Why I Started Leadership Lessons Revealed
I’ve spent the better part of two decades in media and digital & social media marketing, since 2008. Through MHB Digital (http://mhb-digital.com), the agency I run alongside this publication, I’ve worked as a media partner to some of the world’s leading lifestyle brands, local corporations and SMEs.
My team and I have sat in rooms with marketing directors, general managers and managing directors during the past 18 years – planning campaigns and learning marketing strategies and tactics from incredible leaders.
Across those conversations, two marketing concepts are especially important, especially for premium SME businesses and brands:
- Share of voice — how much of the conversation about businesses like yours is actually about you, versus your competitors. A bigger share of voice tends to become a bigger share of the market over time.
- Ethos — the Greek word for credibility. People act on recommendations from a source they trust, not just one they’ve seen. A polished ad has visibility. An editorial feature has ethos.
Why they matter together: visibility without credibility gets ignored. Credibility without visibility gets forgotten. A restaurant needs both to turn a reader into a booking.
What’s the cost of not doing anything?
Your competitors will slowly take your share of market.
Our Leadership Lessons Revealed interview series exists to build your brand and provide you with visibility to an audience that can easily afford to dine at your establishment.
Why premium restaurants need a different approach
Most marketing aimed at restaurants misses premium establishments entirely:
- A mass-market foodie page can get tens of thousands of views, but almost none of those readers can afford what a premium restaurant serves.
- It’s not that the exposure doesn’t work — it’s aimed at a market you’re not in.
- For a restaurant built on craft and service, that’s noise to the wrong crowd.
Are you still paying for exposure on a “viral foodie page” to an audience that can’t afford what you serve? How much of your marketing budget this year went toward that audience?
Are you chasing covers/ diners to fill your restaurant this week, or building a brand that grows over time – which people will have top of mind when they consider a venue to entertain their clients, organise a product launch, or book for a company dinner?
What Leadership Lessons Revealed does instead:
- Publishes a long-form feature profile of the owner: how they built it, the decisions that shaped it, the lessons they’d pass on (no trade secrets, though)
- Reaches business professionals, corporate decision-makers and diners who choose on trust, not price
- My professional network alone includes more than 5,500 senior-level contacts on LinkedIn
- Every feature is also promoted through paid social media, so your story reaches far beyond organic traffic alone
- Delivers ethos, not advertising, because it delivers wisdom to those with a GROWTH MINDSET
We’ve featured leaders of global brands like Emily Lek, Managing Director of Kia Sales Malaysia to successful restaurateurs like Shou Emi of Sushinosuke – a highly popular omakase in Damansara Heights, and Rudy Stecca of Ciao Ristorante in downtown Kuala Lumpur, which is an icon of Italian premium dining in Kuala Lumpur for over 30 years — proof the calibre of leaders in this series spans from the kitchen to the boardroom.
Right now, someone is talking about restaurants in this city, whether it’s you or your competitors. If you don’t tell your story, someone else will fill that space instead.
If a corporate client were deciding where to host their next dinner, would they find your name, or your competitor’s?
If you’ve built a restaurant you’re proud of, I’d like to hear the story behind it. Drop me an email at timchew@mhbdigital.com , and let’s see if it’s a fit.
