The ultimate goal of working toward branding your brewery according to Moksa Brewing‘s Derek Gallanosa is to become a company that retains loyal customers and consistently represents your brand.
”So no matter what you come out with, they’re in line,” he said to a group during a session on building your brewery’s brand at the 2022 Craft Brewers Conference in Minneapolis recently. “They haven’t tasted it, but they want to try it because it’s something new. Get those people that will blindly buy your beers before they even sample it.”
Moksa opened in 2017 in the Sacramento area and has built a following off its branding and Gallanosa, who is the brewery’s Head Brewer and Marketing Manager shared his insights on what works for them.
”Our job is to get people into our tap rooms, talking to our bartenders that get the best training and therefore generate the most money for not only business, but tips for the front of house staff which would help with [staff] retention,” he explained saying that building regulars which represent you and pay you to buy a shirt to represent you can be a tremendous marketing opportunity.
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“They’re walking billboards,” he said of fans of your brand. “Those are the best people to have. And that will give you the opportunity by having people come back into the taproom.”
Building your brewery culture coupled with identifying who your market is can be two-thirds of your branding, he said. Applying it can be the key.
Over time, factors like design, symbols, words, and culture become associated with the level of credibility, quality, and satisfaction in the customers’ minds, he pointed out.
“Your brewery’s branding should consist of these,” he said. “It’s your name, which hopefully it’s distinct, it’s different. It doesn’t overlap when you type it into a search engine. It’s through your logo: make it distinct and attention-grabbing. Not too overly complicated, but bold and simple enough to stand out.
“And have a tagline or catchphrase. For us, we don’t really have one. For Moksa a loose translation is enlightenment, freedom, or finding our own paths. So we kind of take those and create our beers… not necessarily abiding by style guidelines, but what we feel customers like and what we would want to drink.”
Even things like a shape can be an identifier for your brand, he noted.
“Your bottles, your labels, your glassware …are they just the square or rectangular ones that you slap on with the colors that you use. Are they similar? Are they all over the place? Are they unique artwork? Do they know the shapes and colors,” he asked. “You want to think of having some organization and consistency throughout all of these.
“[You want] people to recognize you from six feet away. Can they recognize your cans, or bottles, or your promo posters, and say ‘I know that brand, let me dig further into it, or let me be interested in trying this product.'”
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