Carlos Eduardo Medeiros
Image Credit: Julia Zambello
Julia Zambello has played a central role in reshaping the marketing framework of Galpão Gaucho, a U.S.-based Brazilian steakhouse chain, by introducing structured content strategies, data-informed campaign execution, and cross-channel alignment. Her approach integrates brand positioning with tactical execution, significantly improving visibility, customer engagement, and operational efficiency across the company’s marketing channels.
Since joining Galpão Gaúcho, Zambello has worked with a brand awareness–focused strategy, designed to drive recognition of both new and existing restaurant locations, seasonal promotions, and key menu launches (e.g., The Golden Steak™️). This strategy evolved to incorporate media asset development, particularly high-quality photography and video, forming the core of a standardized marketing content pipeline used across paid media, PR, social media, website, and internal communications.
Zambello ensured that the marketing strategy aligns with business priorities by maintaining communication between corporate stakeholders and the marketing team. She emphasized a shared understanding of business cycles, sales objectives, and brand positioning. This approach enabled adaptable campaign planning based on business phase, customer behavior trends, and product focus on a quarterly basis.
Image Credit: Julia Zambello
Content Development and Campaign Execution
A core tactical development under Zambello’s leadership was the creation of persona-driven photoshoots at each Galpão Gaucho location. These photo/video assets were tailored to reflect both the demographics of current patrons and aspirational customers. By localizing content with defined personas and contextual visual storytelling, Zambello increased content relevance, engagement, and versatility across marketing functions.
Zambello led the development and execution of a high-impact content campaign that drove major growth across Galpão Gaucho’s digital platforms. After launching the new photoshoot assets she directed, Galpão Gaucho’s website reached 80,000 monthly sessions. The updated visuals became key to both brand storytelling and media engagement.
A single Facebook campaign surpassed 10 million impressions, Instagram profile views rose to 200,000 per month, and localized short-form video content significantly improved performance on TikTok and Google Ads.
To maximize efficiency, Zambello designed photo and video content to be reused across multiple campaigns. This approach increased asset ROI and reduced production time, enabling the launch of high-performing campaigns more quickly. Her strategic direction positioned Galpão Gaucho for long-term digital growth, yielding clear and trackable results across every major channel.
Under Zambello’s direction, the brand adopted a more strategic and consistent approach to content planning across all platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Yelp Connect, and email marketing.
She implemented rolling three-month content calendars for social media, alongside a six-month timeline for coordinating PR assets, giving each campaign a clear runway and cohesive narrative arc. Recognizing the impact of video, Zambello prioritized short-form formats, especially on TikTok and Instagram Reels, based on consistently higher engagement and completion rates. These changes promote platform-specific performance gains while enabling strategic resource allocation.
Image Credit: Julia Zambello
Community Building and Customer Retention
In parallel with brand awareness efforts, Zambello contributed to customer retention and brand community development by promoting loyalty initiatives such as the Insider’s Club, offering exclusive deals, and early access to events.
Additional tactics for long-term engagement included:
- Consistent use of branding elements across all digital touchpoints.
- Structured management of customer feedback across platforms, with tiered escalation processes for more complex cases.
- Use of narrative and experiential elements in media to reinforce Galpão Gaucho’s core identity as a premium dining destination.
To keep the brand competitive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape, Zambello prioritized trend testing and data-driven experimentation, introducing format testing, refining creative tone, and partnering with influencers to boost reach and lower CAC through earned media. She also aligned content strategy with performance analytics, using platform-native and internal tools to guide campaign decisions in close collaboration with internal stakeholders.
The team monitored a range of performance metrics to track impact across platforms. These included engagement rates by post and video, ad impressions and click-through rates, and a breakdown of follower growth from organic versus paid efforts.
Website traffic was measured through session volume and dwell time, offering insights into content quality and audience retention. Julia also introduced asset utilization tracking to ensure that photo and video content was being repurposed effectively across campaigns.
Email marketing performance was closely reviewed as well, with open rates, click-through rates, and conversions helping refine messaging and timing strategies.
Marketing budget allocation decisions were directly influenced by these metrics, particularly video performance data, which determined monthly and quarterly spend distribution across campaigns.
Conclusion
Julia Zambello’s structured and data-informed marketing approach at Galpão Gaucho showcases how creative strategy, operational discipline, and content optimization can converge to deliver measurable brand impact. By systematizing content production, leveraging audience analytics, and fostering collaboration between marketing and executive teams, she has established a scalable model with proven results in her field.