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.
The Best of Spring Cleaning at Target
Fresh air, new blooms, and a new backyard. These are some of the things I am most excited about this Spring. We are rehauling our backyard so we can have more space for new flowers and plants, as well as a new toddler playhouse and place for Ryeson to ride his new tricycle. Here are some of my top spring cleaning picks from Target to buy right now!
GIFS are back on Instagram
Instagram GIFS were gone from Instagram Stories for a few months. Thankfully for us and the Instagram app - they are back! (pretend there is a dancing taco GIF right here).
How I Spent my Vacation: Goal Planning
Goal Planning is an important part of any marketing strategy - figuring out WHY you want to accomplish your goals and breaking them down into tasks makes them more manageable. Here are a few tips I have learned over the years on how to create goals for marketers.
Instagram Ain’t Nothin’ but a Number
Social Media Marketing numbers that matter should be engagement, not how many followers your brand has. It doesn’t matter if you have 1,000 or 50,000 on Instagram if 49,000 people are not engaged with your brand. Here are a few tips for businesses who want to connect with their audience.
Whole Foods Beauty Sale (find my face in Sonoma + Napa)
Whole Foods Market in Sonoma County, Napa Valley and Marin County is hosting a Beauty Week sale and using Influencer Marketing to share the news in the Bay Area. Here are some of my top beauty picks for new moms.
What they REALLY Want for Valentine's Day
There is something to showing your significant other you care about them on a regular basis, and it is more than roses or a romantic dinner at a restaurant you go to because you think that’s what you should do.
Staycation in Santa Rosa
My husband and I took a Staycation in Downtown Santa Rosa at the Astro Motel, and enjoyed life without the toddler for a night.
Don't Let Facebook Page Changes Get You Down
Facebook Pages may be changing in 2018, but if marketers go back to the root of social media marketing - aka connections - they can be successful.
Meal Planning isn't as hard as it looks + CHICKPEA CURRY Recipe
Meal Planning is easy when you change your expectations.
MY Word of the Year 2018 - CREATE
So many people are talking about their 2018 word of the year. My word is CREATE.
Easy Tools for a More Productive Work Day - It’s a Short List!
My favorite tip for any marketer or small business owner is to goal plan. I can promise you it will help keep you sane, and you will have more time. I use two simple tools to help me maximize my time when I work from home every day.
Clover Sonoma + Whole Foods Eggnog Giveaway
As you may know — I love everything about eating & drinking during the last two months of the year. One of my favorite things is having people over to try different eggnogs, with and without alcohol, of course.
Gift List for Wine Lovers in your Life
Gift ideas for Wine lovers for the holidays. Get your friends and family the perfect wine-themed Christmas Gift.
A Marketers Dream: The Museum of Ice Cream in San Francisco
Pop-up shops are nothing new; we see them at the mall every Christmas season, calendar and phone kiosks in the middle of every aisle. Even the Santa meet-and-greet is a pop-up shop where kids can wait in long lines to pay a guy in a suit to take a picture on his lap (nothing against it, but that is totally what it is). However, these Instagram-style Pop-Up Museums are a somewhat new idea.
The one reason you don’t want to have automatic posts for your social networks
Automated posts from one social network to another creates issues and marketers need to be careful when they share one piece of content on all platforms.
Two Questions: Marketing Your Business After the Wine Country Fires
Questions from Small Business Owners on how to marketing your business after the Sonoma and Napa Fires. My answer: Be as transparent and empathetic as possible.
Moving Forward with Business After the Wine Country Fires
Advice for brands in Sonoma County: Take a step back after the fires to create a marketing strategy for 2018
Social Media Photography: how to shoot GREAT PHOTOS with a smartphone
Tips on How to Take Marketing Photos with your Smart Phone for Wine Industry Social Media Marketers for top photographers in Sonoma and Napa County.
