117. Achieve Clarity, Confidence, and Consistency in Your Food Business with a Brand-First Approach

10/10/24 • 10 min

Food Business Marketing | Brand Strategy Tips to Build Real Food Brands

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:

DEFINE: Identify your ideal customer, clarify your brand’s unique role in their life, and align your brand with your Purpose, Vision & Values.
ALIGN: Ensure every area of your business reflects your brand strategy, so your team feels motivated and confident about building your brand together.
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 P rogram 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!

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:

DEFINE: Identify your ideal customer, clarify your brand’s unique role in their life, and align your brand with your Purpose, Vision & Values.
ALIGN: Ensure every area of your business reflects your brand strategy, so your team feels motivated and confident about building your brand together.
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:

Learn more about the 1:1 Brand Strategy P rogram 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!

Previous Episode

116. How Trying to Build Your Food Brand Could Be Holding You Back

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 MindsetTM 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 IdeaSettingTM 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!

Next Episode

118. Is Pivoting Too Often Hurting Your Food Brand?

Find the full transcript for this episode plus other resources for food business owners at www.realfoodbrands.com/podcast.

Have you ever felt stuck in reaction mode, pivoting too often when things don’t go as planned? Today, we’re diving into 3 ways pivoting too soon might be hurting your food brand more than helping it.

We’ll explore why consistency is key to building a memorable brand and how constant changes can drain your budget and energy. Of course, pivoting has its place, but the trick is knowing when to hold steady and when to adjust.

Planning does not have to come at the expense of action. Without any sort of strategy or plan, how will you know what actions to prioritize, and how to optimize if things don't turn out as planned?

I encourage you to create a plan to Define, Align & Activate your brand strategy, and then LEAN IN with confidence for your own piece of mind, to manage your team better, and manage your expenses.

If you could use guidance in the process, I am happy to support you!

Contact me about a Brand Audit review session or my signature Brand Strategy System.

You can get started by visiting my website w ww.realfoodbrands.com and send me a message if you have any questions!

In case nobody told you today, your work in the food industry is important and I’m so glad you’re here.

Now, let’s go shake up shopping carts!