Mastering the Art of Self-Promotion

Marketing lessons from Julia Child

Fine, I’ll say it. When people ask me what my favorite books are, I’m not being entirely honest when I answer. I normally rattle off some works of non-fiction: Atomic Habits, Start with Why, Quiet, Dream First Details Later, and The Tipping Point to name a few. When I’m asked who my favorite author is, I’ll always answer with David Sedaris (I’ve read all of his books). But, these my friends, are only half truths. The full truth? My favorite books are cookbooks. And, one of my favorite cookbook authors is Julia Child. 

Why am I telling you this? I’m tired of acting like the only experts on marketing are the people who study and write about it. The greatest experts on marketing are the people who do it. And Julia? She was a master. 

Julia wanted to help the “servantless American cook.” That meant she had to embrace getting the word out about her vision (to bring French food to American kitchens), her project (Mastering the Art of French Cooking), and her mission (to, above all, have a good time).

Alex Prud’homme tells us at the beginning of Julia’s memoir, My Life in France: “When I asked her what she remembered about Paris in the 1950s, she recalled that she had learned to cook everything from snails to wild boar at the Cordon Bleu; that marketing in France had taught her the value of “les human relations.”” 

I felt a warm rush of joy wash over my body like a breeze on a hot summer day when I read that marketing in France was something that she remembered of her time in Paris. Julia wasn’t just learning how to cook and write for herself. She wanted to share it with others. 

Here are three things Julia had in her marketing recipe.

Take the Time to Create High Quality Content

It took Julia and her partners, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, nine years to write Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Nine years. We live in the world of social media, blogging, and other forms of digital communication that come and go in nine seconds (maybe that’s for the best, since some content seems like it was made in nine seconds).

I remember Julia’s book in my household growing up. It mostly collected dust because my parents weren’t avid cooks, but I always liked flipping through it, reading the recipe titles and trying to make sense of the jumble of French terms like beurre montpellier and oeufs mollets. I’d force my ten-year-old tongue to try to say the words. In my head I was speaking fluent French, but out loud I sounded like Joey on Friends when he was “speaking French” for an audition: “ble blah blu de ble blah.” Looking over at my own copy of her cookbook on my desk as I type, I’m inspired by Julia’s dedication to her writing, reminding myself that it’s okay for me to take my time. 

But, would her approach work now? Absolutely. Someone who’s on fire with Julia’s marketing recipe today is YouTube creator, Alex (@FrenchGuyCooking). He creates in-depth series about specific topics like ramen, croissants, and meatballs. His content is educational, thoughtful, and high-quality. Just like Julia, he’s taking his time, and he’s becoming an expert so he can help his audience learn something new. And, he’s been at it for ten years. One more than Julia for her book. It’s paying off – he has over 2 million subscribers. 

Great content doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. And iteration. There are millions of people following the latest silly trend on any given social media platform, but there are few who are doing something memorable. I’m aiming for memorable, so I’m settling into the idea that what I create will take time and that’s not only okay, it’s preferred. 

Courageously Build An Authentic Personal Brand

Julia’s unedited cooking show, complete with occasional blunders, made her relatable and approachable. Abandoning perfection made room for her authenticity, and she built trust and a strong relationship with her audience because of it. A clear marketing lesson if I’ve ever seen one.

Julia’s authenticity and approachability shine when she’s demonstrating how to flip potatoes. She reminds us, “When you flip anything you just have to have the courage of your convictions.” Then, she moves to flip the mass of potatoes in the pan and they plop over the stove like drops of honey in hot tea. Then, as though she’s cooking among friends, she tells us, “You can always pick it up, and if you’re alone in the kitchen, who is going to see? The only way you learn how to flip things is just to flip them.”  Her willingness to be imperfect and make mistakes in public made her a master marketer. 

She was one of the earliest examples in my life of what it meant to build a personal brand. Her name is synonymous with bringing French cuisine to the kitchens of America. Her book was but one part of her brand. Her show, another. But, she, the real Julia, is who everyone came to love. 

Julia has taught me that being authentic is the path to success and perfectionism can stay plopped on the stove.

Leverage Your Network 

When it came to launching Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the United States, Julia, her partner Simone (Simca) Beck, and her husband, Paul Child, needed to figure out how to find buyers. That meant a book tour. Back then, book tours weren’t as popular as they are now, and only the most prolific writers went on them, which means they were unheard of for cookbook writers. 

In the introduction to the 40th anniversary edition of Mastering, Julia shares, “I don’t know how we had the chutzpah, but off we went, Simca and Paul and I. We had announced to our friends that we were coming and asked them to provide us with opportunities.” 

Because Julia was unabashedly herself and she built a strong personal brand, she was also able to build a network. She leveraged that network for this tour. Her love of food attracted others who loved it as well. And, her warm, friendly, honest personality helped her make good friends. She had grown close to James Beard, a well-known name then and now, and he helped her attract audiences in New York. That won her a stunning review from Craig Claiborne, then the food editor of The New York Times, and an appearance on the Today show. It was after this tour that she landed on Boston Public Television with her show The French Chef. Serendipity at its finest. 

I’ve taken Julia’s lead on leveraging my network, and I can tell you from experience, it works. The clients I’m working with today as a marketing consultant and coach have all come my way through my network. All of them. Marketing isn’t just about getting ourselves on social media, finding our way to people’s inboxes, and publishing content for the world to see. It’s also about making connections with the people we already know and asking them to support us. There are fewer ways to make a better connection with a stranger than to be introduced by a mutual acquaintance. 

I’m not sure people think of a marketing master when they think of Julia Child. But, I definitely do. Her willingness to take the time to create high quality content, build an authentic personal brand, and create a network of friends and colleagues who wanted to help her succeed make her a genius of self-promotion. That she taught me that I can put copious amounts of butter on nearly anything is an added bonus. Bon appetit!