168. What is a Brand Strategist, Anyway? Plus, Marketing vs Branding vs Brand Strategy
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Release Date: 01/21/2026
184. What Is YOUR Version of Success in Your Food Business?
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
If you don't define success for yourself, you might start living and working towards someone else's definition. Let's make sure that doesn't happen!
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183. Is Luck Random or About Being Ready?
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Is it luck? OR, is it having a clear strategy and sense of awareness that prepares you to be ready when opportunity knocks?
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182. Your Brand Adds Value Across Your Business (Not Just Marketing)
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Why your brand strategy is a margin driver—not a marketing expense
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181. Build a Brand That Adapts While Staying True to Its Core - Kasondra Shippen Flax 4 Life
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Three emerging brands share what it looks like to start and grow a brand in real time—from product decisions to marketing strategies and early retail traction.
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180. Build a Brand That Solves a Real Need - with Jon Romanow of Let'z Go!
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Personal need plus industry expertise plus understanding the bigger market insights beyond yourself...all of these things led to a strong brand strategy for Letz Go! Nutrition as they hit the ground running after Expo West.
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179. Build a Brand That Grows With the People You Serve
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Brand Strategy puts the consumer/user at the center of everything you do as a brand, and Betsy Frost, CEO of Q Mixers, shares how she builds brands using this philosophy.
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178. Is Your Brand Strong Enough to Stand Out?
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Katie Mleziva of Real Food Brands shares why having a beautiful brand is not enough, and how to make sure you have a strong foundation that aligns everything you do.
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177. Three Emerging Brands Shaking Up Shopping Carts
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Three emerging brands share what it looks like to start and grow a brand in real time—from product decisions to marketing strategies and early retail traction.
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176. Build Your Inner Edge to Deliver When It Matters Most with Chad McGehee
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Learn to build your inner edge so you can stay focused, resilient, and steady in the moments that matter most. This episode with Chad McGehee explores how intentional mental training helps you lead and deliver under pressure.
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Expo West Takeaways Through a Brand Strategy Lens (Ep 175)
Food Business Marketing Podcast – Brand Strategy and Alignment for Strategic Growth
Clint asks Katie questions about her experience at Expo West 2026...but not just the trends and hot brands. Katie shares what she saw with her unique brand strategy lens.
info_outlineClint puts Katie in the hot seat and asks the questions many food business owners are thinking but don’t want to ask.
Together, they break down what brand strategy really means, why it’s often misunderstood, and how it helps food business owners make clearer, more confident decisions as they grow.
Clint also shares a simple but powerful real-world example that shows how positioning can change perception—and results—almost instantly.
This episode is less about definitions and more about helping you understand how brand strategy works in practice, what you should expect from the process, and how to know if it’s the right next step for your business.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What a brand strategist actually does—and why the role can look so different depending on background
- The difference between brand strategy, branding, and marketing
- How brand strategy acts as a North Star for decision-making across your business
- What food business owners get out of brand strategy work beyond deliverables
- How positioning and alignment impact everything from messaging to sales execution
- How to know if it’s the right time to invest in brand strategy for your business
Related episodes mentioned:
Want to go deeper?
Each episode of the podcast is paired with a worksheet designed to help you apply what you’re learning to your own business. These worksheets (along with 1:1 Brand Strategy Sessions!) are available exclusively through Katie’s email list, where you can save them over time and build your own brand strategy workbook—at the right pace, with the right information, at the right time.
👉 Join the email list to get the worksheet for this episode and future tools
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 a free Intro Call to discuss the ways we work with food, farm, and natural product brands.