Meet Steve Wendling
We’re excited to introduce Steve Wendling as the newest member of our Leadership Team. Steve brings over two decades of performance media and measurement experience across nearly every category, including B2C, B2B and DTC, to his new role. He’s led high-performing teams and built integrated strategies that resulted in measurable outcomes for clients like Orangetheory, Delta, General Mills, and 3M. In his spare time, Steve enjoys traveling (Italy and Spain are his next destinations) and gravel biking.
So, what does 25+ years in media teach you? We sat down with Steve to talk about everything from his key learnings and paid media strategy to the finer points of Minnesota cuisine.
What made Hot Dish the right next move for you?
“Agencies that have a niche are always going to do well,” Steve says. “What I appreciate about Hot Dish is we’re experts in franchise marketing and have the experience and industry recognition to prove it. We’ve been around for almost 30 years, which tells me something is going right. We know who we are, we’re really good at it, and we’re the leader.”
What do you love most about working in media?
“Solving the client’s problems. Making sure I have a really strong understanding of what they’re trying to accomplish and then coming up with a solution,” Steve says.
What are some of your key learnings that you’re excited to bring to this role?
“Outcome-based advertising is a hot topic, but it’s something I’ve always felt we should be doing,” says Steve. “Now that marketing tech is getting better, you can start to track tactics and connect client CRM data back to paid media and really optimize at each point of the customer journey, not just the outcome. So, if it’s awareness, if it’s conversion, you can use those signals to deliver the right message at the right time.”
After so many years in media, what’s one thing that hasn’t changed?
“The fundamentals of being rooted in the client’s business goals,” says Steve. “If you understand their business goals, then you understand what you might have to do from a media perspective. It’s being able to step outside of your paid media role and put your client hat on.”
What excites you about where paid media is heading?
“There’s always change,” Steve says. “AI is creating incredible change across everything we’re doing. It lets us be more efficient in our work by automating day-to-day tasks, so we have more time for strategic thinking.”
What opportunities do you see specifically for franchise brands?
“National and local media are always difficult to manage efficiently and effectively for franchise brands,” Steve says. “AI tools are making this easier.”
What do you wish more franchise brands understood about paid media strategy?
“A lot of franchise brands just want leads,” Steve says. “What’s hard is that you need to build brand awareness to keep people moving through the funnel. You need to have longer-term thinking. Building a brand takes time, and we need the patience to let the brand building work. If you don’t do it, your leads will eventually slow down and get more expensive.”
What’s something you’ve learned from a former colleague or boss that’s stuck with you?
“The importance of being a mentor,” says Steve. “When I started, I had an incredible mentor who really took the time to explain how to do things and teach me. Being good at strategy was an outcome of that.”
Hot Take: What’s something Minnesotans love but you aren’t into?
“Lutefisk,” Steve says a little too quickly. “I grew up in Iowa and lutefisk is not a thing there. I didn’t even really know about it until I got here. We visited my wife’s relatives for Christmas one year and it was on the buffet. I didn’t want to offend them, so I took a big slab of it. When my wife sat down, she didn’t have any on her plate. When I asked why, she looked at me and said, ‘Because it’s gross.’”
Uff da, Steve. Stick to the walleye next time.
Welcome to our team! We’re excited to see what you bring to the Hot Dish table.
All about Hot Dish
Hot Dish Advertising is a full-service franchise marketing agency headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We’ve been ranked a top franchise supplier by Entrepreneur magazine for nine consecutive years, including four #1 in category rankings. We’re built for franchise brands, with nearly three decades of industry experience. Through our award-winning FranFocused™ + BrandFocused strategy, we drive impactful results and ignite success for our clients.
