Review, and had been shamelessly promoting their client Central Basin Municipal Water District of California on the site. Coghlan has an agreement between Central Basin’s public affairs office which promises promotional stories “written in the image of real news.”

This couldn’t be a more blatant violation of PR ethical standards.

Following the LA Times’ expose, PRSA weighed in condemning Coghlan actions and the industry rags were all a flutter with disapproval. You would think, given the public outcry, Coghlan would amend its ways. Quite the contrary. The LA Times reported Tuesday that the fake site, News Hawks, was publishing stories by “journalists” that didn’t exist. Since being called out on this, they have taken down their staff bios. PR Daily outlined the full details of their actions.

Of course, this is something that shouldn’t be breached and Coghlan did so intentionally, which is an issue. But here are three tips to make sure you’re on the right side of the ethical line, when doing PR for a client:

Don’t Pretend to Be Something You’re Not: You should never misrepresent who you are, or who your client is.

Transparency Is Key: Be honest and forthcoming about all relevant aspects of what you’re doing when personally promoting a client and you’ll avoid potentially hairy situations.

If  Your Stomach Hurts At The Idea, You Probably Shouldn’t Do It: The situation with Coghlan serves as a scary reminder to do a gut check every now and again when you find yourself in a hairy situation.

There were a couple instances this week that brought be back to my PR 101 days. We often forget many of the simple PR principles after so many years of simultaneously navigating the worlds of media and clients.

I found these reminders both jarring and refreshing, so I thought I would share them with you all:

• Don’t Over-handle Your Spokespeople: We’re so used to be tasked with ensuring that our spokespeople stay on message and don’t go off the rails. The problem is that they’re the experts–we do need to let them do some of the talking!
• The Media Is Not On Your Schedule: With cutbacks across the board in media, more and more reporters are tasked with covering breaking news or trend stories. Your client might have a super story about how they just added a new gym in the HQ, but that’s not exactly top priority for the Times. Just keep in mind that the media is there to report on the news, whether or not your client is news.
• Just Tell Them What You Want: Reporters are more agreeable than sometimes we think. They appreciate directness and will often accomodate a reasonable request. Tell them what you need, and if it is reasonable and within the realm of what they do, you might be surprised.

Are there other basics you’ve been reminded of recently? Let me know–I’d love to hear.

#1. Have an actual story….about topics they cover, not just about your client

#2. Send a quote…they don’t have the time to interview your expert, so just send what they’re going to say

Seems simple enough, but apparently they’ve been getting a lot of mass, widely irrelevant emails from PR people about the awesome story ideas and experts they have to offer. Personally, I appreciate it when journalists or publications are up-front about the best way to work with them to elicit a mutually satisfactory result. Even though being this specific may pigeonhole the organization’s story leads, it’s helpful to know how to make it past the automatic delete.

To get the full scoop from The Business Insider, check out their post here.

• This article in The New York Times feature a report recently released by Regus
• School CIO recently discussed an Absolute Software recovery success story
• The Washington Post, Mashable and ZDnet all covered Sophos’ open letter to Facebook this week regarding its inadequate security measures
• Absolute Software’s release of Computrace Mobile for Android caught the eye of IT World Canada
• MomItForward recently discussed shoo!TAG’s tips for natural ways to protect kids from bug bites this spring

Lesson #1 – manage your client’s expectations properly. This means,  don’t set a deadline with a client that you can’t meet. You better be darn sure you can deliver. Nothing looks worse that setting your own deadline and then not meeting it, especially if your client is 8.4 million New York City residents.

Lesson #2 – no matter how seasoned the spokesperson is, everyone can use a refresher on interview skills no and again. As many interviews as he’s given and press conferences he’s held, Mayor Bloomberg seemed a little caught of guard by some of the questions posed by the media in his December 28 press conference. His responses proved it’s definitely time for refresher course. Instead of eloquently redirecting the conversation to his key talking points, Mayor Bloomberg said things like “people should have gone to the park and enjoyed this time with their families” and “the world has not come to an end” in response to the criticism and complaints from constituents. As any PR person would have told him, this did not elicit a positive response.

Predictably, today, after failing to meet the self-imposed deadline and with a good portion of the city still stuck under two feet of snow, Mayor Bloomberg was left with no choice than to make a public apology. This would have been a lot more well received if he had refrained from the snarky attitude and sarcasm in the press conferences prior.

We can all learn lessons on crisis communication and client management from Mayor Bloomberg’s mistakes. What do you think? What other lessons can we glean from this snafoo? Check out the full video of Mayor Bloomberg’s December 27, 2010 Press Conference

• Andy Hoffman – Executive Producer, Fox Business Network
• Mark White – Executive Producer, Bloomberg TV Morning Programming
• Alisa Roth – NY Bureau Chief, American Public Media’s “Marketplace”
• Lisa Murphy – Business Reporter, WNYW-TV
• Gregg Greenberg – Reporter, thestreet.com

Each panelists offered insights into best practices for securing opportunities at each outlet, as well as what to avoid and how to make the most of a relationship with a reporter or booker.  We both felt that the advice provided would be beneficial to any new public relations professional and could help them secure multiple opportunities.  The best practices provided could be applied to a variety of verticals and outlets, not just the few that were represented on the panel.

Here are some of the best practices the panelists recommended every PR professional should follow:

• As always, know the media outlet and reporter before you pitch. Do your homework people!

• Know the outlet’s audience and use the pitch as an opportunity to explain how it relates to them.

• Find out if they accept b-roll. Local news stations have experienced such significant cutbacks that having b-roll footage or all the aspects of the story in one place, close to the station, could make the difference between getting your client on.

• Know how and when the reporter likes to be pitched. This is an oldie, but a goodie.

We’re interested to hear what you think—any interesting insights to share on how to work with the business media?

When I probed him a bit about this, he explained that these pieces hadn’t really moved the needle on his business. Sometimes as PR professionals, we forget that while the Today Show or Wall Street Journal may  be the “holy grail” of coverage traditionally, these outlets may not be the best way to reach our clients’ target audience. May PR professionals operate in a vacuum, rarely considering the marketing, sales and business goals as part of their PR strategy. PR should be yet another tool for growing a business.

Just a reminder that we can always benefit from revisiting the basics.

Steven Slater, being the savvy business man that he is, has hired high-profile publicist Howard Bragman to represent him. Once those pesky criminal charges are dealt with, Howard intends to help extend Slater’s 15 minutes of fame (they’re entertaining reality show offers and potential book deals). Interestingly, while Slater has only had PR representation for less than 24 hours now and his former employer has an entire team working to keep its brand reputation crystal clean, Slater has been coming out on top in the blogosphere and Twitter-world.

Of course, being a working-class hero is great and big businesses have a harder time of looking like the good guys, but the fact that Slater seriously broke the law doesn’t seem to be affecting his public persona one iota…and hiring a top publicist is only going to help turn things in his favor.

JetBlue’s most recent response to the image issue is quite interesting as well. Back by popular demand, they have reintroduced the “all you can jet” promotion after the resounding success of last year’s promotion. However, is this enough to help them regain public favor or will consumers believe the angry spewings of a disgruntled employee? Likely both issues will subside and things will return to status quo in weeks, but it’s an intriguing case study in the powers of spin.

A fun time was had by all and I am really looking forward to the next speaking engagement with TEBC.

For those interested in learning more about these awesome kids, check out the TEBC blog at http://teenentrepreneurbootcamp.blogspot.com/

I will be speaking at four sessions this summer. My first presentation will be next Wednesday to Retail & Franchising Workshop group. The group will help the NYC bakery decide whether to franchise their operation, consulting with experts, writing a business plan and presenting the product to the public by way of a pop-up store. I am very excited to teach them all about the wonders of public relations. After my presentation they will work together to draft an actual press release announcing the launch of their pop-up store.

Check back next week for an update on how the day went and to see photos!