As an up-and-coming social media influencer, Sadie Dwyer has had enough of the expectations thrust upon her and is finally ready to start living life on her own terms. Goodbye cushy corporate finance job, goodbye Los Angeles, and hello fresh start...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
First thing the following week, I found myself in the office at Dawson's—seated across from Rhett, with Finn leaning against the corner of the desk—scrawling my name along the bottom of a two-month contract. Officially agreeing to rebrand and market the pub after double and triple checking that both of them knew what they were getting into and would be amenable to the tactics I wanted to use.
Fortunately, after a few bumps in the beginning, we all seemed to be on the same page.
"There," I said, dotting the i in my signature before pushing the paper back across the desk. "Anything else you need from me?"
While Finn shook his head, Rhett tapped the pen in his hand against the desk and said, "We pay our staff through direct deposit, so I'll need your banking details in the next couple of days to get you set up in our system. Then you'll see payments come in every second Friday."
"Sure. I can email you everything when I get back upstairs."
Happy with that response, Rhett nodded, and when he didn't have anything else to say, his brother hopped in.
"Well, now that the official, business stuff is out of the way," Finn said, rubbing his hands together excitedly while Rhett rolled his eyes, "what's up first on your agenda?"
"I need to start with the overall branding," I replied. "You know, figure out what you want customers to think about when they hear the name of your pub or see an ad for it. See what kind of mental picture you want to paint for your clientele."
"I'd think that'd be fairly straightforward... we want them to picture themselves in the pub, having a drink and something to eat, and enjoying themselves," Rhett said, as though it was that simple.
Newsflash—it wasn't.
"Yes, but how do you get their attention in the first place? Right now, you're mostly operating off word of mouth from regulars and a good location for people in the neighborhood to stop in, but what about everyone else? If I put ads on social media and re-do your website, they'll have to align with what you want the pub to evoke in the minds of your potential customers. Basically, what message do you want to be sending to the public so that they choose Dawson's over every other place in Seattle?"
"Huh," Finn said, bringing his hand up to rub his jaw. "I never thought about that."
"Which is why you hired me, so you don't have to," I quipped with confidence. "And to get some ideas flowing, I have a couple of questions I'd love to get some answers to, if that's okay."
"Yeah, whatever you need," Finn said agreeably, though he stood up in the same breath, wiping his hands on his jeans. "I have to start prepping to open though, so I'll leave you with Rhett—" He hooked a thumb towards his brother, who looked wholly unimpressed. "—to get all the answers you need. But if there are some things he can't answer or you need another perspective on, let me know later today. I can help you out then."
