In this episode, Katie Mleziva, Food Brand Strategist and host of the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast shares how taking a brand-first approach can help you prioritize ideas and take aligned action to build a strong, cohesive food brand that stands out. Whether you’re just starting or have been in the business for a while, this approach ensures you lead with strategy, not just tactics.

Key Takeaways:

• The difference between branding (logo, visuals) and brand strategy (the foundation that guides your decisions).
• Why a brand-first approach can help you find more joy in your business.
• How to think like a brand manager, focusing on the bigger picture while aligning all parts of your business.
• The Define, Align & Activate framework Katie uses to help her clients build strong, cohesive brands.

3 Steps to Take a Brand-First Approach:

1. DEFINE: Identify your ideal customer, clarify your brand’s unique role in their life, and align your brand with your Purpose, Vision & Values.
2. ALIGN: Ensure every area of your business reflects your brand strategy, so your team feels motivated and confident about building your brand together.
3. ACTIVATE: Implement your strategy with a cohesive plan that helps you stay focused and avoid shiny object syndrome.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why it’s important to think of yourself as a brand manager, wearing the general manager hat for your brand.
• How building a brand strategy and leading with your brand saves time and money when it comes to projects like website redesigns and packaging updates.
• Why having a clear strategy makes your team more effective and helps your brand become more recognizable, meaningful, and ownable.

Join the Conversation:

• Are you taking a brand-first approach in your business? Have you encountered any challenges with this mindset? Share your thoughts in the Real Food Brands Round Table Facebook Community or comment on Katie’s latest Instagram post.

Work with Katie:

If you’re ready to define your Brand Strategy North Star and make more aligned business decisions, connect with Katie to see if her 1:1 Brand Strategy Playbook program is a good fit. Or, if you’d like to start with an assessment of where you are today, learn more about the One Room Test. These spots fill up quickly, so don’t wait!

• Learn more about the 1:1 Brand Strategy Program with Katie.
• Check out the One Room Test "audit" to assess where your brand is today and where you can improve.

Now, let's go shake up shopping carts!

Your Brand Strategy requires careful word choice, and so does how you talk about your plans with your team and partners. Listen to this episode for one easy, but important shift that will instill confidence in your brand!

I'm your host and Food Brand Strategist, Katie Mleziva. I spent years in Brand Management at big companies before I left the corporate world to follow my vision of working with smaller, more entrepreneurial brands . Together we can use a Brand Management Mindset™ to shake up shopping carts and help more people get access to real food!

In this episode:

1) The reason I encourage you to swap "we're trying to" for "we're working to."

2) Why your word choice matters when you're sharing your plans.

3) What my dad apparently has in common with Yoda :)

4) Other weak words you may want to swap for stronger ones or eliminate altogether.

If you’re ready to bring your vision to life and create an integrated plan to make all of your day-to-day decisions easier and more aligned, we can talk through whether my 1:1 Brand Strategy Playbook program is a good fit. Or, if you’re working to prioritize all the ideas in your head and you want to carve out space to do this with me in a strategic way using my IdeaSetting™ framework, let’s book that 90-minute Idea Sounding Board session - it will give you so much clarity on the next steps that align with your goals.

If you’re at a point where you have a clear vision but are at a crossroads and need some strategic time together, I’d love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] .

Now, let's go shake up shopping carts!

Are you selling a product or building a brand? Everyone has to start somewhere, but in this episode, Food Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva shares what it means to go from making a great product to building a strong brand that stands out.

Here's what's in this episode - you can find all the links on the episode web page.

• The event that sparked Katie’s interest in brand management.
• Why a great product is necessary, but not enough.
• Why the time for brand strategy is always now.
• How Katie's Brand Strategy process brings clarity and confidence.
• How a strong brand can help you build brand recognition and word-of-mouth marketing.
• How having a strong brand can help you with new product launches.

Stay tuned for news coming soon on new ways to work with Katie to create the foundation for a strong brand that will help you reach your vision!

In the meantime, you can get all the links and read the full show notes here. 

Have you thought much about the fact that you need to sell your product THREE times before someone can use it at home? I don’t share this to be depressing because sometimes one sounds like enough! And if it sounds like more work, it’s just the reality of breaking down the process that’s already happening and being intentional with your marketing and sales plans to leverage your brand strategy foundations.

I’m talking about first selling into a retail buyer, then selling at shelf once you’re there to get into somebody’s cart, and then selling from their fridge or pantry or snack bin to get it on the plate or in a lunchbox or wherever it ends up getting eaten. And then as part of that, delighting people so that they want to buy it again and again. We don’t want it to get lost in the back of their pantry.

So, our three steps of intentional marketing and sales include:

Get ON shelf Get IN the cart Get OUT of the pantry, fridge, snack drawer, etc.

First, getting ON the shelf, you have to create a compelling story that your brand and product line is going to make a positive contribution to the retailer’s and buyer’s goals. Once you’ve completed your brand strategy you’ll actually have a differentiated strategy (beyond your product tasting delicious) to help that retailer see why you are going to add to incremental sales as part of them bringing you in.

Next, we are getting INTO the cart. And that means standing out on either the shelf or through your online listing. We talk through multiple ways to do this so that you’ll grab attention and engage them to flip over the package or click on more pictures as they seek to learn more.

Last but certainly not least…getting the product OUT of the pantry or fridge. This is a very under-discussed topic in my view is the conversation around promoting in-home use so they won’t forget they have the product and will actually enjoy using it. The LAST thing we want is for it to get stuck in the back of the pantry or fridge until past the expiration date. I share an example of a website that sent me a post-purchase email that did a great job engaging me with a product I purchased and inviting me to reorder. Sometimes I forget to re-order brands I know and love so it was appreciated.

One caveat, if you’re selling on your company’s website you can skip that first gatekeeper step that you have with retail or some aggregate online sales platforms, but the concepts are still really good to think through to be intentional about each step of the journey from buyer to breakfast table! If you’ve already completed your brand strategy, that can influence each step of the way.

We need to think about selling in your products to get them on shelf or on the website, then popping off the shelf/website so that they can get it into carts.  And finally, we want to remember how we can stay top of mind in the pantry so that your brand will actually get invited back to their table.

Whether it be a lunch table at school, a fancy dinner table…whatever kind of table your product and your brand is positioned for we want to get them there and delight them and have them invite you to join them on a regular basis, leading to increased purchase frequency and velocity.

To recap what you’ll learn in this episode: 1) a brief overview of each of these three steps with ideas to be intentional with your own brand along the way

2) an easy-to-implement breakdown to make these complex topics easier to work through piece by piece while staying integrated and bringing your brand to life.

3) an example of a well-done email I got to remind me what I had sitting in my pantry waiting for me to enjoy!

4) ways we can work together on creating your brand strategy to position your brand to stand out, including a 60-minute Brand Strategy Session, my self-paced program + mini Mastermind called Brand Strategy Streamlined™, a more in-depth 4-week 1:1 process called Brand Strategy Playbook, and a Live small group Course option (please see link in resources).

Resources —Interest form to learn more about a LIVE small group course option —Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table on Facebook —FullyHealth.com —Real Food Brands Instagram —RealFoodBrands.com

Thanks for being here, now let’s go shake up shopping carts! Katie

In almost every client meeting or strategy session I hear food business owners relay concern over how many things are competing for their attention -- and how exhausting it can be. Some share they are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, and some just feel like they are being forced to wear too many hats at the same time every. single. day...and are searching for ways to stay positive about the business they love. 

Recognizing the power of focus is a good start, but not as easy as just saying, "stay focused," right?! 

With your brand strategy and business plan in mind, you can use this episode to think about ways to protect your focus and ultimately your time, energy, and ability to get the right things done on a day-to-day and annual basis to reach your goals.

In this episode I share some useful tips (not all are what you might expect to hear on a food business podcast!) and ways to help maintain focus on what's important now and next so that you can activate your brand strategy and reach your Vision & Goals.

-- How documenting your Brand Strategy provides clarity and cohesiveness, which leads to having confidence to prioritize plans. 

--The myth of multitasking and why splitting your attention can get in the way of aligned action and sticking to your strategy.

--Why prioritizing the 8 Strategic Imperatives is a good first step to setting priorities that will keep you focused. 

-- What focus and consistency have to do with building a strong brand. 

--Why your Purpose, or WHY, can pull you back if you hit hard times or lose focus.

-- What I've learned about ADHD & ADD and focus and why hyperfocus can be a superpower. 

--How understanding the Executive Functions, or admin areas of your brain, can help you identify your individual opportunities to build focus .

--A nudge to embrace your team's diverse-thinking brains as a way to strengthen to your Brand Strategy Activation plans. 

Resources

--Ep84: Why Being Consistent Isn't Boring...It's Brand Building!

—Brand Checkup Scorecard Plus, monthly emails with tips  and resources

—Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table Facebook group (Free)

—Brand Strategy Streamlined self-paced program + Monthly Q&A calls

–Let’s connect on Instagram

As always, please reach out to me with any feedback, questions, or to book a strategy call.  You can contact me here. 

Thanks for listening, now let’s go shake up shopping carts!

Katie

www.RealFoodBrands.com

The Real Food Brands Podcast is BACK and I'm so glad you're here. 

The topic of doing the right things at the right time is always a good concept to keep top of mind, and in this episode, you'll hear me (Katie Mleziva, your food brand strategist) talk about: 

• What you can expect from new podcast episodes to help you Define, Align, and Activate your brand strategy to position your brand to stand out. 
• A brief intro for those of you who are new listeners, including how helping you shake up shopping carts with a solid brand strategy helps more people get access to real food. 
• Why leaving the corporate world almost 12 years ago to work with food entrepreneurs was the best decision I made despite loving every role I had held prior at big companies including American Girl, Kraft Foods, & Assurant Health.
• How you can get your free Brand Checkup Scorecard to assess progress on various aspects of your brand. 

Resources to continue positioning your food brand to stand out.

--Brand Checkup Scorecard (Free)

--Ep 68: Turn Your Marketing Plan Into a Consumer Connection Plan

--Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table Facebook group (Free)

--Brand Strategy Streamlined self-paced program 

--Let's connect on Instagram

If you have questions or ideas for future show topics (interviews are by invitation, but feel free to share those ideas as well) please send an email to [email protected].  

Thanks for listening, now let's go shake up shopping carts! 

www.RealFoodBrands.com

Have you ever noticed something in your business isn’t working as you planned, or as it once did? Sometimes things that made sense just aren't a good fit anymore. We spend so much time and energy trying to keep pushing forward that it can be hard to step back and admit when things aren’t working the way we want them to—and decide what to do about it.

Today on Episode 111 of the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast, Host and Food Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva talks through what to do when something in your business is out of alignment, and what she’s doing about that in her own business to make an adjustment.

In This Episode:

• Why it can be hard to identify when something is out of alignment with your vision.
• What questions to ask yourself about alignment.
• Why having your brand strategy documented can help you stay aligned.
• How to break down your ‘Knowns and Unknowns’ to make big decisions more manageable.
• Why it’s so important to create space to find joy in the journey.
• What Katie is doing to realign her time for the summer.

Resources:

• The Real Food Brands Podcast Index by Topic
• Download Your Free Brand Strategy Checkup
• Brand Strategy Streamlined Course Details
• Book a 60-minute 1-on-1 Brand Strategy session with Katie
• Connect with Katie on Instagram

Have you ever thought about the difference between content and copy? And how each works differently to connect with your reader depending on if you’re talking about a website, social media, ads, packaging, etc?

Today on Episode 110 of the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast, Host and Food Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva has a conversation with Celsea Jenkins, the owner of Grassfed Copy about the art and science to writing great copy that converts people from readers to taking an action. Celsea shares Katie’s passion for health and wellness – and clear messaging – and the episode highlights their shared enthusiasm! Listen to hear Celsea’s six copywriting tips to help your food brand stand out.

In This Episode:

• The difference between copywriting and content writing.
• How you can step into the shoes of your ideal audience to know what to write about.
• Why good copywriting that sparks action starts with good brand strategy.
• How copy and design can work together to communicate better than each alone.
• Why telling your brand story is about inviting the customer into a story.
• Where to look for “sticky copy” and why it’s so valuable.
• A key thing that web pages and emails that don’t convert are usually missing.
• How to strike a balance with SEO keywords and a conversational tone.
• How you can get notified when Katie and Celsea go LIVE in the Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table on Facebook.

Resources:

• Grassfed Copy website
• Guju Kitchen copy example
• Ep #104: What Is a Brand Positioning Statement?
• The Real Food Brands Podcast Index by Topic
• Download Your Free Brand Strategy Checkup (and get notified about the LIVE Q&A session!)
• Brand Strategy Streamlined Course Details
• Book a 60-minute 1-on-1 Brand Strategy session with Katie
• Connect with Katie on Instagram

Sometimes you need to let yourself dream and think big. Instead of letting other people tell you how things work and why you can’t do something, it can pay off to look at things from a new perspective. It helps, of course, to have a great story, which is something that brand strategy work can really help with.

Today on Episode 109 of the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast, Host and Food Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva sits down with Monique and Chevalo Wilsondebriano, owners of Recipe for Retail and the Charleston Gourmet Burger Company. We’ll learn how thinking BIG took them from a backyard BBQ...to a food business idea...to a product...to a brand that’s on the shelves of Whole Foods, World Market, Costco, Wal-Mart, and more...to winning QVC’s Choice Food Award.

In This Episode:

• How Monique and Chevalo started their business at a backyard barbeque.
• How they used the Charleston Farmer’s Market as a testing ground for their product.
• Why their personal story worked so well to get them on retail shelves quickly.
• Why working on their brand early and getting it right was so important to their success.
• What people are really buying when they’re buying your product.
• How they help other entrepreneurs with their Recipe for Retail course.

Resources:

• Charleston Gourmet Burger Company
• Recipe for Retail
• The Real Food Brands Podcast Index by Topic
• Download Your Free Brand Strategy Checkup
• Brand Strategy Streamlined Course Details
• Book a 60-minute 1-on-1 Brand Strategy session with Katie
• Connect with Katie on Instagram

As you’re working to build your food business or farm, brand strategy and brand development may seem like something that can wait for later. The thing is, brand strategy work goes far beyond your logo or fonts or colors. When you’ve done the work to create your brand’s North Star, it serves as the guide and the glue for everything you do on the front AND back end of your business. It helps you make decisions that will deliver a consistent, cohesive, and relevant experience to your consumers. More importantly, it can help them know how to talk about your brand to others and drive better word-of-mouth marketing.

Today on Episode 108 of the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast, Host and Food Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva builds on the last episode and offers three additional tips based on a presentation she recently shared with the cohort of the Food Finance Institute’s food business accelerator program. This is a two-part series because Katie wants you to be able to really consider the tips she’s sharing and think about how they apply to your natural food business or farm.

In This Episode:

• Why brand strategy should come before your next big project, not after.
• Why it’s so important to be genuine when you’re talking about values.
• Examples of brands that have strong alignment with their values.
• Ways to think about personalizing your consumer’s experience.
• How to stand out when consumers are bombarded with messaging.
• Why it’s OK to be repetitive as long as you are relevant and consistent.

Resources:

• Ep #68: Turn Your Marketing Plan into a Consumer Connection Plan
• The Real Food Brands Podcast Index by Topic
• Download Your Free Brand Strategy Checkup
• Brand Strategy Streamlined Course Details
• Book a 60-minute 1-on-1 Brand Strategy session with Katie
• Connect with Katie on Instagram

Brand strategy work is something that is second nature for big brands, but not as common for small brands. There’s so much to do when you’re wearing all the hats that it can seem like something you’ll get to “next.” While big brands have access to brand managers and agencies, we can help even the score by providing streamlined versions of the concepts they use to focus on the key parts of the process to help you build a brand that stands out no matter who you’re lined up next to.

Today on Episode 107 of the Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast, Host and Food Brand Strategist Katie Mleziva shares a presentation she recently shared with the cohort of a food business accelerator program. This is a two-part series because Katie wants you to be able to really consider the tips she’s sharing and think about how they apply to your food business or farm.

In This Episode:

• Why Katie wants to share these Brand Strategy tips with food business owners and farmers.
• The first 3 tips Katie has related to brand positioning, brand story, and humanizing your brand.
• Multiple examples that support each of Katie’s brand strategy tips.
• Why Katie shares stories of small brands, not just big brands
• How you can tell that the seeds that you plant with brand strategy are coming to life.
• What to expect in part 2 of the episode
• Why to get started on your brand strategy BEFORE your next website project, packaging redesign, or sales pitch.

Resources:

• Ep #104: What Is a Brand Positioning Statement?
• Ep #106: How Riemer Family Farm is Growing a Regenerative Brand
• Ep #91: The 3-Step Brand Strategy Streamlined Process
• Ep #83: Understanding the Difference Between Features & Benefits
• The Real Food Brands Podcast Index by Topic
• Download Your Free Brand Strategy Checkup
• Brand Strategy Streamlined Course Details
• Book a 60-minute 1-on-1 Brand Strategy session with Katie
• Connect with Katie on Instagram