Can PR Bloggers "Hype" Their Clients?

I am struggling with a bit of a dilemma. I have a client that is has a fantastic blogging project that I feel the people who regularly visit this blog would benefit in they knew about it. It's a terrific example of participatory journalism at work. But I am struggling with the ethics. Will I alienate you? Will you think that I am solely using this blog to hype clients or my firm? I'm not. I launched this blog so that PR pros can share ideas. I would be interested in hearing from any other bloggers out there - especially those who pen marketing, PR and journalism blogs. Please add your comments to this post or post your thoughts on your blog and trackback me.

Comments

[Billy McCormac]

Steve:Personally I would never discuss a client on my or any blog. I believe it taints the discussion. How, then, can we be sure you're not hyping a client in other posts. Even with full disclosure I'm afraid you'll, quite understandably, alienate readers. But that's just my humble opinion ;) Maybe somebody else will disagree....

[Steve Rubel]

Billy, that makes sense, which is why I posed the question here rather than just saying "what the heck." Thanks.

[Evelyn Rodriguez]

I don't know. On one hand you've piqued my curiosity and I'd like to know more, on the other hand...

Sometimes clients rather not be identified as such. And would your other clients feel slighted that they are potentially "not good enough" examples? Not all of them are going to make stunning case studies.

Perhaps the best thing to do is just try to get your stellar client OTHER press and blog coverage and hope we'll find out about the great project through those avenues instead.

[Mike Manuel]

How are we to engage in a meaningful dialogue on the impact new forms of online communication are having on PR and marketing programs if we don't really talk about them?

[kevin dugan]

i think it depends on how and why you do it.

if you reference the client generically and focus on the application, are you really hyping them?

part of a blog's beauty is that it is opinionated. for me this means i back up some of my opinions with personal experiences. others i back up with links to news stories or other blogs. if i did not do this, i'd be talking more theory than anything else.

by referencing the client stuff generically, i'm hoping i do not alienate readers. i sure as heck am not trying to promote them.

[David Paull]

I missed this post of yours the first time around, but since you linked to it again today, I'll add my two cents. I think referencing your clients in your blog is perfectly fine. You would be sharing something a client of yours has done that either works or doesn't and being that they are your client, you will have an in depth and unique view. In my opinion, it does nothing to hurt your credibility as long as you are up front about them being a client and they don't mind being blogged about.

[Eric Rice]

Steve, you just said, "I have a client that is has a fantastic blogging project that I feel the people who regularly visit this blog would benefit in they knew about it."

Well, benefit us! You're being upfront about it, and it's not like we couldn't eventually look at the published client list at CK and poke around. Besides, there are far sneakier ways of doing blog PR. Honesty isn't one of them.