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Wow — I can’t believe it’s been close to three years since I’ve blogged here. Here’s an update since 2005.

My father’s health began failing rather quickly beginning in August 2005 and by October, he passed at the age of 93. Although I miss him terribly, my father lived a long meaningful life and I have comfort in knowing he is no longer suffering.

I took some much needed time off and the last two and a half years has been busy with lots of work. There has been a lot going on in the PR world so I’m anxious to get you caught up on the action.

Hopefully I can get back to writing on a regular basis.

Stay tuned…

Many of us recall hearing about the passing of Gerry Thomas, a Swanson executive who claimed he created the TV dinner. Thomas said he came up with the idea because Swanson didn’t know what to do with an over-abundance of frozen turkey’s that were stored in railcars.

Well, the story is now changing. Jim Romenesko of Poynter Online received a letter from Roy Rivenburg (Los Angeles Times) who totally discredits Thomas’ version.

Now that most media acknowledge inaccuracies in Thomas’ story, do you think they will offer a retraction? I doubt it.

What do you do when your corporate office is facing a crisis and the media calls?

a. Go on vacation
b. Ignore it and hope it goes away
c. Answer, “no comment”
d. All of the above
e. Take a deep breath and face the music

According to Brent Arends of the Boston Herald, most public relations executives in the Boston area are not available when he calls. He recently wrote an article about the lack of response from media inquiries.

Brent makes some good points about companies that will repeatedly call a journalist when they have an annoucement, but when the same journalist receives a tip, or negative news breaks on the company, the PR person is nowhere to be found.

Let’s face it, no one wants to talk about bad news, but we can’t hide and be defensive. The best thing to do is to face the music and be offensive.

I advise my clients to always take the high road whenever a controversy ensues. The media will have more respect for you and your company if you handle it properly. I will delve into this subject in an upcoming newsletter article, but for now, here are a few tips to consider when facing a crisis.

1. Research the situation. Gather as much information on the subject as possible. Determine your company’s position and have the company spokesperson speak to the media.

2. Never say, “no comment.” It is better to admit not knowing the answer to a question than hiding behind a “no comment” statement. The journalist will think you’re hiding something.

3. Never lie. Be honest and factual.

4. Keep the media updated. Be proactive and let the journalist know when you will update him with new information.

5. Offer a solution or reassurance to the problem. Let the media know what you are doing to solve the problem.

Going through a crisis is never fun, but you can make it less painful if you take control of the situation and are proactive or offensive instead of being reactive and defensive.

I came across this article by Kathy Klotz-Guest and thought I would share it with you. Kathy talks about using humor in press releases.

Some of her tips are pretty basic, but I like the idea of incorporating humor into press releases. It’s becoming harder and harder to get the media’s attention so using a little humor couldn’t hurt.

Just make sure it’s done tastefully and tactfully, e.g. no off-color jokes, please.

The San Francisco 49ers is in search of a new public relations director while it also goes into damage control mode for its blunder over the now infamous in-house training video.

Everyone is wondering what Kirk Reynolds was thinking when he produced such a controversial video. And even more questions arise when the public found out the owner of the 49ers, John York viewed the video five months ago but apparently did nothing about it.

Although the video was meant to prepare players for dealing with the media and was showed last August in a training camp, it was sent anonymously to the SF Chronicle and SF Mayor Gavin Newsom as a way to expose the “true values” of San Francisco’s football organization.

Consider these four points before embarking on an edgy project:

1. Practice what you preach. Reynolds’ video was supposed to teach players how to avoid making mistakes with the media – but apparently he wasn’t listening himself.
2. Get feedback from outsiders before going out on a limb on projects. Enlist a neutral outsider to critique your ideas before implementing them. Sometimes those within an organization are drinking the Kool-Aid and can’t be objective.
3. Be clear on your goals. What is the purpose of producing a video, presentation or other project? Are your overall company goals in harmony with this project? If not, forgo it.
4. Does it pass the mom test? Is the project something you would feel comfortable showing your mother, or talking with her about it? If not, don’t do it.

This is one crisis that will take some time to boil over.

In case you missed it, alarm:clock (which covers venture-backed technology companies) posted a blog about the validity of hiring a PR firm. Needless to say they were inundated with comments from PR professionals giving their side of the story.

Notwithstanding some truth in the article, alarm:clock made a big mistake. The writer referred to a successful startup that had not used a PR firm. That was incorrect — the company indeed saw its success in part due to the efforts of a PR firm.

Each company needs to determine based on its own situation if a PR firm is right. Since many startups aren’t ready to work with a full-service PR firm, they would do better working with a PR consultant or contractor. This point was driven home by Sarah Lacy of BusinessWeek (see link to the right — Sounding the Alarm on PR).

One of the problems with startups is that most are just not ready for primetime. They want to quickly generate some media buzz so they hurry to engage with a PR firm in hopes of making the cover of BusinessWeek. Well, that rarely happens.

The startup relies on the PR executive to be an expert on PR strategy and tactical implementation, but the startup also needs to bring something to the table. Several key milestones need to be reached before a company even thinks about implementing a PR plan. Having a solid product roadmap, referenceable customers, adequate funding and strategic partnerships are key.