#12: Brand Marketing vs. Direct Marketing These are two totally different things that unfortunately get confused all the time. In today’s episode I walk you through both of them, show you the different ways they can be effective, and explain when to use each one. Yes, it is ultimately about driving sales, but before that we need to raise awareness, build trust, and communicate effectively to our audience that we know how to solve their problems. Direct Marketing is about inspiring action (Call t...
May 13, 2019•22 min•Ep. 12
#11: Starting With Why This episode was inspired by two things... Simon Sinek's book "Start With Why" and an episode of the Tim Ferriss Show where he interviewed restauranteur, Nick Kokonas. The question WHY is at the core of both of them, but used in very different ways. I've fused the two lessons together into this week's episode. This one is a bit of a departure... a series of stories and thought experiments to try to get you to think differently about your business. I want you to start quest...
May 06, 2019•19 min•Ep. 11
#10: The Digital Marketing Toolkit In this week's episode we're talking all about the Digital Marketing Toolkit , the variety of tools available to us as marketers to help us reach our target audience. For my money it all comes down to five different areas: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Permission Marketing Social Media Content Strategy Paid Advertising Everything we do online will fall into one of these five areas, and so it makes sense to try to understand what each one is all about, so we ...
May 02, 2019•20 min•Ep. 10
#9. What is a Customer Journey Map? What exactly is a Customer Journey Map? It’s a visual representation of the process a customer or prospect goes through to achieve a specific goal with your company. Simply put, it’s a way of identifying all the steps it took to turn a regular person into a customer, and big companies are constantly trying to understand the path people take to get to them. Usually, you'll see the map broken into six different stages, but for restaurants I use seven: Stage 1 - ...
Apr 24, 2019•22 min•Ep. 9
#8: Why Do You Want to Open a Restaurant? To be totally transparent... I think a lot of people go into business for the wrong reasons. They open restaurants because they think it'll be fun (which it sometimes is), or because they think it'll be easy (which it rarely is). But I think it's just too hard these days unless you're ready for the challenge... too hard to succeed unless you really know what you're doing. I think people go into business for themselves for one of six reasons. In this epis...
Apr 17, 2019•26 min•Ep. 8
#7: How to Build a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy What does your marketing strategy look like? Do you even have a marketing strategy? If you're like a lot of restaurant owners out there, it's non-existent. Often times it ends up being more of a seat-of-your-pants kind of thing. Mother's Day is coming up... well, we should do something for Mother's Day. Beverage sales are down... let's come up with a drink special this weekend. But that's not a strategy. Far from it, in fact. In this week's epi...
Apr 10, 2019•20 min•Ep. 7
Fourth Marketing Pillar - DIFFERENTIATION We're starting to turn the corner now as we come to the fourth episode in a 5-show arc. We've been breaking down the Five Pillars of Marketing as a way of giving ourselves a strong foundation to work upon. Because before we can begin building a true marketing strategy for your business, we first have to understand the business we're in. What's our product and who is it for? Today we're discussing the Fourth Marketing Pillar which is DIFFERENTIATION. This...
Apr 05, 2019•21 min•Ep. 5
Fifth Marketing Pillar - OPPORTUNITIES We've finally made it. We are at the end of this little five episode arc where we've been discussing the Five Pillars of Marketing. We started with IDENTITY, finding ways to talk about the product. Then we identified our AUDIENCE, or ICA. We figured out who they were and what their pain points were. We're figuring out what problems they have that we might be able to solve. Next we discussed ways to identify our COMPETITION, and then in the last episode we t...
Apr 05, 2019•18 min•Ep. 6
Third Marketing Pillar - Competition Welcome to the third in a 5-episode arc where we're talking about the Five Pillars of Marketing . Before we can begin building a comprehensive marketing strategy for your business, we first have to understand your business. These five episodes are a version of an exercise I do with my consulting clients. They're assignments, really, that help us begin to understand what the product is and who it's for. Today we're discussing the Third Marketing Pillar which i...
Apr 05, 2019•21 min•Ep. 4
Second Marketing Pillar - AUDIENCE Welcome to the second in a 5-episode arc where we're talking about the Five Pillars of Marketing . This is our opportunity to give ourselves a strong foundation before we begin building a complex marketing strategy. These five episodes are a version of an exercise I do with my consulting clients. They are a series of questions... assignments, really... that help us begin to understand what the product is and who it's for. Today we're discussing the Second Marke...
Apr 05, 2019•21 min•Ep. 3
First Marketing Pillar - IDENTITY This is the first episode in a 5-episode arc where we're talking about something I call the Five Pillars of Marketing. Before we can begin talking about building a marketing strategy, we first have to give ourselves a strong foundation. These five episodes are a version of an exercise I do with my consulting clients. It's the best way I know to get all of us on the same page. They are a series of questions... assignments, really... that help us begin to understa...
Apr 05, 2019•16 min•Ep. 2
EPISODE #1: What is Marketing? ** Download the 3-Step Marketing Worksheet HERE ** Since this is a podcast all about marketing, I thought we would start off by first agreeing on a definition for marketing . And so that's what this episode is all about... articulating a clear way to talk about a subject that people tend to overcomplicate. For me it's not about fancy jargon or academic explanations. It's simpler than that. And so I'm sharing my approach. What is Marketing? I can sum it up in three ...
Mar 22, 2019•18 min•Ep. 1
