162. Your Next 12 Months: Review, Regroup & Refocus to Align With Your BHAG
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
Release Date: 12/10/2025
165. Choosing Your Word of the Year: Lean Into Who You’re Becoming as a Leader
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
How choosing your Word of the Year can help you lean into who you were meant to be....a benefit to your brand, your business, and beyond!
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164. Curating Holiday Traditions & Year-Round Food Rituals
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
In this fun episode, Katie & Clint swap stories about holiday traditions—and close with a simple idea about how brands become part of year-round rituals.
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163. Brand Pillars: The Backbone of Your Brand That Makes a Major Impact
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
A simple framework to help you review where you’ve been, regroup your resources, and refocus your next 12 months anytime you want more clarity and alignment. Great for year-end, or any time of year to reset!
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162. Your Next 12 Months: Review, Regroup & Refocus to Align With Your BHAG
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
A simple framework to help you review where you’ve been, regroup your resources, and refocus your next 12 months anytime you want more clarity and alignment. Great for year-end, or any time of year to reset!
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161. Should You Go? Choosing Events & Shows That Will Move Your Food Brand Forward
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
If your message feels messy, it’s likely not that you’re bad at writing...it’s because your brand strategy needs more structure. In ep 159, Katie shows how a strong foundation makes your messaging clearer + more consistent everywhere.
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160. Smart Growth for Food Brands: Are You Using “Expedited Cautiousness”?
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
If your message feels messy, it’s likely not that you’re bad at writing...it’s because your brand strategy needs more structure. In ep 159, Katie shows how a strong foundation makes your messaging clearer + more consistent everywhere.
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159. Does Your Message Feel Messy? Start With Strategy Before You Start Writing
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
If your message feels messy, it’s likely not that you’re bad at writing...it’s because your brand strategy needs more structure. In ep 159, Katie shows how a strong foundation makes your messaging clearer + more consistent everywhere.
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158. Using Grants to Grow Your Brand: VAPG and Beyond
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
Learn how food and farm businesses can use grants, including the USDA’s Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG), to fund growth, strengthen brand strategy, and scale with intention.
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157. PERSIST: After the Sales Pitch...How to Turn a Yes or No into Next Steps (4Ps Sales Process Step 5 of 5)
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
In Ep 157, we share what to do after the pitch — how to follow up, build buyer relationships, and turn every yes or no into forward motion for your food brand.
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156. PITCH: How to Present Your Food Business Like a Pro (4Ps Sales Series Part 4 of 5)
Food Business Marketing - Brand Strategy Tips to Build a Business You Love
Struggling with sales? Katie and Clint introduce a simple 4-P Framework — Plan, Prep, Pitch, and Persist — and a powerful mindset shift to help food business owners turn sales conversations into confident, authentic connections.
info_outlineA simple, strategic way to review what’s working, regroup your resources, and refocus where you want your business to go next.
This episode is relevant any time of the year, but as we look to a new year, it’s a natural moment to think about where you've been and where you're going!
In Ep 162, Katie Mleziva (Real Food Brands) and Clint Matthews (Start Right Foods) share a simple framework you can use now and throughout the year to review your progress, regroup your resources, and refocus your plans.
Katie & Clint start with a light conversation about BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), a concept from Jim Collins’ book Built to Last that Katie first learned during her corporate brand management days at Kraft Foods. It’s a helpful reminder to consider the exciting, BIG picture opportunity, and your vision for the kind of business you want to build.
Then they walk through a framework: Review, Regroup, and Refocus, including practical prompts and examples you can use to bring clarity and alignment to your next steps.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What a BHAG is and how it encourages big-picture, energizing thinking
- How to review your year with curiosity using prompts like:
- What surprised you?
- What energized or drained you?
- Where were you aligned? Where were you winging it?
- What it looks like to regroup your time, money, energy, and team bandwidth
- How your results act as either a mirror or not an accurate reflection of your brand strategy
- Why the 3Rs support more aligned, confident decision-making
- Why this is a helpful exercise anytime — not just at the end of the year
Links & Resources
- Episode 143: Ideas Spinning in Your Head? Here’s How to Make Them Work for You
- Built to Last by Jim Collins (origin of the BHAG concept)
Want to go deeper?
Get the free weekly worksheet that goes with each episode by joining the newsletter.
👉 Follow @realfoodbrands on Instagram and tap the link in the bio to sign up.
Looking for clarity on your next steps?
Katie & Clint help food business owners review their strategy, cut through noise, and move forward with a clear plan. Reply to the newsletter or use the private scheduling link included each week to book a session.
WHAT TO DO NEXT?
1. 📧 Katie's Friday Newsletter includes a Weekly Worksheet to help you apply these ideas directly to your food business. Sign up here.
2. 💬 Join the Conversation! Tune in to the podcast, then join us in the Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table - a free food & farm business owner community - to ask questions and meet other people who love producing real food as much as you do!
3. 📞 If you're ready to talk about building a clear, cohesive brand or integrating your brand + sales strategy, you can Request an Intro Call to discuss the ways we work with food, farm, and natural product brands.
Thanks for listening – let’s go shake up shopping carts!
Katie Mleziva
Host & Food Brand Strategist | Real Food Brands