Customers aren’t interested in being marketed to or having products sold to them. What they seek is a genuine connection with brands that truly understand their needs. This is where the opportunity lies to inspire a deep affinity for your brand and products. Marketing today is less about selling and more about building relationships, creating connections, and fostering authenticity! This is the firm belief of our amazing guest on today’s episode of Clicks to Bricks. Bronze Major is the Head of Marketing for Carrabba's Italian Grill, one of several casual dining restaurants within the Bloomin’ Brands portfolio. Join the conversation as we explore the shifts in restaurant marketing between the pre and post COVID periods, offer insights into converting off-premise diners to on-premise patrons, and introduce the brand's new influencer marketing strategy for 2024. Thanks for tuning in, enjoy. 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Par for the course, we start out with a fun fact about our guest Bronze Major.
• Bronze dives into the story behind Carrabba’s Italian Grill.
• How Carrabba’s Italian Grill fits into the Bloomin’ Brands portfolio.
• He details his career journey, over the past ten years.
• The learnings he gleaned from Publix that he took forward with him.
• Bronze unpacks the challenges and new initiatives he wanted to implement returning to Carrabba’s.
• Meeting the customer where they are and how they lean into it with their marketing.
• How priorities have shifted from 2023 to 2024 for Bronze and Carrabba’s.
• He highlights their approach to influencer partnerships and the evolution of word-of-mouth. 
• His advice to other marketers looking at using influencer partnerships.
• Bronze talks about being featured in the Nation's Restaurant News’ Power List.
• We delve into a discussion on the different kinds of marketing spectrums. 
• The marketing relationship dynamic between his team (corporate) and the franchisees.
• Local search and the role it plays as a marketing tactic they heavily lean into. 
• The AI conversation and what it sounds like for Bronze and his marketing team. 
• How they are using AI in their marketing right now.
• An unpopular opinion about marketing that Bronze feels strongly about.
• His advice to young marketers entering the profession in 2024.
• Bronze takes on our lightning round of questions!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Bronze Major on LinkedIn

Nation's Restaurant News’ Power List

Carrabba’s Italian Grill

Bloomin’ Brands

Leah Burgess on LinkedIn

Aussie Grill

Bonefish Grill

Publix

Widow Jane

Eagle Rare

High West

Clase Azuls

Casamigos 

Teremana

Avion

SOCi

Clicks 2 Bricks 

Marketing Leaders Coffee Chat