Word & Mouth Blog
Where food, hospitality, branding, and human behavior all crash into each other. I write about restaurants, wine, placemaking, customer experience, and the small details that make people talk about a business long after they leave.
For even more snarky takes on marketing, pop culture, branding, and the internet, visit my Substack, Burnt Popcorn & Branding: Substack
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A mix of hospitality, branding, customer psychology, hospitality culture, and internet behavior from someone who’s worked behind the scenes in marketing long enough to know what feels authentic and what feels painfully forced.
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Yes. Especially if your marketing currently sounds like ChatGPT wrote it.
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No LinkedIn thought leadership energy here. Just strategy, storytelling, and occasional side-eye toward trends, Chat-GPT written branding advice, and “disruptive” ideas that all look the same.
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People in marketing, hospitality, branding, retail, wine, or anyone who secretly judges restaurants by their menu design before reading the food list.
10 Ways to Optimize Social Media for SEO
How can you make sure that your social media content is seen by the people who are interested in it? By following these 10 tips, you can optimize your social media for SEO and ensure that your content reaches your target audience AND helps you grow and connect with new people within your niche.
My Favorite Non-Music Instagram Reels Ideas For Hospitality & Wine Marketers
For marketers that have business accounts without access to good music (yes, royalty-free music is there, but tbh it is pretty meh) there are two things you can do when it comes to creating Instagram Reels for wine social media marketers.
10 Ideas For Instagram Reels For Wine Businesses
There are many ways to utilize Instagram Reels for wine businesses to create short-form social media videos that are fun, showcase the wine, and go behind the scenes to create brand awareness + trust with your wine-loving audience.
Drinking Wine in Clubhouse
Clubhouse is an audio, invite-only app where participants can move around virtual rooms discussing arts and culture, from popular TV shows to the state of the music industry. A perfect excuse to grab a glass of wine and your headphones.
Please Don't Say "I Don't See Color"
It’s very problematic to POC/gay friends/trans/etc for white cis-gendered people to say this. I know because I have heard marginalized groups talk about this many times before the past week. And right now, they are literally asking us to see them and hear them.
Tools For Creating Video For Virtual Wine Tastings
The experience of “wine” isn’t always JUST about the wine. Any winery that plans out virtual wine tastings should think about what core values they share with their customers and try to create video wine tastings that connect with their target audience and brings something else to the table. Here are some video tools to use to create better video quality for your virtual wine tastings.
Top 11 Wineries in California on Instagram
My picks for top CA Wineries on Instagram are not based on who has the most followers, the prettiest pictures, or which wineries get the most Instagram location check-ins. While those are important, I chose these wineries based on their community engagement and unique brands… I chose wineries on Instagram that were true to their brand passions and connected with their target audience.
Understanding Wine Influencers
Wine Influencers are always a hot topic that people (mainly older people) in the wine industry like to get upset about. But it works. Right now, in addition to the ROI question, people are looking at the term “influencer” as a group of girls posing for the camera, not knowing anything about the subject matter, and expecting things for free. Once again, I'm here to say that that is not the case for everyone, and certainly not the case for wine influencers worth their weight in cans of rosé.
