I stumbled upon an interesting article from Inc.com about how a small restaurant is taking their brand to a national level. As I was reading about the restaurant business I thought how these lessons can be applied to bands.

The Scotto family, which runs Fresco by Scotto restaurant in New York City, recently launched a frozen food line with home delivery service Schwans—making the clan’s homey Italian cuisine available to non-New Yorkers for the first time… Elaina Scotto reveals the biggest lessons the family has learned along the way.

1. Be diligent about quality control. “We’re very hands on with the food, It takes us several months to develop a single product because we’re constantly tasting and checking it’s still good” at every step of the process.

–MAKE GOOD MUSIC: The most important thing anyone can do for their social media campaign is make good music. Good music spreads like warm butter. Make the best possible quality music and watch the ease that it spreads.

2. Use social media. “It’s all about Facebooking, Tweeting and friending people,” she says. “It’s huge. When we introduced new dishes for the frozen food line, we invited top bloggers to come and taste it. And they spread the word.”

-CONNECT WITH THOSE WHO CARE: Use social media to show the world you’re alive. Put up your quality content then talk to those who care about you and nurture (stay fresh) those relationships.

3. Don’t say no. “We try to say yes to everything” in terms of publicity, says Elaina. “We did our first cookbook and that’s how we got the Today show. And then 20 other people asked us to be on their shows. We’re very fortunate.”

-BE OPEN TO OPEN TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES: This is self explanatory; Say yes to new opportunities but at the same time, actively seek new ones out.

4. Capitalize on what makes you unique. “We’re a family that lives and works together, but we’re very diverse,” she says.  (Elaina is a former fashion publicist, brother John is a former attorney, while sis Rosanna has been a Fox 5 News anchor in New York City since 1986.) “There are very few families on TV cooking together.”

-BE WEIRD: The Scotto family knows they have and need a hook factor to stand out from the crowd. They cook together as a family. It’s not that original but it works for them. What makes you original? Amplify that.

5. Be willing to try new things. “We fought social media for a long time,” says Elaina. “Now we get it and know you have to do it. Maybe an app is something we’ll do next.” (More @Inc.com)

-NEVER STOP LEARNING: The music industry is constantly changing. Staying aware of the trends and ideas that are impacting artists and consumers is critical to take things to a bigger level. Keep reading (The New Rockstar Philosophy), keep learning, and stay engaged in your industry.

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Music Consciousness
Voyno