O.K.  Are you tired of hearing about “Let’s Be Frank”, the gourmet grass fed beef hot dog vendors?  Neither am I.  In fact, I am in awe of the massive grass roots style FREE advertising that these guys are receiving in the mainstream media as well as foodie blogs all over the internet. But remember this – you can manufacture all the buzz you want, but you must have a GREAT product in order to keep it going. Otherwise your fame (and fortune) will be short lived indeed.  And just to make you even more jealous, here’s a spy photo of their menu.  Check their prices!  You gotta be good to pull that off.

Ladies and jemmelmen, boys and girlz, may I direct your attention to the center ring where you’ll see LBF once again perform their amazing feat of free publicity right before your eyes…

Excerpted from Good Food blog.

Our next stop? Hot dogs. Now these aren’t your ordinary hot dogs. These are Lets Be Frank dogs. 100% grass-fed beef and pork. 100% organic hot dogs. Sounds like an oxymoron huh? But this place has been on my to-try list since the cart opened up last year in Culver City. The proprietor, Sue Moore, is as genuine as can be and gave us that “mother” treatment. She gave us recommendations and offered guidance in our selections. We went with one beef dog and one spicy pork dog. They came out freshly cooked on a soft and chewy bun. For acoutrements, they offered organic sauerkraut, relish, mustard, and ketchup. I went with the classic sauerkraut and deli mustard combo and subsequently, fell in love.
These dogs are heavenly. When I bit in, the casing snapped and the juices from within poured into my mouth; almost like a Din Tai Fung juicy pork dumpling. Paired with the sauerkraut and the spicy mustard, it was amazing. The spicy sausage had just enough kick and the beef dog was simple yet classic. We washed it down with one of these: Boylan’s Birch Beer.
We had previously requested Boylan’s Cream Soda (one of the best cream sodas on the market) but she only had diet. But Sue offered us Birch Beer and according to her, it was a combination of root beer and cream soda. She was on point! It literally tasted like cream soda with that root beer kick. After the good eats, I thought the night was over but to be honest, my stomach was wanting more.

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There you have it folks.  A case study for you to use in getting your own free PR.  Let’s review:

1. Have a kick ass product.

2. Whenever you do anything, whether it be a new product introduction, hot dog eating contest, or working a grand opening, make sure your local newspaper knows about it.

3. Start your own blog.  This is WAY easier to do than you think and it will cost you less than $15 a month.  Blogs aren’t just an online journal.  With all the new tools available they can function as your company web site also.  You can build a customer email list (there are tricks to getting people to happily give you their email) and let everyone know where and when you will be serving your delicious dogs with a click of the mouse.  Let me know if you are interested in learning more about this blog strategy by posting a comment below.  If I get a big enough response, I might put together a course on it…

– Steve

Excerpt from Good Food blog