Once a month on Sunday afternoons when my mom was in the mood to take a break from cooking treat us to a restaurant meal, we would dine at Old Country Buffet. 

I always looked forward to this experience because it was the one time my mom would encourage my tendency to have eyes bigger than my stomach. 

Plus, my underdeveloped palate deceived me into believing this food was actually good.

(To be fair, Old Country Buffet is pretty fancy for southeastern WI, where I grew up.)

My last trip to Old Country Buffet was in November 2010. My then-fiancé and I took my mom out to lunch following a morning of wedding planning errands.

My now-husband is 6’4 and surprisingly lean considering he has a bottomless pit in place of a stomach. His Scandinavian ancestors invented the smörgåsboard, so it seems appropriate that he eats enough food in a day to feed 10 regular folk.

 Since he grew up in a large family where everyone had metabolisms as fast as his, he learned from an early age that picky eaters go hungry. 

He dove into the buffet fare with abandon, putting away 5 plates before we dragged him away from the restaurant.

I, on the other hand, have a metabolism that’s t h i s s l o w and a tendency to hold onto calories.

As I go deeper into my 30s, I realize that a moment on the lips could very well mean a lifetime on the hips.

If I want to continue fitting into my clothes, pickiness is a necessity for me.

And I have to be especially careful about what I choose to consume when I’m spoiled for choice.

And there are a whole lotta screens.

So how in the world can you ensure that your ideal audience develops a taste for what you’re serving when:

→27 million pieces of digital content are published daily

→New media continues to evolve at a breakneck pace

→Attention spans have shrunk to an alarmingly low level

Easy. You tell your stories, over and over again.