Hello my little sprinkles it’s me the Cake Boss and I’m glad you could make it to my TED Talk.

Today we’ll be discussing a subject that I know about by the dozen. Cakes!

There are so many layers, flavors, sizes and colors to choose form. I could make a mile-long list of icing types like buttercream, whipped topping, ganache, fudge…etc. Cake flavors pulsing through my veins. Chocolate, Vanilla, Almond, Strawberry, Italian Cream, Red Velvet and so many more.

Now that your mouth is watering, wouldn’t you like to know what its like to be a cake decorator?

It’s an agonizing job full of sweets, delectable desserts and piping bags. To tell you the truth its not all its cracked up to be… It’s so much more. It has its up and downs like every job, but these are some of the things you should consider the next time you think about a cake decorator.

Don’t get me wrong, being a cake decorator is the cherry on top of the sundae. It includes things like good pay and free sweets whenever you want, but sometimes it can be a bit hard like a scone.

On most occasions people never ask me what I want to make. I’m always allowed to be as creative as I want as long as its what the customer wants. Sometimes I can take my time on an order, but other times I have to do orders twice as fast.

Even with all of these limitations in place I still manage to make my job enjoyable. The real truth is that I love doing what I do. Being a Cake decorator truly is the cherry on top. Making fabulous creations for people to admire and enjoy with their loved ones is my bread and butter.

One of my favorite parts of my job is giving a guest a cake and seeing their eyes light up with joy like a candle on a birthday cake. I love to see the smile on a child’s face when they see their favorite character adorning their cake. I can sit here and complain untill I’m as blue as buttercream, but at the end of the day I’m proud to show my work and be able to wear the name tag that says, “Cake Decorator.”

Just like all desserts must come to an end, so must this blog.

Untill next time my sweets!

Vince Rodriguez

Things we can do to increase our chances of earning media coverage.

Hoppy Easter my peeps! See what I did there.

In the spirit of the Easter season I often ask myself WWJD? What would Jesus do? If I had a guess, I would say that he would make a PR acronym. Maybe something like WWADSD? What would a digital strategist do? I’m not too sure, but lets find out.

In our crazy world of public relations earned media is key to getting eyes, ears and fingertips interested in our organizations. Money can buy everything from happiness to diamonds, but it can’t buy earned media. However, there are several ways we can whoo journalists to increase our chances of this extremely valuable media coverage.

First things first, timing.

Timing is extremely important when sending pitches to journalists. If you’re in a pinch to get a pitch the best time to pitch is on a Monday before noon. If you really want to put the cherry on top of your pitch you’ll send it through a brief 1:1 personalized email. If you can avoid it don’t send the pitch out on a Saturday and don’t send it to their cell phone.

Next, have a relationship with the journalist and follow-up.

If you’re a PR pro you should follow the journalists that you are pitching to on social media. Most journalists like to keep in touch by email to maintain a good relationship while others prefer for you to follow them on Twitter or in person through an in-person meeting. If you have an existing relationship send a follow-up email on the pitch. If you don’t then take this opportunity to acquaint yourself and your organization.

Finally, make your pitch stand out.

Most journalists say that they get 1-5 pitches every day. What makes yours so special? That’s up to us to decide. We need to ensure that out pitches are concise and eye-catching. Make the pitch pull them in and make them want to write the story.

Takeaways:

• Earned media is king.

• Be timely when sending out your pitches.

• Have a relationship and follow-up.

• Make your pitch stand out.

As always thank you for tuning into to this mandatory blog,

Untill next time at 10:32 p.m.

Vince Rodriguez

I have no idea, but you might find out if you keep reading.

Well, I have to start somewhere…. might as well start here.

Lets start with a little introduction

My name is Vince! I’m 23 years OLD, but my knees might tell you otherwise. I’m not too sure how I got here. By chance? Maybe it was fate? Maybe it was a blog post assignment for PR 3315? We may never know for sure.

Now that we’ve answered why (well kind of), now we should answer WHAT? More specifically, what is a blog?

What is a blog, lets find out!

Blog to me is a four-letter word. Brief. Legendary. Original.  And Great. This acronym isn’t set in stone so please feel free to make some suggestions.

Blogs can be different things to different people. Since I’m here I suppose I’ll tell you what my definition of a blog is. Blogs are places for people to speak their mind. Places where people share their unique experiences. Places where they give tips and tricks for various things. Blogs are fun and written in a diary-style. As you can see from my writing above, a blog to me is informal and more personable.

When I hear the word “Blog” I typically think of the person who is writing it. I think to myself, “that person must be passionate about what they are writing about to put it in a blog. They are giving us the inside scoop on that specific topic.”

It’s kind of like a secret club meeting where they share their candid thoughts on a subject and give us all of the juicy details. Except not because they’re publishing it on the internet for everyone to see.

Looking to the Future

I think this blogging assignment will be an interesting journey. By interesting I mean I’ll probably forget about it every time and frantically write it an hour before its due like I’m doing right now. Typical Vince. With that being said, I really do think that this will be a learning experience. I’m excited to see how this will turn out for me.

All I can say is deseame suerte! That means “Wish me luck!” in Spanish. At least I think it does.

Untill next time around 11:59.

Peace out Girl Scout!

The narrative Writing Assignment was by far my favorite to write overall. The assignment allowed for us to have fun and express ourselves though our writing. When I wrote this assignment I was in a rush since I had procrastinated until the last minute, so there was a significant amount of the plot that I had to leave out. In order to further set the scene and thicken the plot I added more content to the story. This assignment allowed me to utilize the creative part of my brain which I will use should I decided to go into the advertising industry upon my graduation. This assignment cultivated valuable skills that I will be able to take with me after this class ends.

The Strategic Writing Assignment was a more practical assignment for me and has some real world application to the public relations field. Again, I feel that I demonstrated a mastery in the concepts for this assignment which was reflected in my grade. My major mistakes in the document were extremely small GSP errors, such as missing a space and adding a colon. After making the changes to the document it was more professional and seemed like I could actually send this out as a real press release. Having previously done the IWA and now the SWA, I feel better prepared to write press releases and news stories for the real world. I feel confident going forward in my educational career since in now have a solid foundation for writing press releases.

In the Informative Writing Assignment I displayed a mastery of the concepts required for this assignment which reflected well in my grade. Many of the mistakes that I made in the graded copy for the assignment were small GSP errors such as adding the Oxford comma while writing in AP style. After implementing all of the recommended revision to the document it appears to properly adhere to the AP style guide and overall looks polished and professional. A document such as this news story is intended for a broad audience, yet if this had been an actual news story for this event then I may not be perceived as a credible source because of all of my mistakes. Overall, these revisions gave me further insight to my constant use of the Oxford comma and will help me later in my career if/when I should write another news story.

The Academic Writing Assignment proved to be the most difficult assignment that we had all semester. Since this was a group project, there were several different writing styles that were present in the graded copy of the AWA. Because of this, there were lots of revision that needed to be made in order for this assignment to considered a decently reputable document. There were many instances of GSP errors, improper comma usage, incorrect formatting, and lack of editing for conciseness. After implementing revisions, the document is closer to a professional academic article. This assignment prepares individuals for future assignments because not only does it rely on teamwork, it ensures that you rely on careful editing skills and concise sentences.

My Business Writing Assignment lacked a serious amount of polish and professionalism. In both portions of the assignment I included the track changes in my graded copy, which was not needed for the assignment and created an eye sore upon closer examination of the documents. At the beginning of the semester, I lacked a serious amount of effort in my initial revision process, often times skipping over simple GSP mistakes and not properly formatting the documents. After conducting revisions on the documents they appear to be in far better condition than the initial submission. Since the submission of this assignment, I have submitted several applications to various organizations and used feedback from this assignment to ensure that I don’t make those same mistakes going into the professional world.