Your Pie announced the hire of Lisa Dimson as the brand’s first Chief Marketing Officer. An industry veteran, Dimson brings more than 15 years of restaurant marketing experience, plus a robust understanding of the fast-casual landscape, having held leadership positions with brands like Yum! Brands, Arby’s Restaurant Group, and Tropical Smoothie Cafe LLC.

As Chief Marketing Officer, Dimson is responsible for enhancing marketing strategy and brand development at both the national and store levels, with specific focus on leveraging technological innovation to raise brand awareness among new audiences and drive store sales.

“Within her first few weeks, Lisa has already proven a tremendous asset to the Your Pie team,” says Chief Operating Officer Dave McDougall. “Her background, expertise and deep understanding of our industry allow her to see unique opportunities to amplify the Your Pie experience across the system. We look forward to how Lisa will shape and influence our brand, both currently and in the years to come.”

​For Dimson, immediate priorities include elevating the brand’s digital marketing efforts and streamlining its technological integration to improve the guest experience and support franchise owners’ in-market efforts.

“Your Pie invests heavily in supporting its franchise community, and marketing is no exception,” Dimson says. “My vision is to raise the bar for how we leverage marketing technology and accelerate Your Pie’s efforts beyond the industry standard to become a true leader in the space.”

In addition to Dimson, Your Pie also welcomed Ashley Williams as its new Director of Training. Before joining Your Pie, Williams spent 13 years in training and operations at Outback Steakhouse, where she led training for the Southeast market, opened 20 new locations and developed the brand’s delivery training materials. As Director of Training at Your Pie, Williams’s responsibilities include developing a more robust training system for the brand, implementing a digital training platform and delivering effective training programs for franchisees to create an exceptional experience for guests.

Heading toward the end of the year, Your Pie plans to continue positive growth momentum, having opened nine new franchise locations during Q3. Between July 1 and September 30, Your Pie welcomed four new Florida locations in Brandon, Jacksonville, Melbourne and St. Johns; four new Georgia locations in Dahlonega, Dublin, Fort Oglethorpe and Winder; and one new Texas location in Cypress. These third-quarter additions bring Your Pie’s total brand footprint to 70 restaurants nationwide, with plans to grow its presence in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Virginia during Q4.

“We’re thrilled to have grown Your Pie by nearly 15 percent last quarter,” says VP of Development Ken Caldwell. “Our growth is a testament to the hard work of our team, the commitment of our franchisees and the continued demand for high-quality fast-casual dining. As we round out the year, our focus remains fixed on supporting the franchise system as our teams work to create an unforgettable experience for guests.”
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Your Pie was founded in 2008 by culinary entrepreneur Drew French, who aimed to create a first-of-its-kind restaurant concept offering high quality, brick-oven pizza at incredible speed. While family recipes and Italian culture helped lay the foundation for its processes and exceptional quality, Your Pie has continued to build upon this foundation with new ingredients, innovative recipes and endless choices to create a pizza experience with traditional roots, but a flair all its own.

Editor's note: While this article focuses on email marketing for restaurants, the information, links to resources, and tips and advice are easily applied to other industries.
In today's hyper-visual world of social media, it may seem like email marketing is a little old-fashioned. Isn't it all about the Instachats and Snapgrams these days?
Not necessarily!
While social media is an important marketing tool, don't discount the value of email. More than 90% of Americans use email, compared with 69% who have at least one social media account.

And the return on investment (ROI) for email marketing is great -- up to $44 for every $1 spent! But you have to know some best practices if you're going to see results like that.
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So I'm going to walk you through the basics of how you can use email marketing to boost sales and earn more revenue for your restaurant.

1. Get set upBefore you can start email marketing, you'll have to do some basic setup and start collecting email addresses. First, let's talk about how you can build your list.
Build your email listIf you're going to do email marketing, you'll obviously need people to market to. And that means collecting a list of email addresses. There are a variety of ways you can do this, and it's probably a good idea to combine a few of them. To start, provide a spot on your website where people can sign up.

You may not get your highest volume of sign-ups this way, but you'll get some. And anything you can do to pad out that email list is a good idea.

A quicker way to collect email addresses may be to use a service like Zenreach or Social Wifi.

With these services, guests have to enter their email addresses to log on to your Wifi at the restaurant. The email addresses then get saved in a database that you can use to send out email messages.

You can also collect email addresses if you do any kind of online ordering. When customers enter their email addresses for their order confirmation, include a checkbox where they can opt in to receiving your marketing emails.

Select your email platformSome of the email collection services, like Zenreach, will also let you send out your emails directly through their portal, saving you the step of uploading your contact list. But you have other options as well. Some of the most popular are Mailchimp and Constant Contact.
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These sites include simple tools that let you design professional-looking emails. They'll also let you segment your list (which we'll discuss next) and track metrics such as open and click-through rates.

The software you choose will depend on your needs and budget. There are a lot of options out there, so do some research to figure out which one is right for you.

2. Segment your listOnce you have a list of subscribers and you've selected your email marketing service, you can start sending out messages. But you may not want to just draft one blanket email and send it to your entire list.
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Instead, consider "segmenting" your audience and sending more targeted emails to each group. A segmented email can get up to 100% more clicks than a non-segmented one! Segmenting simply means you're sending more relevant information to your customers based on their interests and/or demographic. The result is increased engagement and fewer unsubscribes.

To start, you'll need some information on your subscribers. One way to collect this is to ask for it when they sign up for your email list. Or you could set up a survey to be automatically sent to each new signup, asking them a few specific questions. If you have multiple locations, you may want to ask for your subscribers' ZIP codes. You can then segment your list based on location.
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Or you could ask subscribers what they're most interested in hearing about, like food specials or upcoming promotions. Then you can tailor your emails directly to those individual audiences.

You could also ask for birthdays. Set up an email to go out to each subscriber on their birthday, offering them a free appetizer or dessert if they celebrate at your restaurant.
Another option is to segment based on subscriber behavior. If you have a group that opens and clicks through on every email, you can send them a promotion or invitation to a VIP event as a thank-you for their loyalty.

3. Include a CTAOnce you've decided on your message and written your email, always add a call to action (CTA). A clear call to action tells your customers what you want them to do next. What you choose depends on the purpose of the email.

CTA contentAre you trying to build excitement for your new menu? Then "View the Menu" might be a good option. If you are trying to sell tickets to a big dinner with a guest chef, "Book Tickets" or "Reserve a Table" may be best.
Some other options:
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• Book your reservation
• Order online
• Get tickets
• Save me a spot
• Follow us
• Stay connected
• Sign up (for a loyalty program)
• Contact us
• Book your event

Having a single CTA in your marketing email can increase clicks by 371%! But this isn't a case of more = better.

Your CTA needs to be clear. So don't muddy the waters by adding more than one. You're asking your readers to take a single step to get them closer to making a purchase.

By asking them to "View the menu" and "Book a reservation" and "Learn more," you'll dilute the effectiveness of your message.

CTA appearanceIt's also important that your CTA be visible and clickable. There is some conflicting data out there as to whether a button or a link is better. But a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Buttons are easier to click, especially on mobile
• Buttons stand out more than links

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So a CTA button may be the better choice. You can test buttons and links to see what gets you the best results.

Bonus tip: Try using the first person on your CTA. Instead of "Book Your Reservation," you could say "Book My Reservation." One test indicated that using the first person could improve click-through rate by 90%!

4. Keep it cleanReaders spend an estimated 15-20 seconds reading an individual email. So you don't have much time to hook their attention. Maximize the time your readers spend with you by presenting a clean, easy-to-read email. Select one or two themes for your email, instead of packing it full of information.
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Keep it skimmable. This means keep your paragraphs short and to the point. Most of your subscribers aren't going to read thousands of words, so try to stay brief.

Break up large chunks of text with a few pictures, but don't go overboard. Large photo files can be very slow to load, especially on mobile.
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Once your email is set up to your satisfaction, make sure to send yourself a preview so you can see how it will look in your inbox. If you can, send it to several different email platforms, like Gmail, Yahoo, Apple Mail, and Outlook. Different email programs all have their own little quirks, so you want to make sure everything is displaying correctly.
You can also use a service like Litmus, which will show you how your email will appear on dozens of different email platforms.

5. Write a great subject lineOnce you've spent time drafting your email and perfecting your layout, don't undo all your hard work with a lackluster subject line!
The subject line is the single most important part of your email. You could have the absolute best marketing email of all time, but if the subject is crummy no one will read it.

Invest some time in your subject line, and don't go with the first one you write. In fact, a lot of the top copywriters will write 20 to 30 subject lines - per email! - and then pick their favorite.

Once you've chosen a couple of subjects you like, test them with an A/B test. This is also known as a "split test."

Send Version A of your subject line to a limited number of subscribers -- let's say 100. Send Version B to 100 different subscribers.

Send your email to the rest of the list using the subject line with the best open rate.
Here are a few more tips for subject lines:

• Personalize it. You can use the reader's name in the subject line to attract their attention. But you don't want to do this too often, or it can appear spammy. It's best to save personalization for really specific messages. You could use it in a welcome email after they first sign up for your list, or in a Happy Birthday email.

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• Keep it short. Don't let your subject line get cut off before it has a chance to work its magic. Try to keep it to 7 words (40-ish characters).

• Curb your caps. DON'T USE ALL CAPS. No one likes being yelled at. And don't go overboard with punctuation. In fact, an exclamation mark and a question mark in the same subject can flag your email as spam.

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• Don't ignore the preview text. Preview text is the content that comes just after your subject line. If you don't specify what it should be, your email service will select something for you. It may be the first sentence of your email, or it may be some gibberish like this:

So make sure to specify your preview text.
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6. Make it mobile-friendlyThese days, we're checking our email on our phones more than anywhere else. In fact, 66% of emails are opened on mobile, whether it's a phone or a tablet.

So it's vital that your email looks as good on a tiny phone screen as it does on a desktop computer.

The best way to do that? Use a "responsive" email template. A responsive email will automatically adjust itself depending on the device being used. This is one of the reasons you'll want to use an email service.
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Companies like Mailchimp have built this responsiveness into their templates. You can trust that your email will automatically resize for mobile, whether it's an Apple, Samsung, or Google phone.

And to make sure photos don't slow your load time too much, reduce their size with a service like JPegmini. The smaller size will load more quickly without sacrificing image quality.

7. Provide valueThe best way you can increase open rate and reduce unsubscribes is to provide value. If you consistently provide well-designed, informative, and entertaining emails, you'll keep your readers. Respect the privilege you're being given, and don't just ask for the sale. Give something back to your readers.
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If it's appropriate for your restaurant's tone, try to make people laugh with clever copy or funny images. You could also share popular food or cocktail recipes so readers can recreate some of their favorites at home.

Or provide a little education. If your restaurant has a focus on animal butchery, do a short tutorial on the different parts of the cow.

Focus on what you can give back to your readers, and they'll stick with you for longer.

Conclusion
Email marketing is a tool every restaurant should have in its arsenal, whether they're promoting pizza or fine dining. It's the most effective way to share your messages and updates with customers.

And it's affordable!

Most email marketing platforms offer a tiered pricing system based on the size of your list. So you can start out at a low price point as you build your skill.

Remember, the first step is to start building your list. So even if you're not ready to send any emails, the time to start gathering addresses is now!

It wasn’t that long ago in restaurant time that Chipotle suffered a major food safety crisis, but since then the brand has overhauled its marketing strategy to drive profitable volume growth and double its stock price.
The Mexican grill, with more than 2,500 company owned restaurants, offers a menu filled with wholesome food with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. The restaurants have no freezers, microwaves or can openers.

​“We use more local produce than any other restaurant group and always responsibly source real food prepared with classic cooking techniques that we’ve made fresh every single day,” Chipotle CMO Chris Brandt said. “If you’re going to have food this good you want to show it to people.”

That thought planted the seed for a new marketing playbook that would transform the way consumers understand and engage with the brand.

One major change took place last year when Chipotle moved its headquarters to California, closing its New York and Denver offices. That offered a chance to reset its marketing department with a new team

“I wanted agile and innovative marketers who looked at this changing world as an opportunity, not as a problem,” he said. “I really wanted people who generate ideas because ideas differentiate you. Ideas separate you. Ideas enable you to win.”

Brandt personally interviewed every person on his team to ensure they have the right chemistry and that everybody passes what he calls the “Friday afternoon” conference room test.

“In the unfortunate event that you have to go in a conference room on a Friday afternoon at four o’clock, are you happy to see a person there or are you sad? And I will tell you if you’re sad to see that person there you should not hire them, no matter what their qualifications are,” he said earlier this month at ANA Masters of Marketing Week.

Embracing digital

Chipotle also fully embraced digital growth to engage Gen Z and Millennials.

“It’s clearly where the action is and one of the biggest things consumers want when we surveyed them was more access to the brand,” he said.

Brandt doubled down on the digital budget with delivery capability through DoorDash in Chipotle’s app and pick up shelves in every restaurant so customers didn’t have to wait in line to pick up their orders.

“Our operating model is so efficient that we can make the food really, really fast, getting order to delivery times of less than 30 minutes—which is incredible,” he said. “It’s a giant growth area for Chipotle.”

A new tone

“In the years since the crisis, the message for the brand was really heavily focused on what others don’t do as opposed to celebrating what Chipotle actually does. I wanted to have a much more positive tone. I wanted to have a lot more fun with the brand and I wanted to really engage with our consumers and we wanted to be more insightful and relevant in culture,” Brandt said.

That new positive tone included the new tag line, “For Real,” which debuted last fall.

“We needed a rallying cry for the brand with our customers, but also with our employees. We’ve got 75,000 employees out there, so we had to make them proud to wear that badge on their uniform,” he said. “And we wanted a tagline that few brands would dare say and fewer still could back up. The beauty of ‘For Real’ is that tagline is new, but it really harkens back to the principles the brand was founded on 26 years ago. We were off to a good start. But the job certainly wasn’t done,” he said.

With the campaign, Chipotle worked to change consumer perceptions and retell the “real” story in new and different ways and to show up in places where consumers didn’t expect brands like Chipotle to appear.

On the job training

In his third week on the job, Brandt, who joined as CMO in April 2018, went to work in one of the restaurants.

“I showed up at the restaurant at 7 a.m. and I was blown away because what I saw in the restaurant was whole heads of romaine lettuce, crates of whole peppers, bags of onions—whole ingredients. Then I saw the employees get to work cutting and chopping and cooking in that restaurant to make everything fresh for that day and I thought man, if we could show this to everybody they will love it,” he said.

He immediately called Chipotle’s agency Venables Bell & Partners in San Francisco and scheduled a team to experience what he just had.

The results were the global campaign launched in February, “Behind the Foil,” the most intimate look into the company’s operations in its history. The documentary-style digital and TV spots, shot by documentarian Errol Morris, aimed to “pull back the foil” by featuring behind-the-scenes footage of Chipotle restaurants, including its kitchens, equipment and prep routines, and featuring Chipotle employees and the farming partners that grow the brand’s real ingredients. This spot is titled “The Guac Smasher.”

​Supporting the campaign was a push to remind consumers that Chipotle uses only 51 ingredients, “all of which you can pronounce.” A massive billboard in New York City kicked off that part of the campaign and then the brand showed up at a very unexpected place—a spelling bee.
“Nobody expects Chipotle to show up at the National Spelling Bee, but we had this insight that the only thing that’s hard to spell at Chipotle is Chipotle, but that’s not necessarily the case with our competitor ingredients,” Brandt said.

Cultural Connection
Merging with current cultural moments helped Chipotle move forward. The brand had no involvement in February’s Super Bowl until Maroon 5’s Adam Levine took his shirt off during the half time show. A consumer posted on social that Levine without a shirt looked like one of Chipotle’s signature paper bags.
“So we poured on the gas adding 170 million views,” he said. “We kind of won the Super Bowl without even participating.”
In March, Chipolte launched a new loyalty program, Chipotle Rewards, reaching out to Venmo for a contest that used Venmo payouts to give away up to a quarter of a million dollars, to 25,000 Chipotle fans per day. Then in June, the NBA finals got underway. Chipotle, with no rights to the game, tweeted out that the first 500 people to use a special code could win a free burrito every time the announcer said the word “free” as in a free throw.
“We got a billion impressions on this thing and a bunch of Twitter followers,” Brandt said.
Another major piece to its comeback was menu innovation. In January, a collection of Lifestyle Bowls were introduced like Paleo Salad Bowl and Keto Salad Bowl available only for digital customers. The bowls were so successful that Chipotle followed up with “influencer bowls.” For example, the brand got in early with a Fortnite team and debuted a bowl after one of its streamers “because I felt like Fortnite single handedly lowered the GPAs of the entire nation,” he said.
And there were other bowls and burritos tied to David Dilbert and World Cup soccer champs Julie Ertz, Lindsey Horan and Rose Lavelle.
“We got real results,” he said.
As all components of the turnaround began to gel, Chipotle’s work was paying off.
“The category of restaurants in general runs about plus two or three on comp sales and traffic is flat to negative. It’s a tough business,” he said. “In Q4 we launched the ‘For Real’ campaign and saw comp sales up plus six and traffic up plus two and that was the first time Chipotle saw traffic up in two years for a quarter. Then in Q1 we were plus 10 and plus six. Q2 we were plus 10 and plus 7. The beauty of this growth is that it’s profitable volume growth because it’s really driven our earnings per share and that earnings per share has driven our stock price to more than double over the last year or so.”
According to The Motley Fool, Chipotle has more than tripled its share price since bottoming in early 2018.
“The numbers are amazing,” Brandt said.

Most of us – as marketers and consumers ourselves – inherently understand the value of referrals. As professionals, we’ve read the referral marketing statistics and have seen it work for companies large and small. In our personal lives, when we make a big purchase, we seek out reviews or ping our networks for recommendations.

While you may see referral marketing work for successful companies like Uber and Airbnb, it’s understandable that you might question if it can be achieved by your brand. You might also be wondering if your unique audience would be interested, or engaged, in your referral program.
Here’s the short answer: No matter the industry, successful referral programs generate a natural network effect. As you acquire more referred customers, an abnormally high proportion of them will convert into new ambassadors. Those ambassadors will then draw in new customers, and the cycle will start all over again.
​A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is. It is what consumers tell each other it is. -Scott Cook, co-founder, Intuit
Need more proof on why referral marketing should be a critical component of your strategy? We thought you might!
Which is why we set out to answer a few key questions:
– How influential is word-of-mouth in their purchasing decisions?
– Which channels do they rely on most for recommendations?
– How (if at all) do people want to be compensated for providing referrals?
What was the verdict?
Let’s just say that even we were surprised by some of the results. To get the full picture, check out our infographic below.

At its core, referral marketing doesn’t have to be overly complex. In fact, getting started is as simple as putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. Ask these questions:
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– Would you recommend your company’s products to others?
– Where and how would you do it?
​– What incentives would motivate you to increase your referral activity?
– What barriers would keep you from doing it?

Why is a Fall Seasonal Marketing Strategy Important?

Seasonal marketing is more important than ever before. A well crafted Fall seasonal marketing strategy helps humanize your brand and connects you with customers in a more meaningful way.

Seasonality affects everyone’s life, regardless of locale or demographic. It affects the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and how we spend our time.

Fall Seasonal Marketing

Fall tends to be thought of as a time of change – and that change brings around endless opportunities for marketing. Virtually every type of business can benefit from a fall seasonal marketing strategy.

Autumn is a time of year when everyone can find something to enjoy. If you’re the outdoorsy type, most people can brave the outdoors without a parka. Prefer the great indoors? All the more reason to stay inside, bake, craft, and relax.

Halloween
Consumers spend a huge amount of money each year on Halloween. In 2017, the NRF valued the holiday at $9.1 billion. Halloween is one of those rare holidays that’s driven by pure, unadulterated fun. This gives your brand a chance to let loose and embrace the occasion.

Scaring Up Engagement with Gamification
Need another reason to get excited about Halloween? Nearly 80% of Americans celebrate the holiday in some way. Getting customers involved with on-site gamification is a great way to piggyback on Halloween’s playful nature.

Need a push in the right direction? Consider gamifying minimums on free shipping offers already available on-site. Creating an experience around gamified minimum order values or free shipping thresholds gets users involved the moment they start shopping.

Each time customers add an item or “treat” to their bag, they get closer to the cart value threshold. When the shopper meets the minimum, display a message similar to “No Tricks, Just a Treat! You’ve Qualified for Free Shipping!”

This strategy is an easy means of integrating gamification alongside an offer that is already available to shoppers.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday
According to the National Retail Federation, shopping in the month leading up to the major gift-giving holidays accounts for about 30% of annual revenue. For that reason, best-of-year deals and promotions are par for the course.

Progressive Remarketing Campaigns
One important aspect of Black Friday/Cyber Monday preparation is a carefully crafted remarketing strategy. Remarketing is a fantastic tool for continuing the conversation and recovering sales.

Large purchases like video game consoles, bicycles, and electronics are popular during this time of year, but often require customer consideration. Since virtually every retailer is vying for consumer attention, remarketing keeps your brand top of mind and reignites interest in your products.

Progressive remarketing campaigns follow a three-pronged approach. The first message reminds shoppers of their relationship with you, what they left behind, and why they should come back.

For customers that simply became distracted, this first touch can be very effective. For users that do not convert with one email, a second with a small incentive can get them to return and purchase.

If users still do not convert after two touches, combining an incentive with urgency in a final email can offer one last push toward conversion.

Post-Holiday Shopping
The day after Christmas is one of the largest shopping days of the year. This is partially because stores are working hard to clear excess merchandise with end-of-season sales and clearance deals.

Additionally, customers are returning gifts that didn’t quite hit the mark, meaning lots of store credit. That, combined with the increasing popularity of gift cards means that people are looking to do some serious shopping in the days following the holidays.

SMS Alerts
Mobile messages consistently achieve open rates of 90%+. Leveraging the power of SMS means you can keep shoppers informed about new arrivals, discounts, and promotions. Additionally, it allows you to connect with customers in a more personalized way.

SMS allows for quick communication, making it perfect for real-time updates on clearance products, markdowns, and end-of season offers.

Including a short link to popular sale items is a great way to lead shoppers directly to purchase. Of course, make sure they can opt-out at any time, as compliance is key in any successful marketing campaign

​by CHARLOTTE CHILTON

AST EARL, Pa. (WSBT) — A restaurant in Pennsylvania is going viral for a very realistic and delicious-looking deer cake.
Shady Maple Smorgasbord posted the photo of the gigantic cake on Facebook that has since gotten over 800 comments and over 5000 shares:

The restaurant says a bride and groom brought in antlers and requested a deluxe dessert for their wedding day, and boy did they get one! It took Cake Decorating Supervisor Pam McNeal over 10 hours to make.
We're told the deer's head and neck were carved from Styrofoam, and the back part of the animal is all cake, enough to feed 250 people.
The couple's wedding was this past Saturday -- we wish you two all the best!

Promoting your restaurant with Facebook and Instagram ads is a surefire way to acquire new customers. But with millions of restaurants vying for attention, how can you guarantee your restaurant stands out?
Restaurants have to be promoting themselves with targeted and beautifully designed, paid Facebook and Instagram ads, particularly in tight markets like the New York metro area, where the crowded restaurant scene is highly competitive.

Organic Reach
If you have a Facebook page and an Instagram account for your restaurant (and why wouldn’t you?), you might be disappointed in the reach and engagement of your posts. Organic reach for posts on Facebook pages is dismal. By some estimates, just 2% of a restaurant’s fan base will see its unpaid posts. The best way to make sure that your content reaches as many people as possible is with a paid promotion.

Boosting Your Post
Most restaurants know how to boost a post, mainly because Facebook is constantly suggesting it. But simply boosting a post is Facebook basic advertising 101. There’s little to no strategy behind what you’re doing and the post you’re boosting may not be very effective.

You are far better off planning an ad campaign and creating it in the Ads Manager.

Video ads perform much better than static image ads for restaurants. There are several different formats for ad campaigns, but we’ve found video is important for restaurants because it gives them a chance to showcase several offerings in an engaging format.

You can choose to run the ad both on Facebook and Instagram—simultaneously or separately. We often find that Facebook aims your ads almost exclusively to Facebook users and therefore the ad is hardly delivered on Instagram. So, you may want to consider running two separate campaigns—one on each platform.

​Investors have been very upbeat about PepsiCo's (NASDAQ:PEP) prospects this year, as the company invests in areas to accelerate sales growth and position itself for sustainable long-term returns. The stock is up 28% so far in 2019 and the latest results seem to have met the already high expectations investors have for the snack-food giant. 

Let's look at a few highlights from the fiscal third-quarter earnings report that has investors so optimistic.

Revenue growth
Starting with the top line, organic (non-GAAP) revenue increased by 4.3% year over year. This is slightly below the year-ago quarter's 4.9% increase, but it's still impressive for this global brand powerhouse to post more than 4% growth on top of the strong results in last year's third quarter. Year to date, Pepsi's organic revenue is up 4.6%, which is better than the 3.4% growth reported for the same period this time last year. 

Core earnings per share (EPS) on a constant-currency basis were down 1% year over year for the quarter and down 0.5% year to date. However, core EPS of $1.56 beat analysts' estimates by $0.06 per share. 

Explaining the backdrop for the strong results, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said, "We are making good progress against our strategic priorities and our businesses are performing well as we continue to make the necessary investments in our capabilities, brands, manufacturing and go-to-market capacity to propel our future growth." 

Investments paying off
The stock continues to soar despite the lower earnings because investors understand that the investments in marketing and additional capacity are putting the company's brands on offense against competitors. Marketing expense is up 12% year to date and is being directed toward Pepsi's most important brands and geographies.

The Frito-Lay business, which comprises the company's snack food brands in the U.S. and Canada, saw organic revenue increase by 5.5%, enough to gain market share in the quarter. Management noted strong growth in core brands, such as Doritos, Cheetos, Ruffles, and Fritos. Smaller premium brands, including Bare and Off the Beaten Path saw double-digit revenue growth.

The most impressive aspect of these results was the balanced performance across all channels -- grocery, mass, club, convenience, foodservice, and e-commerce -- which is not an easy thing to accomplish given the complexity of managing dozens of brands across different sales channels, especially with competitors trying to grow sales, too.

The North American beverage business saw an acceleration last quarter, improving from organic revenue growth of 2.5% in the fiscal second quarter to 3% in the third quarter. Management is especially pleased with the performance of Gatorade, which gained market share. Gatorade Zero has been a very successful new innovation, exceeding $500 million in retail sales since launching last year. 

Pepsi is making investments internationally to drive higher per-capita spending and increase market share, and the results show the efforts are paying off. Organic revenue from developing and emerging markets increased by 7% year over year, including double-digit growth in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey, and Pakistan. 

Laguarta's comments during the fiscal third-quarter conference call suggest that Pepsi may still have a few more gears to shift into to accelerate sales growth: 

We're invested to increase the capacity and reach of our go-to-market systems with substantial investments in new routes, merchandising racks and coolers, and we're investing in additional manufacturing capacity to remove bottlenecks and expand growth capacity for our brands. These include investments in new plants, new lines and added distribution infrastructure.

Pepsico is also investing in technology, highlighted by the strength in the company's digital sales capabilities. E-commerce is on pace to generate nearly $2 billion in revenue this year. 
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Upbeat outlook
Management put the cherry on top for the quarter by raising sales expectations for the year. The company now expects to meet or exceed 4% organic revenue growth for the full year. Core EPS should be down 1% in 2019, but free cash flow is expected to be approximately $5 billion. 

The company plans to return $8 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. On the surface, that looks unsustainable, since a business can't continue to distribute more than it brings in year after year. But investors should look at the excess return as a vote of confidence from management in the long-term expectation that free cash flow and net income will move higher.

​Influencer marketing is among the most popular methods of growing a business through the social media platform. Influencers have the eyes and ears of hundreds of thousands (and in some cases, millions) of individuals. Their status, reach and willingness to work with businesses makes them a perfect asset for marketing.

But some companies have yet to realize how impactful influencers can be and are reluctant to tap into this form of marketing. Below, 11 members of Forbes Coaches Council share some crucial advice for businesses who are interested in developing a business relationship with influencers but don't know how to get the ball rolling.

1. Get To Know The Influencer

Take the time to research the influencer and investigate whether your business is really a fit for their audience, before you reach out. Get to know the influencer and understand why people follow that person, then align your pitch to that. Your pitch will be more personalized and effective, and then, when it's a genuine fit, it will make your influencer more excited to offer you to their audience. - Natalie Ehmka, Natalie Ehmka Coaching & Consulting

2. Confirm Value Alignment First

Influencers create amazing buzz around products, services and even brands, but before partnering up, make sure your values align first. Do your research, get referrals and see their work firsthand! It's scary to attach your brand to someone else's, as so much can go wrong. But, if done properly, so much can go right! Ensure proper vetting before taking the leap. - Miranda VonFricken, Miranda VonFricken Mastermind Coaching

3. Make Authentic Contact

Research the influencer to discover a recent piece of content they published that you can comment on or purchase their products. When you make contact, you have a better chance of being remembered. Rather than only asking, start off giving. Give them an interview slot on your podcast to promote their product or service and consider amplifying the interview with a press and media release that you promote. - Mike Saunders, MBA, Marketing Huddle, LLC

4. Begin With A Win-Win

Begin with the end in mind. Reciprocity is always a win-win. When reaching out to a marketing influencer, be sure to know about their specific expertise before trying to connect. When you do reach out, be sure to emphasize how collaboration with your business will be a benefit to their bottom line. Authentic connection is most rewarding when all parties benefit from the collaboration. - Dr. Melissa Weathersby, 5-Star Empowerment

5. Build Trust With An Agreement

A marketing influencer contract establishes a foundation to empower and motivate influencers to achieve success in key target markets and help convert the people into loyal customers. Agreed-upon terms will ensure proper management and execution of commitment and results, enabling high consumer loyalty and trust for the company's brand, products and services. - Lori Harris, Harris Whitesell Consulting

6. Articulate Both Value Propositions

You may be able to recruit a few influencers who owe you a favor. But to be truly successful in influencer marketing, there needs to be a quid pro quo. You need to be clear about the value that you will bring to the influencer, as well as the value that you will bring to those with whom they connect you. Be prepared to clearly articulate both value propositions. - Brian Gorman, TransformingLives.Coach

7. Set Clear Goals

Set clear goals and be ready for a long haul to achieve the best results. The questions to ask are, do you want to boost your product sales, gain exposure for your services, position your brand as an industry leader, establish credibility or something else. Next, determine the influencers in your niche that you align with, begin with giving, build a relationship and then reach out with a simple ask. - Divya Parekh, DP Group

8. Make It About Them

The No. 1 thing you must do is your research on the influencer you want to collaborate with. What is meaningful to them? Make it about them and give before you ask. Engage with their content. Be specific and acknowledge what you love about their work. Offer to make an intro, or give a tip. Serve them. When you lead with a give and don't see the person as being above you, you'll get their attention! - Christina Jandali, Deliver Your Genius

9. Prepare A Package

If you are going to reach out to influencers, you must make it easy for them to get money and promote you. Put together a package with your sales copy, videos and pics for them to copy and paste as posts. The easier you make it, the more likely they are to promote your product. - Ryan Stewman, Break Free Academy

10. Look For A Long-Term Partner, Not A Quick Fix

I believe that a business and its influencer(s) need to have similar values, target groups and goals in order to succeed. So, have an honest conversation about your expectations, your "why," deliverables on both sides and interests. See how you can help each other. Make it a fair deal. Give your best to build the foundations for a long-term partnership rather than looking for a quick, cheap fix. - Dr. Natalia Wiechowski, Think Natalia

11. Collide And Meld

Beginning an influencer-brand relationship is grounded in identifying commonalities between the two. How can the brand and influencer collide and meld the approach to lifestyle, aesthetics and target audiences? The answer can be found by first researching the influencer's current social and commercial attractiveness. The interview process provides the opportunity to confirm the fit. - Deborah Hightower, Deborah Hightower, Inc.