Yesterday I met with a restaurateur who wants to hire a publicist because their burger is better than DMK and Kuma's and yet, and yet — they don't get press. 

Today, I meet with a young chef who is trying to get a new restaurant together and every time I ask him about what makes his (insert anything from wine dinner to drinks menu to food) stand out, he talks about how it's better than everyone else's.

And really, I wish everyone would stop basing their damn marketing strategy on the idea of good, better, best. Because really, that's an opinion — yours — and unless you are happy just making you happy, it does not marketing make.

So, what do you base it on?  Differentiation. If you do that, your customers will decide for themselves you are best. And that's the best kind of marketing strategy.

So, how's that work?

For the burger shop: You can go anywhere from styles of burgers to burger toppings to sustainable/locally raised meat to celebrity chef burgers. Hell, you could go with customer DJs or karaoke or vegan burgers or anything else. The idea is to be the only burger joint in the city that has the certain mix of whatever the hell you think up.

For the young chef: Without giving it away, we are working on packaging his unique background to communicate his approach to food and eliciting the facts about design and service that deliver an experience diners can't find anywhere else.

We're doing anything but saying "the food is better," "the experience is better," or the "mixologist is more talented."

Are there some people who don't want what you deliver? Sure. That's okay, you can't please everyone. The customers who are looking for what you deliver will, themselves, proclaim you are the best. They'll tell their friends. And that is what you want.

Need another example?  Well, here's my competitive advantage: I am the only restaurant PR shop in the country that has custom-built software that collects, houses and distributes press information.

In the age of the Internet, that's a powerful message that leads any potential customer to spontaneously understand that I am the only restaurant publicist who understands the Internet, is forward-thinking and isn't bogged down in doing things the old-fashioned way.

It means that instead of spending a whole meeting describing why I am better, which is what every other publicist has to do, I spend a few minutes describing my very unique product — and the potential client spends the rest of the time describing why I am better than everyone else.

Are there people who resist change? Sure. And I don't worry about them because they aren't ready and that's okay by me. There are enough happy clients who proclaim I am the best. They tell their friends. And that is what I want.