The (Viral) Marketing of a Restaurant

This week I went to eat at La Pietra Cucina, a relatively new upscale Atlanta restaurant. It's a bit hard to find, to say the least.

It has no sign, with the exception of a small sandwich board on the side of the road that reads "Now Open" with the phone number printed very large and the name of the establishment printed very small. It has no website.

It is located on a very busy road, in the lower level of an office building, and is easy to miss, even if you pass by in the car every day. When you do manage to arrive, there is no indication of where you should park and you'll likely try to open the locked door that leads to the part of the restaurant that's currently being renovated before happening upon the less-grand, unlocked door a few paces down with a paper sign taped to the window displaying the hours of operation.

I even overheard a patron arriving after me comment to her dining companions, "You had to choose the hardest spot to find in all of Atlanta."

And yet, on a Tuesday night, in the midst of a recession, the restaurant was fairly busy and a large group gathered at the bar. This is likely due to a small number of respected, local food bloggers who have taken the new restaurant under their wing and written several rave reviews. It is a great thing that the internet allows word to spread and helps local businesses who are putting out a quality product (or delicious dishes in this case) get a real leg up, without doing a thing but excelling at what they do.

Apologies All Around , and the Launch of About.com Atlanta

I have absolutely been neglecting this blog this month. Truth be told, I've been completely buried in getting my new About.com Guide to Atlanta up and running. Those of you who live in Atlanta, please check out the new page on About.com, where I'll now be writing and managing all content. In addition to a blog updated frequently each week, you'll also find information on events, attractions, restaurants and nightlife, Atlanta neighborhoods and more.

Though I'm excited to have this new opportunity, I still look forward to sharing juicy marketing tidbits with everyone here.

Meet Me In Atlanta - You Might Even Learn Something

I will be attending the Online Marketing Summit in Atlanta next week. It should be an interesting event and a good chance to mingle with fellow marketers from around the southeast, as it's the only stop in this area on the OMS Summer Tour.

More information here.

Real Estate Agents: The Real Spin Artists

For a long time, us in the PR and Marketing field have gotten a bad rep for being spin artists. We prefer to see it as presenting a strong argument for our team - we're not lying, we're just stating it as we believe it to be true. This does not account for the fact that we (or our employer) may in fact be slightly delusional, but let's set that aside for the moment.

When you work in the business of pitching, you develop a healthy dose of skepticism, along with a strong radar for detecting when you, yourself, are being pitched. You also get pretty good at predicting "the sell" when you know you're headed in to the lion's den.

And such was the case as I ventured over to West Midtown to look at a new apartment complex. West Midtown is generally considered to be an "up and coming," "transitional" neighborhood. I use quotes here because these are exactly the words I expected to hear come from the leasing agent's mouth as we discussed the property, and more importantly, the price.

I wish I could say he surprised me and told it like it is - 'Listen, you're on the edge of a very dangerous neighborhood, you'll probably hate living near train tracks, but we've jacked up the price because we have a great saltwater pool.' Instead I got his version of spin - 'This is a really artsy neighborhood. You can take dance classes right across the street and there's five-star dining steps away.'

It happens to everyone in the real estate market, buying or renting. And these agents are very good at their jobs. I can attest, because 24 hours later I'm still thinking about putting a deposit down on that apartment - car jack-ings and all. After all, who wouldn't want to get in on the ground floor of somewhere so "up and coming." Sigh. They've beat me at my own game.