Whether we like to admit it or not, some people in virtually any profession are willing to do just about anything to be successful.

For example, more than 15 years ago, television reporter Connie Chung tricked the elderly mother of Newt Gingrich to reveal that the future Speaker of the House had called then First Lady, Hillary Clinton, a “bitch.”

How’d she do it? By leaning in close and in a muted voice suggesting Mrs. Gingrich “just whisper it to me,” which she did. 

Unfortunately, there are some journalists who will use any means possible to get their story. One such trick is the “Off the record” comment.

If you are ever asked by a journalist to go “off the record” with any form of information, be very, very careful. Chances are the meatier and/or juicier the news nugget, the greater the likelihood that information will be published — with or without your name attached to it.

Recognize also that even if a reporter turns off a video or audio recorder or puts down her notepad and pen, the comment you make can still be attributed to you, either directly or indirectly.

The bottom line is this:

“Off the record” comments typically are NOT off the record.

Be extremely cautious if you are ever asked by a journalist to go “off-the-record.”.

Sometimes the natural inclination might be to answer a reporter with the phrase, “No comment.”

My response? Don’t! Fight it! Resistance is NOT futile!

For better or worse, whenever someone hears the term “No comment” they automatically think

• They’re guilty, or
• They’re hiding something, or
• Gotcha!

 even if that’s not the case at all.

If you find yourself in a situation where you really can’t respond to a journalist’s question, then say so.

Say something like

• I’m not really in a position to answer that question right now,

or

• Because we’re in the midst of a court case, I shouldn’t answer that question,

or

• I don’t want to give my attorney a heart attack, so I’m gonna skip that question for now,

or many other ways of answering the question without actually saying anything.

Just don’t say, “No comment.” That’s the kiss of death!

So imagine my shock today to see that an Pro Bowl NFL running back had been let go (essentially fired) because of what he posted on Twitter. {See Politis PR Tip #45: Think Before You Tweet.}

Clearly Larry Johnson wasn’t sacked by the Kansas City Chiefs just because of his tweet on October 25th; but it didn’t help matters either.

Years ago I got some very good advice from a boss that went something like this.

If you need to complain about something or chew someone out (in writing), write what you want to say, and then sit on it for a day. If you still feel the same way 24 hours later, then go ahead and send it.

I’ve used this advice many times during my career, and it’s saved me from several potentially embarrassing situations. And in each instance where I was protected from myself, I found that

• there was more information I didn’t know initially,
• things were not so bad a day later as they had once been, or
• I had let my emotions cloud my judgment and color my writing.

The Cautionary Tale: Once you push “enter” or drop that letter into the mail box, you can’t take it back.

In other words, think before you mail or email anything.

According to the latest figures available from the CTIA, cell phone users in the United States sent more than 740 BILLION text messages in the first half of 2009, meaning that we’re on track to approach 1.5 trillion SMS / text messages in the U.S. this year alone. (And SMS usage in other regions of the world are much higher than here in the U.S. In fact, we’re pikers by comparison.)

Just as it’s quite easy to send a text message out to a group, it’s also quite easy to forward a text message to a new group (even if it’s just a “cut and paste” job).

The Cautionary Tale: Once you’ve written that text or SMS message and pushed send, you can NEVER bring it back.

In other words, think before you text.

How stupid can some people be? Well . . . check out this crazy post on TheNextWeb.com where the author did a Facebook screen-grab of what appears to be a real person’s update complaining about her boss, specifically:

OMG I HATE MY JOB!! My boss is a total pervvy wanker always making me do $%@* stuff just to piss me off!! WANKER!

Unfortunately for the young lady in question, it appears that her boss was one of her Friends on Facebook. DOH! And he replied. DOUBLE DOH!

The Cautionary Tale: Be careful when you update any social networking site.

In other words, think before you update Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn or Plaxo or other social networking sites.

It means to get fired for what you’ve written on a blog (or Website).

The term comes from the now famous blog, Dooce.com, written by Heather Armstrong, who was fired for things she wrote about her then place of employment (back in 2002).

The good news for Armstrong was that she was able to transform her negative experience of getting fired for what she’d written into a full-time gig that supports entire family. The bad news is that not everyone else in similar straits has been quite so fortunate. {NOTE: More than 22 million hits come up when you search the words “fired” and “blog” on Google.}

The Cautionary Tale? Be careful what you blog about.

In other words, think before you blog.

The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back (and the patience of team ownership and management)?

According to the Associated Press, it was Johnson’s Twitter post (”tweet”) on October 25 in which he insulted fans, attacked his coach and used a gay slur.

A quick Google search for the words “fired” and “Twitter” generates more than 15 million hits.

Scan through the first few pages of these search results and you’ll find numerous articles about individuals fired because of something they tweeted about on Twitter.

The Cautionary Tale? Be careful what you write on Twitter.

In other words, think before you tweet.

In spite of thinking to the contrary, bad things happen.

That’s why you must have a Crisis Communications Plan prepared and ready for use at your company.

If you work in public relations, corporate communications, marketing or in executive management and your firm does NOT have a Crisis Communications Plan in place, ready to be implemented at a moment’s notice, I pity you and your organization. (The same holds true for PR, investor relations, marketing and advertising agencies and their clients.)

Especially in today’s world of hyper-connected media, social media/social networking, and citizen journalists, one’s world can be transformed from hunky dory to an absolute H-E-L-L within minutes. Just ask Domino’s Pizza or Amazon.com.

Not that having a Communications Plan in place will prevent bad things from happening. However,

• creating such a plan,
• reviewing the plan with all of the key players when it’s created, and
• then updating such a plan regularly,

will make it possible for your firm and/or client(s) to respond quickly and appropriately when bad things do happen.

Because you know and I know, bad things will happen.

Seagull Book & Tape, Inc. (www.seagullbook.com) was founded in 1987 by V. Lewis Kofford as a new distribution source for books and media targeting members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), as well as for products from Covenant Communications, Inc., established in 1958 – a sister company owned by Kofford. In addition to carrying products produced by Covenant Communications, Seagull Book & Tape also sold books published by Deseret Book Publishing.

After years of disagreeing on marketing and merchandising practices, Deseret Book Publishing sent a internal memo to employees and letter to Seagull Book announcing it would no longer sell its products to Seagull Book at wholesale. Within days of receiving the Deseret Book letter, a copy of the memo was leaked to a reporter at the Ogden Standard Examiner business desk. Media and concerned customers began clamoring for more information, many worried that Seagull Book could not continue to thrive without Deseret Book inventory.

Company Objectives

• Lift the threatened product ban and initiate conversations with Deseret Book Publishing, resulting in an agreeable compromise for both companies.
• Reassure Seagull customers that they would receive pending Deseret Book products ordered through Seagull Book & Tape.
• Inform media and customers that, contrary to local reporting, Deseret Book product sales did not account for 50 percent of Seagull Book & Tape revenues.

Solutions

After consulting with the Politis team, Seagull Book recognized the importance of maintaining a positive business relationship with Deseret Book. Politis Communications went to work drafting a release and preparing a press event to address misconceptions created through premature coverage and expose what Seagull Book thought might be a deliberate attack on its presence in the LDS market.

Results

Within hours of announcing the impending press event, Deseret Book agreed to lift the ban for one month while pursuing discussions with Seagull Book. The companies released joint statements announcing intentions to discuss the relationship further.

After four months of deliberation, Deseret Book made an offer to buy Seagull Book and Covenant Communications. Deseret Book publicly promised to continue operating both brands independently of each other, saying each brand filled an important niche in the marketplace.