A few posts back, I lovingly linked to Tiffany Monhollan’s tips for beating blogger burnout and avoiding the lazysphere. Of these tips, I’ve taken a particular interest in number five, which suggests bloggers create a series or feature to keep your blogging consistent—a topic you can always fall back on should you run out of fresh content for the week. Brewing over this idea since I first read Tiffany’s post, I’ve finally found a satisfactory feature that I would like to introduce my readers to starting today.

My feature, appropriately titled “Ask the PRos,” is directed at the PR Pros I’ve been following these past couple weeks, seeking their advice and feedback on questions and situations that have crossed my mind, and ones that I am particularly interested in having answered by the people who eat, breath and sleep PR. (o.k., just a PR Professional’s opinion. You know what I mean.) What I hope to accomplish with this not-necessarily-weekly feature, is real feedback and dialogue with people who have been in the tough situations and can offer the best advice there is to give. We can only have so many guest lecturers in class, complicated by the fact that the questions must be ready for them at that moment, not to mention then having to be brave enough to overcome the “this is a stupid question” complex and actually ask the guest lecturer what has been on your mind. Looking to the future, I hope this feature can serve as an open forum, where students like myself can ask advice, and PR Pros can offer it. Granted, this means they must actually read my blog in the first place, so I will do my best to get the word out.

If you are a PRo, “Welcome” =) I hope you have time to share your opinions and find the topics stimulating and worth your while. Now, let the first edition of Ask the PRos commence.

Ask the Pros: To Cater or Not…THAT is the question.

Throughout my entire schooling career, even into the workplace and in almost all daily interactions, I go about my tasks with the teacher/boss/woman at the post office counter, always in-mind. Yes, no matter the assignment, I will cater to the ultimate reviewer’s tastes as best I can decipher them. This means placing the files on the corner of my boss’ desk because I know she likes them there. It means approaching the seemingly-empathetic postal woman with my ‘poor college student’ stance on display just so she’ll let me use the packaging tape at the counter because I just don’t have the cash to buy a new roll, and well, I really don’t want to for the one package I send every six months. And finally, this means completing PR Plans and assignments to my professors’ tastes because I know they are the one who ultimately gives out the grade. While this sometimes seems common sense—the boss case for example—I have often wondered, should I really be catering to my audience no matter the situation, or should I be creating plans and papers with the creativity and formats that I believe to be best? Now, I must explain that this technique only works in specific situations. You must be able to determine your reviewer’s tastes, for one. And, you must also be sure that catering to those tastes will actually help them look favorably on your work. Myself, I am an over-analyzer. When certain approvals are needed, I think about everything from the smiling and positive atmosphere at the introduction, to the way I thank them and say goodbye after the meeting/interview/presentation. I actually believe these are smart aspects to consider where a job interview or meeting with a client is concerned. However, where I am not sure that catering is the correct approach when devising public relations plans.

Over the past few months, my PR Plans class has performed several mock meetings with clients—our professor acting in different roles and sometimes, with costumes to match. Meeting in our groups, every decision I make and suggestion I put forth has been decided or suggested only when I know the character my professor has created for us will approve. Now, I want to be clear that here, I have my “fake” client in-mind always, not my professor. But, pleasing the client, acted by the professor, will certainly get the job done to satisfy both. My situation posed to the PRos then, is this: Because I am catering to this client created for our class, I am forgoing ideas and possibilities in our plans that I believe the client would not like. I am intentionally tailoring every aspect of the plan to their EXACT tastes, and this definitely means passing on some ideas that I think would work best to acheive the goal and objectives we’ve laid out when outlining the plan. Now, some of you PRos might be shaking your head, thinking this is an absolute no-brainer. OF COURSE you work only to please the client! They are the one paying you to devise a plan for them, right?? Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t know if that’s right. Should we always cater to the client? Is it best to forgo your creativity for ideas and strategies you know they will be happy with? Shouldn’t catering have some limits because, well, we (not me yet, but one day) are in fact professionals who have been trained to devise plans that are truly outstanding?

So, in sum, is catering always the best thing to do? For both your client’s sake and your sanity? I would love to hear all opinions on this and even some real-life examples if you have them. Thanks for reading the very first edition of Ask the PRos and, I promise, the next one won’t be quite so text-heavy.

Photo of American Gladiators–Aaahem, I mean, PR Pros–courtesy of The Big Lead.