What’s the Most Relevant Way to Sell Your Brands Right Now?

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, so your brewery and its marketing staff must be agile, nimble, and meet your audience both where they’re at and plan for where they are going.

“Whether that’s focusing on certain platforms or even beer styles, you need to know your audience and speak to them in a manner that they understand and where they are,” explained Brian Haitz of Birds Fly South Ale Project. “I think a lot of breweries put all their eggs into a single basket called Instagram … It may be the most relevant platform right now for your audience.”

However, he adds, it is a narrow approach.

“People find breweries via so many other channels and avenues that you need to have a broader view and strategy and not limit your messaging and exposure,” Haitz said. “Think things through for a moment. How do you find and try new beers and breweries? How do you search for a brewery when you’re traveling or on vacation? What types of interviews or publications do you read for trends and information? These questions are a good place to start.”

It’s not that what many breweries were doing before wasn’t working, it’s just that the world is different now and a growing brewery like Indeed in Minneapolis had to adapt to meet its consumers’ needs in a relevant and meaningful way, added Morgan Halaska, the brewery’s Marketing & Communications Manager.

“Consumers’ attention really started to focus on supporting local businesses, which gave us room to promote our beer and taprooms,” she said. “But we were also very aware that everyone, not just us, was affected by the pandemic in some way.”

READ MORE: Can Your Branding Tell the Story?

So Indeed became very intentional about how it worded social and newsletter copy, as an example.

“It’s not just about us, it never has been,” Halaska said. “Supporting the community has always been part of our mission, and this didn’t change even though everything felt uncertain in terms of our business.”

For three can releases, which were supposed to be draft-only in the spring of 2020, Indeed instead featured QR codes on the labels that directed guests to tip its beertenders and a local music trust. The brewery also brought back the Indeed We Can charitable initiative that they had suspended during the first couple of months of the shutdown.

The way Stoup sells its brand has primarily shifted due to pandemic forces. Co-owner Lara Zahaba said heading into the pandemic, the Seattle-based facility was a draft brewery, but overnight, all avenues for sales were eliminated.

“At first we were trying to get beer into crowlers for to-go sales as quickly as we could but we rapidly moved into canning and even purchased our own canning line last summer,” she said. “This allowed us to sell to grocery stores which were sales we hadn’t had before 2020.

“Having that wholesale outlet really sustained us this year.”

And through a hard winter of exclusively outdoor seating at the taproom, Stoup implemented a “Puddle-Pints” loyalty program that rewarded consumers for every fourth punch on a two-month punch card to help draft sales continue a tad as well.

Stoup has tried its best as a staff to make sure customers understand how grateful they are for them by highlighting their dedication on social media.

Photo courtesy Birds Fly South Ale Project

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