The discussion in this podcast episode centers on the transformative nature of storytelling within the realms of food and travel blogging. Our esteemed guest, Andrea Updike, elucidates the essentiality of infusing personal narratives into one's content, particularly in an era dominated by artificial intelligence and generic recipes. She emphasizes the importance of maintaining authenticity amidst the commercial pressures of the blogging industry, advocating for a return to genuine connections with audiences. Our conversation traverses various aspects of modern travel, the nuances of family dynamics in travel planning, and the evolving landscape of influencer marketing. As we engage with Andrea, we uncover insights that inspire both seasoned professionals and newcomers in the marketing domain, illustrating that the essence of storytelling remains paramount in fostering meaningful connections with one's audience.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• 00:07 - Introduction to Aqua Talks
• 04:34 - Starting a Blog in the Modern Age
• 08:34 - Creating Memories Through Travel
• 15:18 - The Evolution of Blogging and Influencer Marketing
• 21:50 - Exploring New Destinations and Experiences
• 22:54 - Exploring the Northern Lights

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• This podcast episode delves into the intersection of marketing and innovative strategies, emphasizing the need for creativity.
• We engage in meaningful conversations that highlight the importance of building authentic connections with one's audience.
• The episode features insights from Andrea Updike, a food and travel journalist, who shares her unique perspectives.
• Listeners are encouraged to embrace playfulness in social media content creation to enhance engagement and relatability.
• The discussion touches on the evolution of blogging and the importance of consistency and flexibility in content creation.
• A strong emphasis is placed on including personal narratives in recipe blogging to maintain authenticity and community connection.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Andrea Updyke (LinkedIn)

Andrea Updyke has been creating online content for over two decades, covering everything from Presidential elections to the adventures of becoming a mom. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and wrote Klout for Dummies, published by Wiley back in 2013. Andrea has a knack for finding creative ways to connect with readers in a fun, conversational style, and she's a firm believer that most of life's problems can be solved with a good meal and plenty of love—whether that's at home or on the road. She loves teaming up with brands and destinations that share her passion for family time to create content that's actually worth sharing.

Welcome to Aqua Talks, where marketing meets bold game changing ideas.

Join your hosts, Larry Aldrich and Maddie Dudley as they explore the art and science of cutting through the noise, capturing attention and fostering meaningful connections with your audience.

Whether you're a destination marketer, government contractor, or simply passionate about the transformative power of marketing, Aqua Talks offers engaging discussions, fresh insights and actionable strategies designed to inspire and inform.

Welcome back to Aqua Talks, the podcast for marketers.

Whether you're just getting started or you are a pro within the industry, my name is Maddie.

I'm the Public Relations Director of Aqua Marketing and Communications and this is a podcast brought to you by Brensys Technology ll.

And I happen to be with my co host, as I usually am, Larry Aldrich Today.

Hello, I'm Larry Aldrich, President CEO of Brensis Technology LLC and Aqua Marketing Communications.

Today we're joined by Andrea Updike, food and travel journalist out of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Hello Andrea, how are you?

I'm doing great.

Thanks for having me.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I know I said a food and travel journalist, but you're also an influencer and you're also creator of a podcast.

You want to talk a little bit about yourself, what you do, what you've been doing, what you plan on doing?

Sure.

I got about an hour and a half.

Just kidding.

Yes.

I live here in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I was actually born and raised in Clearwater, Florida, which is not too far from you guys.

I think I moved up here when I was about 20 and I've been here ever since.

Didn't really plan to stay, but since I did, I decided it was time to put down some roots and got married and had two awesome sons.

And I am also the owner and operator of justisafour letter word.com, which is my food and travel blog.

I've been doing that for a very long time in different iterations, but it sort of started out as a college blog and then has morphed as my life has morphed and of course the industry has as well.

So now I am doing that blog.

I also am on just about every social media platform there is and do some freelance writing as well.

Well, speaking of, let's get into some trends in the industry that you're seeing that you want to talk about.

So I think along with the rest of the world, we are overrun with Taylor Swift content and maybe this is why I'm seeing this particular trend.

But scrolling through TikTok, there are a couple different accounts of this dancing squirrel that's really funny.

And I actually just learned yesterday that there are two dancing squirrel accounts and they look identical, but there's one Nibs and the other is Nutella.

So if you want to look them up.

But basically it's just the silliest thing and they are unbelievably viral.

And I think it just goes to show that just have fun.

People can tell that you're having fun and they want to have fun with you, so why not?

Now there are people, humans imitating these puppet squirrels doing the dances.

And I don't know, I don't know why it's a trend, but hey, it's working, so why not?

I love it because in the world of AI, and we were kind of talking, touching on AI a little bit earlier, but in the world of AI, like, everything, you can kind of get a social media strategy if you just type in an AI and it's just by the book.

And we are talking a lot about strategies that technology really couldn't come up with.

It would like if a computer was like, oh, let's have a Taylor Swift song, and like a little fuzzy squirrel that's stuffed dancing to it, and hundreds of thousands of people are going to be into it and love it, even though it's just this, like someone just playing, like the.

That's really the importance of play and like, having fun with social media rather than just like going by the same strict standard all of the time.

Absolutely.

And I.

That is my Internet.

I am here for the silly, the, you know, the memes, the hilarious side jokes.

I think that is the best use of the Internet, honestly.

Yes, me too.

I'm glad we need to make each other laugh.

Yes.

And I'm glad silliness is making a comeback.

Everyone's taking things too seriously.

As a blogger, what would be some advice that you'd give to people wanting to start a blog or a food and travel blog?

Is that something.

I mean, as a blogger, would you blog every month?

Do you blog every other week?

What's some advice you would have.

Yeah, I think starting a blog now is going to be a little bit more challenging than it was back in the olden days.

But I. I still think it can be done.

I think if you have something you want to say and you really love to write about it and put it out there, then the main thing I would suggest is to be consistent and be flexible.

I'm not the poster child for consistency.

I try to blog at least weekly, but sometimes that doesn't happen, especially with travel and Everything.

But if you can choose, and this really goes to any platform, not just blogging, but if you can choose a schedule and stick to it, then your people will find you.

And they might not find you right away.

You might be talking to a wall for a very long time, but the information will be there, and if it's helpful and valuable, people will find it.

And that's another reason I think the social media platforms are coming into play a little bit more, especially as a blogger.

First, it's been a little trickier to get on videos and social media, and it's fun to share pictures of your kids, but when your kids are older and they don't want to be in the pictures anymore, it's like, oh, now what do I do?

So I think tying that into the blog is essential in this age because of all the AI and people not really knowing who to trust and who's an actual real person.

So that would be my advice to start the blog.

Be consistent, but also put yourself into the story so that people know you're real.

You say you travel a lot.

Do you travel a lot for.

For fun or as for work or for.

As an influencer?

Or is it a combination of all of it?

All of the above.

I travel as much as I can and probably more than I should.

It's a lot of fun for me, even when it's work.

I have one of those jobs that doesn't feel like a job.

So sometimes I'm like, oh, this isn't fair.

I shouldn't get to enjoy this so much.

But I just.

I love traveling in every way, solo, with friends, with my husband, with our kids, for work, all the things.

So part of your blog is also about food.

One of our favorite topics here on the podcast, you mentioned.

Yeah, you mentioned that your mother's wisdom echoes in your kitchen.

If you can read, you can cook.

That reminds me of one of my favorite Disney movies.

Did you really begin cooking when you learned how to read?

And how did this skill develop over time into the chef you are now for your family and your Internet audience?

Yeah.

So I don't know if it was the day I learned how to read, but I remember asking my mom, you know, how do you learn to cook?

And she's like, well, if you can read, you can cook.

All you have to do is look at the recipe.

And so as a child of the 80s, I had my Easy Bake Oven, and I followed those instructions.

And then I graduated to making chocolate chip cookies.

I used the recipe on the back of the Bag just like everybody else.

And my mom was there, but she was like, just follow the recipe.

You know, you can do it.

Just follow the recipe.

And I would do the instructions.

And even now I teach my kids, you know, they love.

We're a Lego family too.

And so I'm like, it's just like Legos.

Just don't skip a step.

Follow the first step, the second step, and you'll be fine.

And so I have used that wisdom from my mom with my own kids and the same with my recipes on my blog.

You know, I'm not a Michelin star chef by any means.

I love a good shortcut.

And I just think it's, it's good to be in the kitchen.

It's good to work with your hands.

If you're using a box mix for half the recipe, no big deal.

You know, like, just get some food on the table, have some family time.

And that's kind of how I operate, you know, simplicity and consistency and just creating a home that your family knows is theirs.

I love that so much.

When you travel, what's an underrated destination you've been to that may have over delivered that you'd like to shout out?

So Maddie knows about this one because I couldn't shut up about it.

I just went to Kansas this, earlier this month for that conference and I had it so wrong about Kansas.

I had no idea how cool this state is.

They have such a variety of nature and animals and their cities, their small towns are really cool and walkable and such an art scene, vibrant art scene.

And it really, really surprised me.

I was not expecting it at all.

So go to Kansas.

It's fun while you were there also, because I saw you the day after you got back, or you got back the same day and then you flew into come stay with us in Punta Gorda, Englewood Beach.

So thank you and we're very appreciative of you doing that.

But you brought a little souvenir with you, which was a bruise on your arm that looked pretty gnarly.

And I was like, oh, what could that be?

And you said, yesterday a penguin named Patty bit me.

True.

That is a crazy travel story.

So tell me though it's probably painful, great story.

What's your all time favorite travel memory?

Okay, so first of all, I'm all better.

No more bruise.

Oh, good.

Did not break the skin.

She was, she was a little bit overzealous that day, but she was a sweet.

She was a sweet girl, I would say.

Gosh, travel memories are like one of those things that just become, like, core memories, like, they become part of you.

And it's hard to pick just one out because they all kind of start to mesh together.

But I would say one that is very vivid that I can think of is, you know, growing up in Florida, I went to Disney World a lot as a kid.

My husband did not grow up in Florida.

He had never been to Disney World when we met.

And so when we took our then oldest, our only child at the time, he was one and a half years old.

My husband was in his mid-30s.

And to see both of those boys go to Disney for the very first time, like, they had matching looks on their faces.

They were in awe of the whole space.

And I loved that because for me, I'd been going since I was a kid.

So to see these two people and very different, you know, a baby and a grown man never having seen any of this before, and they were like, vibing off of each other, like, just the biggest smiles, like, it was the best experience.

And to see anything like that, whether it's at Disney or at the beach, you know, I was just, like you said, at Englewood Beach.

We did a kayaking trip, and my son is still talking about it.

Like, he, he will not.

He's.

We're.

We're going to be traveling next year.

I'm like, well, what kind of things do you want to do when we go on that trip?

And he's like, kayaking, definitely.

We have to go kayaking.

So that really made an impact on him.

And just when you find that thing that lights up the people that you love, that makes the best travel memory, because you can go to these exotic places, but when you see their face, do that thing and you're like, oh, this is the one.

That's what I love.

So we could be anywhere.

But if I get that face, like, that's.

That's a win.

Is there any way to incorporate some kayaking at home for him now?

How's the kayaking in Raleigh?

It's actually not bad.

I mean, we're not going to see dolphins and manatees, but we do have some lakes, and I've told them that I'm like, we can get out on the lake, so we might do that sometime.

It's cold now, though.

We're.

We're having a very dreary winter week, so it won't be for a while.

We'd like some of that.

Or at least in Florida.

Larry lives in Pennsylvania.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, I travel.

I'm in Florida.

All the time though, regularly.

I'm basically from Florida now.

Yeah, especially now that it's getting colder.

Especially when it's 80 degrees here.

You could just split your time and do the snowbird thing.

That's what I am, snowbird.

There you go.

I believe your blog, as you mentioned earlier, it started as little kid things, which was more so about being a mom to young children.

Now it's transitioned to just as a four letter word.

You have a great audience.

That's why we wanted to work with you.

But your sons are now over six feet tall.

Teenage boys, and I had the pleasure of meeting one of them a couple weeks ago.

What is the biggest shift you've made in storytelling of destinations or, and.

Or how are logistics of travel and priorities different with older kids?

It's a huge shift, actually.

First of all, when they're young, the primary planning takes place around all the gear.

Like you need so much stuff for babies and toddlers.

You need cribs and strollers and car seats and pack and plays and just.

It's just unbelievable.

There's no space.

You're driving everywhere because it's too hard to take a flight with all the stuff you have to bring.

So that's a big one.

But now that they're older, a couple things I love is I can involve them in the planning.

So like I said, they can help decide what we're going to do and, and make sure that they are enjoying it.

But also it's just so much easier because all they bring is a backpack.

So they just like load up and we hit the road.

That makes it a whole lot easier.

But in terms of like sharing, I do have to be more careful, you know, when, when you're the new mom of a baby or a toddler, it really is your story and you're experiencing all these things for the first time and you don't know how to deal with the crying and you can talk about it.

And back in the early days of blogging, you know, we were all just, it was almost like a message board.

We were all just writing these heartfelt blog posts and people would come in and comment and you know, talk about, you've got this.

And it was a conversation.

Now it's become more commercial and as our kids are older, they don't want to be in the conversation, totally understandably.

So you want to respect their privacy and sort of let them insert themselves the way they want to.

So the storytelling has definitely taken a less personal spin.

And so it's more about what to do in the destinations and how to make your way around.

And there was a lot of that when they were kids, but it was a little more personal I think than it is now, just out of respect for their privacy.

But we still like to explore and see what everybody's into.

And we can share those things because now we can talk about it and be like, can I share that?

That's really cool.

You know.

Striking a balance as a.

Food and travel blogger and influencer.

It's just growing that much.

Have you been preparing for that or how would you prepare for that?

Or would you do more blogging as you're traveling as an influencer or with industry growth like that, do you feel you're prepared?

It's so interesting.

That's a good question.

Because I don't segment it the way that marketing professionals do now.

You know, it used to be you're a blogger, you're.

And there wasn't all these other platforms, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, you know, where you could be an influencer.

There was blogging and then there was YouTubing and then the others kind of came along.

But now it's like very segmented.

So it's like, oh, a TikToker or this is an influencer trip.

Oh, this is earned media.

It's very segmented.

For me, I've always been all of it.

Just by nature of coming into the industry.

When I did, I just sort of started doing everything and each thing sort of either grew or didn't.

So in terms of being prepared, I mean, first of all that's excellent news because I don't know if you are familiar with the bad side of that, which has been a very downturn in Google traffic and Pinterest and all these platforms are taking away traffic to these blogs.

But building up the other platforms that aren't necessarily reliant on Google traffic or SEO has been really helpful.

I've been doing that this year, trying to do more video and short form video and establishing a presence on TikTok and Instagram just to sort of combat the lower traffic on the Google side.

So in that way I would say I'm prepared.

But then the other thing you have to do is to just really ground yourself and decide how do I want to fit into that?

Because do I want to be all things to all people?

Probably not.

So I'm trying to establish my foundation in this newer way of doing things and decide how I want to move forward and be strategic about it.

Because, you know, again, having the teenage kids, they're both in high school, so their travel patterns are different.

We can't just leave at the drop of a hat.

And so, I mean, I love that the industry is still growing.

I hope that that is the case, and I hope I get to participate in it.

So I guess time will tell if I'm prepared or not.

I think so.

When we were in Destination, Andrea was walking around with this really cool contraption, which is a 360 camera, and she had it up on this big stick.

I was carrying it around like a flag.

I felt like a tour guide with, like, I should put a flag on top of it.

People just think I'm, you know, follow.

Me with the flag says follow me.

Yeah, I think that's pretty cool.

So kind of aligned with that.

I read a recent blog of yours which was talking about the importance of story, even in recipes, and how for so long, people told you that your story, like, we're all too familiar with going to a recipe and then having to scroll down, let me get to the ingredients.

But you're fighting back and you're saying, no, I'm going to keep my story in there.

Tell us about that.

Yeah, that was one of those posts that I had to write before I could do any other work.

It was like, I would try to sit down and do work and I would try to sit down and edit this and write that.

And I'm like, I can't do anything.

I have to get this out of my system.

Which those don't always make it to publish.

But in this case, with the advent of AI and so many recipe blogs being copied and recipes being stolen and scraped and even their photos being stolen and repurposed, and there's a lot of AI companies that are profiting off of that.

And so the pushback really isn't so much against, I'm going to put my story in a recipe.

It's more, I'm a real human person.

This is not a library, you know, this is not just an index card with a recipe on it.

It can be, if you want to just click that jump to the recipe button, you can skip all that.

But I feel like it's important for individuals who are in this space to put themselves into the content again.

And it's been about five years that I've been under the advice of, like, really, you need to Be making it more, more consumable, more snackable, less about you.

They don't need to know about your football game or your soccer practice.

You know, like just, just give them the recipe and that's fine.

But when I was at that conference, I actually had the advice.

Someone was like, well, I'm looking at your blog and I just don't see you in it.

I was like, I am going to scream.

So I just was thinking about that.

I was like, you know what?

There has to be a happy medium.

There has to be a way to do the thing that I built.

The reason I did this blog was not to become the next Martha Stewart or even that's not a great example because her name is on it, but you know, to become the next faceless food and travel magazine.

I wanted it to be personal.

I wanted someone to know, hey, this person did that thing.

I want their advice.

I want to know how that worked for them.

And so I'm just putting, putting the brakes on and saying, okay, everybody, pause.

We are still real human beings.

We can, we can do this.

We can find a way to be ourselves and still offer good information that's valuable to other that's not just centered on.

This is what I did today.

You know, it can be both.

So that was kind of the point of that, of that post is just like reminding myself too because you know, that's the name of my blog.

Just is a four letter word.

The whole point of it is to experiment and to try new things and to fail and to succeed.

And it's okay not to be perfect.

And so I was just sort of bringing that back as a reminder to myself and to anyone who felt like reading.

You know, we have a reason to be here.

We don't have to pretend that we're faceless robots.

I love that.

And what a, what a fantastic way to cultivate community.

Further too.

And then more people will feel comfortable sharing their stories and then you make a connection and then we get back to the root of what this all is about.

Being connected and staying connected, Meeting new people and dancing with fuzzy squirrels.

Yeah, that too.

Yeah, that's what this is all about.

So you travel a lot, you've been to a lot of destinations.

What is the destination that you would really like to get to that you haven't been yet?

Oh, that's a great question.

You know, there's no destination I wouldn't consider because it's a great big world and there's lots to see and you know, I can be surprised.

I think I know things and I don't.

But there is one bucket list item that I have yet to check off and it is to see the northern lights.

I would love to see the north lights.

Funny.

You're just saying because I was sitting there thinking I was going to say something funny like, would you go to Antarctica to see the penguins?

You know, my brother in law actually did that, so I would do it.

You know, I think for me, like I'm a big sky person.

I love, you know, Florida sunsets are amazing.

I grew up on those.

And I love dark skies and starry nights and sunrises and sunsets and I love going outside and watching lightning.

So I feel like I've seen all these different things, but I've never seen northern lights for real.

And I'd love to go somewhere, you know, anywhere really.

Alaska, Finland, you know, Denmark, you know.

The last couple years they were seen in the northeast, I do know that.

And I actually did get outside for one night and I couldn't see them with my eyes, but my phone could see them.

So I took the picture and I'm like, does this count?

I'm like, I don't think it counts, no.

Yeah, they were my real eyes.

They were very clear with the, with the naked eye in the northeast over the last couple weeks.

A little further north, obviously.

Yeah, I mean, anywhere works for me.

I'm not picky.

I just want to see them.

Well, visit Finland, Alaska, Iceland.

Call Andrea and get her into your destination.

She needs to see the northern lights.

Yes.

Destination Gnome, Alaska.

There you go.

So before we close out the podcast, we do like to talk about maybe a recent project or campaign that you have worked on that you're very proud of or that you want to share.

It's so hard because, like, I just love everything that I do about this job.

And honestly, I really loved my trip to Daytona, Maddie, because I not only did I get to go with a very good friend of mine who is amazing, but I got to meet you there.

And again, as someone who grew up in Clearwater, Clearwater is amazing.

There's really no reason to leave.

So I didn't get over to other parts of the state.

And so I've really been enjoying exploring Florida, places that I have known about my whole life but have not necessarily gone.

And I just loved that project.

We got to visit so many different things and the food was amazing.

And then writing about it just felt so natural and it kind of just reminded me of my roots in Florida.

And I hadn't been able to just focus on that for a very long time.

And so it was really special.

And then of course working together and the feedback off of that was really satisfying and it was just a good one.

Yes.

And Andrea, thank you by the way.

You're the best.

But you also just wrote another article about your trip, about the airport that the trip was through.

So thank you for including us in that too.

You're welcome.

I love the way airports are stepping up to give us things to do while we wait.

Yes.

Yeah, I think it's pretty cool.

I heard it was a good trip, so thank you for it.

Yes, thank you.

Well, thank you so much for joining us today.

I hope we can go on another trip together soon.

Maybe Iceland will call me too.

Get Aqua on the account.

I'll call you right away.

Yeah, sounds good.

Well, thank you for having me.

This was awesome and it's always good to talk to you.

Thank you for being with us.

If you're interested in learning more about Andrea or her blog, her past work, please go to aqua talks.com we have her bio and information there.

We also have information about Aqua and our socials listed.

So see you next time.

Thank you.

Thanks.

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