As you probably know, one of the world’s most elite competitions recently ended. This event featured an incredibly talented group of men and women who dedicated countless hours to perfecting their craft, pushing themselves to be a star among their peers. From your couch, you acted as any good spectator would – cheering them on to victory as they accomplished feats you could only dream of and commiserating when they fell short.
I’m of course talking about The Great British Baking Show.
I’ve been a fan of this British reality show, which features amateur bakers competing for the title of “Star Baker” and an engraved cake stand, ever since my colleague introduced me to it last year. (Thanks, Molly!)
Watching this season, I picked up several lessons that can be applied to the PR industry.
- Manage your time – Like baking, certain PR activities can be extremely time sensitive. With internal meetings and client deliverables to juggle, it’s easy to overcommit and find yourself rushing at the end to complete projects. Try blocking time on your calendar for specific tasks. There are two major benefits to this approach. First, it will help ensure you’ve allotted enough time to complete the assignment. Secondly, scheduling it on your calendar will let colleagues know you’re unavailable during that period of time and limit interruptions.
- Keep your client’s objectives in mind – Most clients would agree that it’s wonderful when a PR firm goes above and beyond to exceed their expectations. However, executives are more likely to be irritated than impressed if a PR firm fails to execute on their original request and instead presents them with extraneous details and eye-catching graphics. On the show, the judges repeatedly admonished and eventually eliminated a baker for failing to follow their most basic instructions. In PR, we’re conditioned to search for ways to add value for our clients, but it’s important not to lose sight of their ultimate objective. Before investing your client’s time and resources on an activity, ask yourself if it maps directly to helping achieve a business or communication goal.
- Try new things – From combining unexpected flavors to brainstorming ways to incorporate augmented reality (AR) into PR, experimenting in the kitchen and the office is a must. One of our firm’s strengths is our creativity, which we rely on when writing proactive pitches, problem solving and developing communication plans. In new business meetings, potential clients will often cite stale ideas and lack of strategic counsel as reasons why they parted ways with their previous firms. Schedule regular brainstorming sessions with your team and explore other mediums (Instagram stories, anyone?) to deliver your clients’ messages.
- Trust your instincts – For the technical challenge portion of The Great British Baking Show, the judges give the bakers a recipe with certain critical information omitted, such as what temperature the oven should be set at or if the dough needs proofing. Often, these recipes are for obscure dishes the contestants have never heard of, let alone know how to make. PR professionals face their own version of the technical challenge on a regular basis, as it’s rare to know beforehand every question a journalist will ask and clients will sometimes provide limited direction. When you find yourself in a situation that requires an immediate response or action, have confidence that your training and knowledge will lead you to the best solution.
- Lend a hand – One of the reasons why I enjoy The Great British Baking Show so much is because of how genuinely pleasant and supportive the contestants appear to be. Yes, they are in a competition and yes, they are often working until the last second to execute their show-stopping cakes, but they still find time to help one another. We all have deadlines to meet and projects to manage, but volunteer to assist when you have bandwidth. This strengthens the team dynamic and your colleagues will be eager to return the favor in the future.
With the newest batch of contestants announced last week, I’m looking forward to another season of over-the-top treats and sharing more PR takeaways with you. Until then, I’ll be spending the rest of the summer perfecting my replica of contestant Paul’s King of the Jungle bake.