#42 - Building Your 2020 Marketing Calendar What’s the product? Who’s it for? And how can you reach them? That’s what all marketing boils down to. The ways in which we reach people will constantly change, but the first two should never change. If you can get clear on those, you’ll have a leg up on your competition. In fact, this is what I spend most of my life doing - helping restaurants and chefs get clear answers to those first two questions. The rest of my time is spent brainstorming ideas, a...
Dec 29, 2019•25 min•Ep. 42
#41 - Marketing Holidays The holiday season means big business for the restaurant industry. People are going out more and celebrating… friends and families get together, there are office parties, plus people are spending more than they normally would… there’s a festive energy in the air and people are more willing to indulge. And still, restaurants can hardly seem to keep up with the demand. For most restaurants it’s an all-out sprint to the end of the year; we hardly have time to look around. T...
Dec 23, 2019•6 min•Ep. 41
#40 - All You Need is 1,000 True Fans Kevin Kelly is an author, editor, public speaker, and technologist who, whether you’re aware of it or not, has been quietly changing the world for the past 40 years. Tech geeks will know him as the founding executive editor of WIRED magazine, but he’s also been a pioneer in the world of virtual reality and AI programming. He got his first shot of real fame in 2010 with the release of a book called “What Technology Wants.” And found further notoriety with the...
Dec 16, 2019•29 min•Ep. 40
#39 - Jon Taffer's Brilliant Advice for Building Repeat Business There’s a YouTube clip that’s famous at this point in marketing circles. Perhaps you’ve seen it. Gary Vaynerchuk, marketing superstar and head of Vayner Media, hosts a show called Ask Gary Vee. It’s a call-in show, and each episode he has on a different co-host. Back in 2017 on Episode #257 , Gary sat with Jon Taffer, the host of a TV show called Bar Rescue on the Paramount Network. Now, a young guy calls in with questions about ho...
Dec 09, 2019•15 min•Ep. 39
#38 - INTERVIEW: David Stockwell, Owner of Faun Restaurant I met David Stockwell a few years back when I was working on a documentary web series called SMELL TOUCH TASTE. We profiled 4 restaurants in the summer of 2017 and now just two years later, 3 of them are already closed. The only one that’s survived? Faun Restaurant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, owned and operated by today’s guest, David Stockwell. The thing is, though, his resume is not something you would’ve bet on. All of the other ch...
Dec 02, 2019•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 38
#37 - What I Learned Running the NYC Marathon The NYC Marathon happens every year on the first Sunday in November. It is without a doubt, one of the coolest events of the year -- something the entire city comes out for. It has long been a dream of mine to run it, and this past week that dream was realized. After 17 years of wishing, a year of planning, and 6 months of intense training I ran the New York City Marathon. And it may not be immediately obvious, but I think the Marathon has a lot to d...
Nov 18, 2019•26 min•Ep. 37
#36 - 8 Ways to Pack the Place on Monday Night A restaurant can't survive on Friday and Saturday nights. We pay rent all seven days of the week, and so it behooves us to fill up those other five days. And yet so often businesses limp along all week and then try to grind it out all weekend long. That approach may work for a while, but it's not a long-term strategy. In time you and your staff will burn out or things will simply fade away. In this week's episode I'm sharing my approach for how to f...
Nov 11, 2019•27 min•Ep. 36
#35 - Use Content Strategy to Build Trust with your Guests I always like to say that businesses these days need to think of themselves as mini-media companies, putting out consistent, high-quality content on a weekly basis. But what does that mean, content? Stick around because in this week’s episode I’m going to explain what content strategy is… I’m going to show you how it can help your business… and then I’m going to explain the best ways to get started. If you’re struggling to gain traction,...
Nov 04, 2019•35 min•Ep. 35
#34 - Kill 'em with Kindness There’s this thing in our industry… call it tradition or whatever… where the Chef is often portrayed as this tyrant, lording over the kitchen. Slamming pots and pans, screaming at the cooks, and striking fear into the servers that dare to enter that sacred space. But the longer I spend in the industry, the more I’ve been questioning that behavior. This episode is an addendum of sorts to the string of episodes I did a few week back where we talked about leadership, st...
Oct 28, 2019•21 min•Ep. 34
#33: INTERVIEW - Alexander LaPratt, Master Sommelier This week I'm thrilled to bring you another interview, and trust me it's a good one. I sat down with Alexander LaPratt, Master Sommelier and owner of two neighborhood restaurants here in Brooklyn: Atrium DUMBO and Beasts & Bottles. His journey in the industry has taken him from Detroit where he got his start to Napa where we worked for Thomas Keller at The French Laundry, before finally making his way to New York City, where he's worked wi...
Oct 21, 2019•1 hr 55 min•Ep. 33
#32: Y-E-L-P is a Four Letter Word! What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say YELP? If you’re like a lot of other industry professionals you can’t help but use other four letter words to articulate your disdain. But regardless of how we feel about it, the site has become an important piece to a business’ digital presence and so it’s worth taking some time to talk about the Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to this polarizing website. This week, we’re talking all about YELP. Specifically I...
Oct 14, 2019•21 min•Ep. 32
#31: Thriving in the Attention Economy The market is saturated, we’re inundated with images and ads everywhere we look, people spend all day on their phones, and WE have the unenviable task of crafting the kind of experience that can only happen in real life. I’ve said it many times before, but the real currency these days is ATTENTION. So how then do you not only survive, but thrive, in this new Attention Economy? That's what this week is all about. We talk about the problems and pitfalls we al...
Oct 07, 2019•35 min•Ep. 31
#30: INTERVIEW - Nathan Mergen, Chef/Owner of 107 State This week is a departure from our regular format, so I hope you'll come along for the ride. I recently had the chance to interview Nathan Mergen, the Chef/Owner of 107 State (Madison, WI), and so I thought it might be helpful to hear about the successes and struggles of such a young restaurant. My hope is to start sharing more of these interviews over the coming months as a way of applying some of the academic lessons from the show. I hope ...
Sep 30, 2019•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 30
#29: The Keys to Management and Marketing This is the third and final episode in a 3-episode arc where we've been talking all about Leadership, Staffing, and Training. Why? Because people run your restaurant; people are responsible for much of what happens on a daily basis in your restaurant. And so it makes sense that we would talk about how to find, train, motivate, and cultivate great employees. In the episode we talk a lot about Danny Meyer and his "Salt Shaker Theory", which he outlines in ...
Sep 23, 2019•16 min•Ep. 29
#28: How To Build a Great Staff This is the second in a 3-episode arc where we're talking all about Leadership, Staffing, and Training. Why? Because people run your restaurant; people are responsible for much of what happens during a meal. And so it makes sense that we would talk about the people in your organization. As we talked about last week, it all starts with strong leadership. That means you... setting a vision for the company and inspiring others to go where you want to go. Next up is y...
Sep 16, 2019•17 min•Ep. 28
#27: Great Marketing Starts with Great Leadership This is the first in a 3-episode arc all about Leadership, Staffing, and Management -- three areas that I believe have a greater impact on your bottom line than any other promotion and initiative you could put in place. Why? Because your PEOPLE are what brings your business to life. Your PEOPLE are the ones responsible for communicating your vision and executing it night after night, dish after dish. In this first episode I'm going to show you wh...
Sep 09, 2019•16 min•Ep. 27
#26: Internal Marketing Usually when we talk about Marketing we're talking about EXTERNAL marketing... SEO, paid advertising, e-mail marketing, social media... often forgetting about the equally valuable INTERNAL marketing. What is internal marketing? Give a listen as I walk you through it! ASSIGNMENT Just take stock, and make sure that everything in your restaurant is an opportunity to build regular customers. Don't even make changes yet; just start with an assessment. CONTINUING EDUCATION: Mar...
Aug 26, 2019•22 min•Ep. 26
#25: Social Media Trends 2019 I want to take this opportunity to talk all about the changing trends in Social Media Marketing for 2019. If you're marketing your restaurant online Facebook and Instagram are probably two places where you're putting a lot of energy. But is it the right energy? Are you doing the right things to move the needle? What are some of the best practices? And why does the algorithm keep changing. In this week's episode we're going to tackle all of these and more, plus I'll ...
Aug 19, 2019•20 min•Ep. 25
#24: Process, Progress, and Secrets to Productivity I am endlessly fascinated by the subject of creativity... and not just what it means to artists, but in business as well. Think of in terms of "problem solving." Marketing problems require creative solutions, and so it's about cultivating a fresh perspective. It's about being able to look at a problem and solve it in a new way. The best inventions of the last 200 years came about this way. Henry Ford famously said, "If I'd asked people what the...
Aug 12, 2019•23 min•Ep. 24
#23: Strategic vs. Tactical Thousands of years ago the ancient Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu, wrote this in The Art of War : "Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." In this week's episode I want to pause for a second to talk about the difference between strategic thinking and tactical thinking, and show you how they're really just two sides of the same coin. CONTINUING EDUCATION: THIS IS MARKETING by Seth Godin...
Jul 29, 2019•16 min•Ep. 23
#22: Capturing Great Food Photography This week's episode is all about photography... specifically Food Photography. It's a big part of how I make my living, and an important way to attract customers to your restaurant. It's a longer episode than normal, but we've also packed a ton of information into 42 minutes. There are three main segments to the episode. First, I'm sharing the basic principles of good photography... Next, I walk you through how I set up my food shots... Finally, I'm sharing ...
Jul 22, 2019•43 min•Ep. 22
#21: Learning How to Tell Great Stories I've been telling you week after week that the key to success... the key to your success... is to answer this one question: "What are the stories only you can tell?" You have to figure out what makes you unique, remarkable... and then highlight those differences to separate yourself from the competition. In this week's episode I'm going to tell you my story, and the story of my business to make a point. I'm going to use that story to make a point, to show ...
Jul 15, 2019•19 min•Ep. 21
#20: Use E-Mail Marketing to Drive Revenue This week’s episode is all about the importance of Permission Marketing. Perhaps you're asking: "What is permission marketing?" Seth Godin defines it as “the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal, and relevant messages to people who actually want them.” We are of course talking about building an e-mail strategy, but it goes beyond that I think. It’s about shifting your perspective to reconsider how we connect with our audience. T...
Jul 08, 2019•26 min•Ep. 20
#19: The Do's and Don'ts of Building a Restaurant Website Think of your website as your digital home. At the very least, it should be an extension of the hospitality you provide in the restaurant; at best, it needs to entice diners to come try the experience for themselves. It should reflect the tone and aesthetic of your place, and be the centerpiece to your online presence. Articles, interviews, reviews, and all other forms of media (including social) will drive traffic here. This is where you...
Jul 01, 2019•24 min•Ep. 19
#18: Five Keys to Social Media Success Much of the work I do with my clients is Social Media Marketing, and yet I think a lot of small business owners can feel overwhelmed by it all. Just managing the three main platforms can sometimes feel like a hassle. So this week I'm going to share my five keys to success when it comes to social media. There's a ton of information in this episode so sit back, relax, and maybe even take some notes. CONTINUING EDUCATION: "Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook" by Gary Va...
Jun 24, 2019•32 min•Ep. 18
#17: Menu Magic Think about the people who dined in your restaurant last night. Couples, families, businessmen, friends, whatever... all of them were there for different reasons. They ordered different things, and in the end had different experiences. But there's one thing they all shared about their dining experience. And that was the menu. Your menu was the one thing every single person in the restaurant got. I'm going to make the case that your menu is the most important piece of real estate ...
Jun 17, 2019•20 min•Ep. 17
#16: SEO Crash Course for Restaurants SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it's a crazy complicated topic that would take hours to effectively explain. But just because it's complex doesn't mean we should ignore it. In fact, I'm going to make the case that SEO is the single most important tool in the Digital Marketer's Toolkit. The ability to be FOUND in a world as vast as the internet is INVALUABLE. And so this week I'm giving a crash course in SEO for Restaurants. Give me the next 25...
Jun 10, 2019•24 min•Ep. 16
#15: 10 Books Every Restaurant Owner Should Read ** Click on any of the titles to order your own copy at Amazon.com ** 1. Purple Cow by Seth Godin 2. All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin 3. Permission Marketing by Seth Godin 4. Setting the Table by Danny Meyer 5. Start with Why by Simon Sinek 6. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook 7. The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday 8. To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink 9....
Jun 03, 2019•30 min•Ep. 15
#14: Getting Started with Facebook Ads By far the biggest question I get from clients is this: "Should my restaurant be running Facebook Ads." In this week's episode we break it all down, and share some key reasons why paid advertising works on social media. I'll show you an easy way to get started, and walk you through the most efficient ways to spend those limited marketing dollars. FACEBOOK BUSINESS PORTAL: CLICK HERE CONTINUING EDUCATION: 20 minute video about how to set up your first FB Ad....
May 27, 2019•22 min•Ep. 14
#13: Twenty Marketing Ideas to Boost Business We've spent the past few months talking big picture ideas, establishing a strong foundation for your business. But perhaps you're sitting there wondering, "Okay fine, but how can I apply these to my work?" Well, today we're going to start putting it all together. This week I challenged myself to come up with 20 different marketing ideas you can try right away. Note: I'm not saying to put them all into practice right away. To start, just pick 2 or 3 a...
May 20, 2019•24 min•Ep. 13
