Everything I Know About Marketing, I Learned From Cake Decorating

Taking a cake decorating class is something I’ve wanted to do since college, but just recently made the time to do. As I decorated my final cake and finished my second class, I discovered there are many parallels between cake decorating and marketing. I am willing to bet that if you look close enough, these same parallels apply to almost any job that requires both precision and creativity.

Making frosting is a necessary evil.

I LOVE making pretty flowers, fancy borders and fun characters. I HATE making the frosting. Sifting the sugar, measuring out the ingredients, mixing – BORING! But, it’s also the single most important thing you do when decorating a cake. It’s a process that has to be exact – add just one extra teaspoon of water and the frosting is useless.

How much of marketing is like this? Conducting research, planning, and creating all of the backup materials and documentation isn’t always the most glorious part of a project. They don’t look beautiful or generate praise in the hallways, but without these steps, the project won’t accomplish the purpose it was designed to accomplish. It will eventually take up residence in the trash can.

A flower is rarely perfect on the first try.

As I learned how to make each flower, I discovered my own ways of perfecting the technique. It took a little time and massaging to get it right, but eventually I found the best way to achieve the result I wanted.

Like cake decorating, marketing lives somewhere between science and art. While experience has taught us the basic concepts and techniques, each project takes a bit of massaging along the way to get it just right. That’s what I love about it. If I had wanted something more concrete, I would have been a mathematician.

Just because it’s pretty doesn’t mean it tastes good.

Fondant, the kind of frosting that is completely smooth and is laid on a cake rather than spread, is a decorators dream. It makes a cake look beautiful and sophisticated at once. The problem with fondant is that most of the time it tastes awful. While fondant is prettier, I’ll choose a cake with butter cream frosting almost every time.

Likewise, some of our most creative work doesn’t accomplish what we think it will. It can be difficult to acknowledge the more attractive work isn’t accomplishing its purpose and to move on to something else, but you have to decide whether you want to create campaigns that work or campaigns that simply look pretty.

A little praise goes a long way.

Last class, my instructor complimented me on one of my flower techniques. I felt like the best cake decorating student in the entire world and decided to take the next class from this instructor.

Make people feel good about themselves and they are 100 times more likely to do what you ask them. That goes for both the people you supervise and the people you are trying to sell your product or service.

As Julia Child would say, “Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”

What are you passionate about in your spare time? Have you found any parallels that have helped you at work? Share below.

Why Isn't My Press Release Getting Any Press?

I’ve heard this question too many times to count, and chances are that every PR practitioner has been on the asking end a time or two. But before you bemoan the journalist who has a beef with your organization or complain about the reporter who just doesn’t get it, ask yourself the following questions:

Is it local?
This is probably one of the simplest questions you will ask yourself, but it’s also one of the most important. If the story is obviously local – for instance, something about a parade taking place in Eloy, Arizona – proceed to question two. If the local tie is not as obvious, you’ll need to be a bit more creative. And if you can’t find a local tie, chances are the story will not be picked up.

Is it urgent?
Evergreen stories are great, and I love reading them. The trouble is there’s no immediate incentive for reporters to write about them. If the story you’re pitching doesn’t have a natural deadline, try creating one by adding a recent statistic or by tying the story to recent events.

Is it human?
Just about any story you can think of will be more likely to get coverage if there is a human angle. Is it a story about a new technology, program or donation? Then talk about the people who will benefit and how their lives will improve. Better yet, ask one of those people to share a story of how they will benefit.

Is this the right person to pitch?
With today’s ever-shrinking newsroom, the reporter you’ve pitched in the past might no longer cover the same beat or even work at the paper. Do your research to make sure you’re pitching the person who will actually care about what you’re saying.

Is this the right outlet to pitch?
Not every announcement is worthy of The Today Show or the New York Times, but chances are your news will be a good fit somewhere. Have you tried pitching the town newspaper, a local blog, a trade publication, or simply posting it to the company web site, Facebook page or Twitter account?

Does it matter?
As one local journalist says: “If it sounds like PR, then it’s BS.” Just because your client or boss thinks it’s a great story, does NOT mean the story is important to anyone else. This can be tough to explain to the person who pays your salary, so you might have to go digging to give the story purpose. Is there a recent study or trend you could leverage? Is there someone who will benefit from this news that can lend a voice to the story or someone local who was involved in creating the news you can profile? Provide this context, and your story will take shape.

The Inside Lane

My work, E.B. Lane, recently started a blog called The Inside Lane. It's become the new status symbol at work to be published on the blog, so I decided I just had to write a post. They published the first one and I went merrily on my way, but then other people started getting their second post published and I got jealous! So, I wrote a second one...about cake decorating, and it was published earlier this week. HOORAY, I'm SO COOL, well at least until other people start getting their third post published. :-)

I'm going to post my two work blog posts here. You by no means have to read them (since they are about public relations and marketing, and probably not interesting to the average person), I just want to post them so that when I print this blog out as a book, I will have them...and some day when I have children, they will know that at one point in my life I was smart, even if I no longer know anything.

The Dremel

After we went hiking yesterday, we stumbled across a community garage sale in Arrowhead Ranch. We came away with a few great purchases, including a mirror so Wil can start cutting his hair outside instead of in the bathroom (hooray!).

But by far the best purchase we made was this...


It's a rotary tool, commonly known as a dremel. I think I'm in love. This beautiful dremel just made our chair and bench sanding project that we've been working on for a while not nearly as daunting! Sanding the flat part is easy, and kind of fun...until now, sanding the curvy parts has been a dreaded challenge that we've been avoiding. But, no longer! I see marital feuds over who gets to use the dremel in our near future! :-)


Seriously, the coolest sanding tool since the invention of the sander...maybe even cooler! That's all for now...I think it's my turn to use our new toy!

Sheets

What happens at the Gonzalez house when it's late and we realize as we're going to bed that we haven't put the clean sheets on the bed?


We have a sleepover in the living room with the mattresses from the spare room. :-)

Memory, Part Dos

Thanks for all the great questions! Here are our answers (for the record, he's laying on the floor next to me, so I'm writing my answer and then asking him and he's answering, so neither of us know what the other person said/will say).

When did we first say I love you?
J - We were at the park...Sahuaro Ranch Park, I think...sitting on a picnic table when we first said I love you to each other. Wil said it first.
W - The day before Jessica left to go back to Utah, at Sahuaro Ranch Park, sitting on a bench. We went to Olive Garden for dinner for Vivi's birthday and then to the park. Jessica was wearing a white shirt - like the red one from our first date but white.

How long did it take him to kiss you?
J - WAY too long. :-) Actually, I think it ended up being just the right amount of time so I was ready. I don't remember when it was, although we tried to calculate it at one point. We went to Sahuaro Ranch Park (are you sensing a theme) and I thought he's going to kiss me, I totally want him to kiss me, and then I would freak out and look away. So he actually kissed me after we came home, sitting on my grandma's couch. And he asked if he could kiss me first, like a gentleman - because I wouldn't look at him because I was nervous! :-)
W - A long time.

When did Wil first meet your roommates?
J - The first time he came to Utah. We went back to my apartment and I introduced him to my roommates.
W - My first trip to Utah, we went to Jessica's apartment right after the fair (side note from Jessica: we met Lili, Lalo, Arlene, Clarisa and Adaly at the fair, that was the first time I met them)...I think...I can't remember if Angela was there, I'm not sure which ones I met that night. If not, it was at the Olive Garden for Alison's birthday.

Was Deidre expecting her second son William at our wedding?
J - I'm not sure if she was or not, BUT she had not announced it yet, if she was. That did not happen until after we were married, and she announced it on her blog. I was sitting at this very computer, at this very desk when I read about it. :-)
W - That's a great question. I have no idea.

Alright, now you get to vote who wins...I think I remembered all the answers, but Wil remembered the most details...any other questions?

The Cashier

Many weeks ago, we went to one of our favorite local stores...which shall remain nameless to protect the innocent. When the cashier rang up our produce, he would count the number of peaches...apples...pears...or whatever and then look up at us and say, "five?" or "four?" or however many there were. To which we would lean over the counter, count and say, "yes, five."

As we left the store, Wil turned to me and said sarcastically, "yes, Billy there are five, way to go...you're learning to count." OK, so we're kind of mean...but it was that annoying!

Today, we went to said store to buy groceries. We stood in line, we forgot something so Wil went back to get it while I stood in line, and then we stood in line some more. First, you should note that there were two people in front of us when we got into the line...and the cashier was half way done with the first person by the time we got there. I looked at a few magazines...Wil and I talked and only after many, many minutes of standing in line did we realize we were still standing there and had not moved. Wil was wondering if we should have picked the kid with the terrible acne when we decided to place a bet as to what time we would get out of the store. It was 8:39 (please note we had already been in line at least 10 minutes, and the cashier was three-quarters of the way done ringing up the woman in front of us. I guessed 8:47, Wil guessed 8:52 and I said "NO WAY!" Thinking there was no humanly possible way it could take another 13 minutes for him to finish with the lady in front of us and then check us out.

We proceeded to watch and wait as the cashier looked for a coupon he had accidentally dropped through a crack in the counter. He searched and searched and searched and brought over the manager to look and find out what he should do and it was at this very moment that Wil started reading this out of desperation...


Yes, my friends, that's a Woman's Health!

The cashier apologized and then started to ring us up. He got to the avacadoes and said, "do you know how many you have?" Wil put them in the bag, so no, I didn't know how many we had. The cashier counted the avacadoes and said, "five?" and I thought...AH HAH! He's that guy...so I peaked over the counter, counted the avacadoes and said, "yes."

He then proceeded to tell me that we couldn't get the better price on several items because of some lame excuse that has NEVER EVER caused a problem for me before. I told him to keep the produce through a gritted teeth smile, but refrained from telling him what I really wanted to say, which was that he could stick the pineapple and honeydew up his rear!

And then we left...any guesses what time? Go ahead and guess...later, later, you're getting close, it was 9:03. We stood in line for at least THIRTY minutes! For two people! These were not day after Thanksgiving crowds at the store...at 8:30.. on a Monday night! Next time, we are going to the acne kid!

Wil and I came up with a new application to work at any type of grocery store. The first question will be, "how many avacadoes are in this bag?"

PS...while we were in said line a couple in the line next to us bought $1,200 worth of zhu zhu pets...they sell them on ebay for more than they pay for them at the store...they got there at almost the same time the cashier started ringing up our $80 worth of groceries and were done significantly before us!