Marketing Happy Hour - Telling a Cohesive Brand Story | Melissa Santell of FoodxFeels

Starting point is 00:00:00 you're listening to the marketing happy hour podcast where we discuss career and industry insights with our peers in marketing we're here to talk about it all like the ups and downs of working in social media how to build authentic relationships in the influencer and pr space managing a nine-to-five and a side hustle at the same time, how to be productive in your life and career without losing your sanity, and more. Ultimately, we're here to build a community with you because we're all trying to navigate the world of marketing together. Are you ready? Grab your favorite drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode.

Starting point is 00:00:56 Hey, Marketing Happy Hour listeners. Okay, have you ever wondered how your favorite local restaurant or boutique hotel creates content and an overall cohesive brand experience? Well, today we're welcoming our friend Melissa Santel of FoodX Feels, who helps with exactly that. If you know anything about Cassie and I, you know we love a good branding suite, especially in the food and beverage space. I'm literally looking at my collection of cute restaurant pens as I record this, and I know my matchbook collection is sitting pretty on my coffee table. So it's such a treat for us to hear from someone behind the scenes helping with these decisions through her consulting and food photography business. I can't wait for you to hear all about Melissa's

Starting point is 00:01:34 experience as she shares how to infuse storytelling into your branding, tips for improving your copywriting skills and perfecting your brand photography, creating excellent experiential interactions, and the importance of knowing when to say no to projects that won't move you in the right direction. Without further ado, grab your favorite drink and listen in with us. We are so excited to share that our first ever free marketing happy hour digital resource is now available. Download the dream career game plan today at marketinghappyhr.com forward slash freebie. That's marketinghappyhr.com forward slash freebie. This five-step workbook will guide you through defining your goals, building your network, diversifying your skills, influencing where you're at,

Starting point is 00:02:30 and investing in your growth. Cassie and I created this resource with marketing careers in mind, but the framework can be applied to any industry. Our hope is that this workbook will help you truly elevate your career, whether you're in the market for a new position or just looking to make your mark in your current organization no matter where this resource finds you we are cheering you on every step of the way so go check it out at marketinghappyhr.com forward slash freebie to download and make your career dreams come true Hey, Melissa, how are you? Hi, I'm doing well. How are you? Doing well. We're so beyond excited to have a fellow Tampa, not native, but kind of Tampa current resident with us today. And Melissa, you have just been killing it in the local area, but also nationally with all the work you're doing. And we'll certainly get

Starting point is 00:03:25 into that here soon, but we do have a very important question for you that we ask all of our guests on marketing happy hour, because this is a happy hour conversation that we're having. Melissa, what is in your glass today? Well, I'm currently sipping on a tall glass of water, but later in the day, I'm thinking like a cab fronk could be in my future. We love that. We very much love that. What do you have in your glass? So I also, because this is kind of morning midday right now, I have water and orange juice, but later today I will certainly be sipping on some wine. I haven't decided which variety yet, but it will be something I'm excited.

Starting point is 00:04:07 Yes. Same here. Actually. I will be sipping on actually some May wine. Um, it is Jacqueline Johnson and Neha, her co-founder's brand of one, one glass. Is that right? Cassie? Yeah. Every bottle has like one glass inside inside so you don't have to indulge too much but it's just the right amount and I tried their um white variety and it was so good and today I will be trying their rosé I'm super excited yum yeah and their branding is amazing so huge fan yeah I was going to say that packaging is beautiful. It's super, super cute. And they send it to you. I think they have like monthly sense, kind of like a subscription. And I've seen on their website that they do collaborations with

Starting point is 00:04:55 other brands and like include one product from like another brand in these boxes every month. So I'm very curious about that. I might have to look into that for sure. Yeah. Amazing. Send, send a sister the link after this. Absolutely. We'll put the link in the, in the show notes for sure. Well, Melissa, again, like Cassie said, super excited to have you here. I think we connected over coffee, probably like when I moved back to Tampa in like 2018. So I'm so excited to hear everything that you're up to since then. I've been keeping up with you on LinkedIn and all the other platforms. So excited to have you here and just walking us through your experience, what career that you've created in food photography and brand consulting.

Starting point is 00:05:41 So if you want to just kick us off with a little bit of a background check on where you've been and what you're up to now. Yeah, absolutely. So I have been working with for and with FoodX Feels for almost five, well, five years now. Oh no. I think about how quickly the time has passed. Like I can't even believe that much time has passed between you and I having coffee. It feels like it was so much more recently. I know. But Food X Feels actually began as a social media and marketing consultancy. And in the past five years, it's evolved into a creative studio where we only focus on food photography and consulting in the culinary and hospitality space. And so, you know, I spend my days either behind my Fujifilm lens, taking pictures of new menu items or seasonal campaigns for restaurants,

Starting point is 00:06:34 or I actually in 2022 really leaned heavily into the hospitality space and ended up working with a lot of hotels like the Tampa edition and the Hilton and the Grand Quiet. And so it's been really fun to flex my creative and marketing strategic muscles across those verticals. Oh my gosh. I love that. Cassie and I actually went to that opening event that the edition had, and it was such a blast and I'm sure that you worked with them on that. So that's so fun. Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur? Or how did you kind of decide when to step away from your full-time positions in the past to kind of pursue this venture?

Starting point is 00:07:16 No, I did not always want to be an entrepreneur, for sure. I, you know, growing up when people asked me what I wanted to be, I always used to say I wanted to be a marine biologist, but then I was horrendous at science. Like it was, it was out, it was out. Or I wanted to write for, I wanted to write and be a food critic for Bon Appetit magazine. Like that was like, I was like a six year old came out of my mouth. So, you know, like I have always kind of merged the paths of being creative with food, food, mostly due to growing up in an Italian family. I was constantly surrounded by food. We were, that's like how we spent time together, making meals and sharing meals and talking shit over meals. But, but yeah. And I think, you know, along the journey,

Starting point is 00:08:08 like I always kind of kept moving towards like the food journalism path or the food marketing path. And when I realized how much I loved photography and then I stepped into different marketing roles, I one day woke up and I was like, oh, I can combine all the things that I've been doing since I was a tiny human and I can do it for myself. I don't need to be doing it for other people. So I knew that it was time for me to step out of the corporate world when I had other people approaching me, asking me to do specific jobs for them or manage their social media account. And once I got one client that was able to cover the cost of my base rent and expenses,

Starting point is 00:08:52 that's when I gave my 30 days notice to my last job that I've had since FoodX Feels. That's so crazy. It seems to be such a trend. I know my story is very similar and Erica, yours too, really just having that one client that says to you, I can do this on my own. And if I can just scale and grow this, it's so rewarding, but so funny to experience that after just never having that in your horizon to pursue entrepreneurship. I'm sure that's been such a fun adventure.

Starting point is 00:09:24 Yes. It's been everything that I been such a fun adventure. Yes, it's been everything that I never anticipated it would be. That's so awesome. Well, Melissa, with such a creative emphasis on everything that you do, storytelling is obviously super important to you. And you mentioned that a lot in your personal marketing. But I'm curious, why do you feel that brands just overall, whether in the food space, hospitality, or curious, why do you feel that brands just overall, whether in the food space, hospitality, or just beyond that should have such an emphasis on storytelling within their messaging?

Starting point is 00:09:52 So storytelling is really your way to directly relate to your dream client or customer. So everyone, every brand needs to have a story and an identity in order to really differentiate themselves in the marketplace. You know, you can have an incredible product, but sometimes your product isn't enough to get you in front of the right people. And so like the power of storytelling is like you're humanizing your brand. You're giving people, basically you you're extending your handout to say, hi, we share this similar pain point. And here's how I can be part of your your story through my

Starting point is 00:10:31 story. And I think just having that baseline for relatability, and the foundation for forming a relationship is really like, what invites people into a brand's world. So it's so much more than just having like your, you know, vision, mission, values session done, or like understanding like your brand values. It's really like staying true to those things in your identity and how you show up on social media and in your marketing and, and in your in-person brand experience consistently, that's the key being consistent. Absolutely. Well, and with that, can you give us a brief overview of how you infuse storytelling into a few of your different offerings? So let's say for example, photography or brand consulting, what does that look like in your client partnerships?

Starting point is 00:11:23 So in photography, I have, I have so much fun, especially with new brands, because they are just, they're opportunities to help mold and shape them from a personality perspective, from colors that we're infusing, from brand elements that we're bringing into each shot. So for example, if I'm working with a new restaurant and maybe they haven't fully dropped or they haven't procured all of like their, their plates, their silverware, maybe they don't have their menu yet. You know, a lot of times, like when restaurants are opening, they want to do a photo shoot, you know, two months before the opening, of course, to have all their marketing collateral website and all that good stuff in place.

Starting point is 00:12:09 So for me, like the fun is helping them source props that fit within their color scheme, within their brand persona, helping them create scenes and sets within their restaurant space that really help tell the story of the guest experience and what it will be. And whether that's like a signature flower arrangement that's on every table for guests or, you know, infusing different brand colors through pieces of brand collateral, I don't know, like a match book set, you know, something like that, like making sure that sets look really inviting and lived in and are true to the brand experience. There's just so many little opportunities to do that. And a lot of times too, like it's adding in human elements and even like narrowing in on the tiniest details, like painting their fingernails, the brand color, or having them wear a specific style

Starting point is 00:13:09 that fits the brand personality. Yeah, all the little details you don't really think about, but then when you're in the experience as a customer, you're like, wow, this is really well put together. Cassie and I both really love restaurants and that's something that we've bonded over. So we're always trying the new ones. I'm trying tonight the new Ponte.

Starting point is 00:13:29 I think it's called Ponte in Midtown. So I'm very excited to try that. They also have such a like cohesive brand experience. So I'm just curious how you work with brands when they are opening. So you touched on it a little bit, kind of like having everything be cohesive and be this branded experience. What do you encourage restaurants or anyone you're working with really to do to their launch successful? Oh, there's so many things, so many things. So from a consulting standpoint, I would recommend that we put a

Starting point is 00:14:05 strategy in place, right? And it would be like a multi-channel strategy that we're amplifying and executing in order to make sure that we're getting in front of the right people. We're having the right event activations leading up to the opening so that people know who you are, where they can find you, what to expect, really appropriately teasing the guest experience. And maybe that's also sending out a press release to local news outlets or getting them on News Channel 8. So they're chefs cooking something and teasing out maybe like one of their signature menu items. So I would put together a really comprehensive strategy that would really emphasize all of the PR marketing, influencer marketing.

Starting point is 00:14:51 Um, and of course, like having a strong social media strategy. I think that goes without saying, but, um, I typically, my role would be, I would walk in, I would help them form that strategy and then I would pass it off to their team to execute, or I would execute parts of that on their behalf. That's awesome. And then I'm sure that it's pretty similar when you're doing like seasonal campaigns with these different restaurants. Let's say, have you worked on like, let's say a restaurant is coming up with a new fall

Starting point is 00:15:20 menu or spring menu since we're in spring now. How do you kind of bring that to life and what advice do you give them to make that menu kind of stand out or anything along the lines of that in the experience as a whole? So I love this question because it just it makes me think about Naked Farmer. So I've been working with Naked Farmer since almost the very beginning of them being open. And now they've scaled the concept across multi-units and multi-cities. And so one thing that we're always doing is capturing their seasonal menus. Their whole philosophy is all about emphasizing farm fresh ingredients that are in season and making them approachable and delicious. Like they've, they basically like position them as being naked, they're naked ingredients.

Starting point is 00:16:12 Um, and so I just love their story and I love their brand. And every season is a new opportunity for us to tell the story in a different way. Um, so for them, what we do is we'll source specific props, backdrops, and then floral arrangements that really help tell the story of that was inside of the shop and also like different stucco textures that they have repeating elements that help tell the interior brand story of a guest that's dining there but also they were in the color that made sense for the season um so and other times you know we've gone on site to local farms and we've also like taken photos of farmers or like taken photos of Jordan pulling a radish out of the dirt to like emphasize the season. So there's so many ways that you can do it.

Starting point is 00:17:16 But it's just when I think about seasonality and I think about restaurants, I just think there's so many ways that you can tell, paint the picture to the end user. But yeah, it's just, it's great. It's creative time. So fun. And highly recommend if you don't already follow Melissa on all channels, definitely do that because you see all of this stuff really come to life visually. And it's just so cool to experience. But Melissa, we have a lot of new marketers, people kind of early in their careers, still developing their skillset. So would love to just ask a couple of rapid fire questions, evolving some of your skillsets and how people can improve in that area. So are you ready? Yep. All right. Okay. So first question I have for you, any tips

Starting point is 00:18:07 for improving copywriting skills? That's a good one. Yes. Read, read more, read a lot. Um, and honestly practice writing and something that I love to do when I'm submitting any copy to anyone is read it out loud to yourself because the moment that you read it out loud you start to understand like oh maybe this is too sticky like this is a run-on sentence there's two I'm trying to fit too much information into one place it really helps you edit and streamline and another thing you could be a better copywriter. So if you write something and then let it breathe, you know, like give it some space, walk away from it and come back to it and then tear it up. Like that's, that's my, my process

Starting point is 00:18:56 for sure. So good. So good. I found too, when other people read your writing to you, you also, there's like certain things that literally give you the ick when you hear it. And so that can kind of result in some updates as well, but kind of similar question around the lines of photography and photo editing skills. Any tips there? Ooh, photography. So many tips, so many tips. Um, if you're shooting in natural light and if you're shooting in a restaurant, I'd be the the person that and if you want these photos to be amazing photos be the person that asks for this the table next to the window I know it's kind of a pain in the ass and I know like whatever it can have a certain like influencer vibe to it but we need good daylight for good photos and that's really just like the bottom line. And unless you're shooting with

Starting point is 00:19:46 artificial light, of course. And for editing, I really love editing photos in Lightroom, but I also will hybrid edit them in like Adobe and all the Adobe suite programs, particularly Photoshop. If you're on your phone, Snapseed is a really easy, quick app to download to edit photos. And of course there's also the Lightroom app and a million others. But if you're wanting a quick photography tutorial or editingcom and there is a million videos that are great tutorials quick and easy love it okay last rapid fire question for you kind of rapid fire um tips for improving or creating really great experiential brand events? For me, I'm always like, I want, I want to infuse the brand and the logo into as many edible components as possible. So whether that's like someone's logo

Starting point is 00:20:56 being pressed in top of like a mini hamburger bun or having like a glitter stencil on top of a martini that is someone's logo. I was like, as many surprise and delight elements that you can sprinkle in that are on brand, the better because people love what they're not expecting. Oh my gosh. I love that so much. And that will generate a lot of organic, like social media posts and things like that, because people love when things are branded, like cohesively, like we said earlier, I collect matchbooks too so I always take them I have a collection of restaurant pens literally right here I am like obsessed with all of that so I love that so much I'm sure just being

Starting point is 00:21:39 in the creative space I mean I experience it Cassie experiences it and we talk to a lot of people who experienced being in like a creative rut or like, they're just kind of stuck on a project. If you've ever experienced that, um, how do you get out of that creative rut? I travel anytime I'm feeling really burnt out or like have a lack of inspiration. I get on a plane or I get in my car and I go somewhere that I know is going to like spark all of the creative energy. I think just getting out of your immediate space, even if you can only take a walk really helps you get, get you back in the zone, you know, helps, helps you like come back to yourself because sometimes you're too close to something,

Starting point is 00:22:28 you know what I mean? Like there's a lot of times where like I'll be doing a photo shoot at home for a recipe project for myself or a client and I stop and then the next day I start again and I have a million new ideas of what I want to do so totally agree with that I I work from home and so does Cassie and so do a lot of people now. And so I feel like we all encounter that same thing where we're like, oh my gosh, I'm just too close to this. I'm always working on this in my same environment. I love to travel too. So I'm actually recording this in January. I'm actually heading up to New York in three days and I'm just kind of just going to absorb everything and come back with a lot of new creative ideas. Hopefully we'll see. But yeah, I couldn't agree

Starting point is 00:23:11 more. I love that so much. So good. Yeah. Even just a coffee shop, like just to switch it up on your day to day, you don't understand like how much that impacts your, your creative juices. It's so important. Well, well, Melissa, I want to switch gears a little bit to your personal brand and how you've built that out yourself. Um, and so just want to hear any strategies around building out that brand, both locally and nationally, getting yourself out there. You've done a lot of awesome activations. I know in Tampa, you're usually on the news in a segment here, which is really cool to see, you know, doing different cooking segments and things like that. But

Starting point is 00:23:51 any tips for just not only building your network, but building that brand, getting yourself out there, building your confidence just in yourself and your skillset? Definitely just do things, do things and don't stop because the moment that you stop moving, you just, you lose a lot of momentum, you know, like don't be scared to mess up or make a mistake. Like we're all going to make mistakes along the way. It's just, it's part of the process. It helps you learn and grow. And I think also just not, don't hold back. I think a lot of times, like we're really encouraged to like filter ourselves or like show up as, you know, what people want us to be versus who we are. And I think I definitely know that I struggled a lot with that in the beginning of my brand because I wanted to be insanely professional and I wanted to be this and I wanted to be that. And I wanted everyone to look at me as a food authority, you know, for marketing and photography.

Starting point is 00:24:56 And now I really like there's so much freedom and just dropping those expectations or just those, those potential thoughts, because because A, you will never be able to control what anyone thinks or says about you, whether personally and professionally in any capacity. And B, at the end of the day, we're choosing to work for ourselves and we're now in this entrepreneurial space, but this isn't just the work that we're doing. This is the lifestyle that we're living. And I know that you two know this just as well as I do. It's like you're choosing this life every day when you're waking up.

Starting point is 00:25:34 So you need to be comfortable in it. And you need to be authentic to who you are. And I think just staying true to that and not wavering when people ask you to change, even if it's clients, you know, like there's, for example, there's people that ask me to manage their social media channels and they ask me to do work that I have no interest in doing anymore. And sometimes, I mean, in the past couple of years, I've had to be like, check in with myself and say, no, this is not what you want to do. Even if you want to help this brand grow or you want this, et cetera, it doesn't ladder up to where you want to be.

Starting point is 00:26:13 So stay true to yourself. Say no to the things that don't contribute to your end goal. And also collaborate. And then community, like collaborating within the community was a really big piece. It was a cornerstone really of getting my brand out there and consistently out there. I love that so much. And I totally agree with you. There's such an element as much as I love LinkedIn. It's literally my favorite platform in the entire world. I'm on there every single day. There is a lot of like perfect professionalism, like as a front, when people are posting, they're like, these are all of my successes this year. Cause we're, we're in the new year now. So

Starting point is 00:26:55 I just remember December was all sorts of look at all these successes that happened this year. And like, obviously we all want to share those things and you should share your wins, but at the same time, like you don't have to do that. And I have started to follow a lot of people who kind of just like post whatever they're feeling. It's kind of turned into this like Twitter atmosphere almost on LinkedIn, which is kind of fun. But I've just loved stepping into like that community and not worrying so much about like

Starting point is 00:27:22 that perfect professionalism on social media, or like trying to put yourself out there perfectly. I think that also speaks a lot to potential clients. Like they know that you're real and they know that you'll give them real advice and just be real with them. So completely agree with you there. I wanted to chat with you just a little bit because you did launch a podcast, I believe in 2022, right? Yes. Yes. Awesome. Tell us all about that, how that came to be

Starting point is 00:27:52 your first guest was somebody very exciting, I believe. So let us know the ins and outs of your podcast because we'll link it in the show notes as well. I love it. So Sunday Sauce is the name of the podcast and it is a podcast that's designed to help restaurants and food brands be seen, heard and experienced. So it is really a culmination of the things of my brand and then everything. I have a lot of awesome chefs that are, that have been on, we've interviewed 19 guests, I think so far. And it's just been, it started because I was like, oh, I need a creative outlet. That's, that's just like something for me, you know, where I don't need to be like marketing myself or, you know, I just really wanted something like casual and fun and a different way to connect with people in my industry. So it's been, it's been really great and it's been so rewarding. And so, um, definitely encourage anyone who's in the food space or not

Starting point is 00:28:56 to listen to it. If you love food, you'll love the episodes. Um, we generally drop them every Sunday at 11 AM EST. That is so awesome. Have you heard of Helen's Wines out in California? She started a podcast as well. She's part of the John and Vinny's family. If you've heard of them, that restaurant, she started a podcast as well called Wine Face. And I think it's on Dear Media. And it is just such a fun listen, especially if you like love food and beverage, things like that. And I would like align your podcast with hers. I feel like they're very similar

Starting point is 00:29:31 and like just diving into everything people need to know about the food and beverage industry. It's such a, they're both such fun listens. So totally love that. Always a good recommendation. Well, Melissa, we are finishing up here. We want to ask this question, ask it to like all of our guests. Is there anything that you know now that you wish you knew when you started your career? I wish that I knew that I would continue to grow

Starting point is 00:30:00 and evolve so much. I think that when you start a business, sometimes you really hold on to like what that, what that idea or goal was in the inception. But over the past five and a half years, it has changed so tremendously. And so just like giving yourself the grace and flexibility and being like vulnerable to accept those changes and like move into the way that your purpose is driving you. I would say like that's the advice that I would give a younger Melissa. So good. And it's so funny too. Like I feel like that goes the same with our skill sets.

Starting point is 00:30:43 Like you mentioned social media, you won't touch it. Like we all started in social media and now I know me personally, I don't want to have anything to do with it. Erica doesn't either. So just giving yourself grace to let your skillsets evolve, your interests evolve, and just see where that takes you. I think that's such great advice. So thanks for sharing that. Yeah, of course. So before we close out too, we have to know where can everyone stay in touch with you? We'll certainly link everything in the show notes, but tell us where our listeners can connect with you online. You can follow me on Instagram at Mel Santel or send me a note at melissa at foodxfeels.com. And if you would like to check out the photography portfolio, foodxfeels.com is the way to go.

Starting point is 00:31:30 Yes, certainly go connect with Melissa on all the channels. But Melissa, thank you so much for coming on the show today. And we'll certainly have you back. And we'll do a little in-person, something at a Tampa restaurant that we all want to check out and explore more. So looking forward to that. Well, I would love that. Thank you so much. I love being your guest today, guys. All right. That is it for this week's episode. Thanks to Melissa for joining us and thanks to all of you for tuning in as well. If you enjoyed this episode, please remember to subscribe,

Starting point is 00:32:06 rate, and leave a review on your favorite platform. And for more Marketing Happy Hour goodness, head on over to our new website, marketinghappyhr.com. That's marketinghappyhr.com or follow us on Instagram at marketinghappyhr and DM us to say hey. Have a fantastic week and we'll catch you next time.

Marketing Happy Hour - Telling a Cohesive Brand Story | Melissa Santell of FoodxFeels

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