Marketing Moves That Paid Off
Stepping out of your brewery’s comfort zone to do something can be a bit of a challenge. It can be experimenting with a hop, putting a beer style that you have a passion for on tap, or even creating a promotion that you aren’t quite sure of that will work.
Yet, it did work and your brewery came out of it with a positive thought about the journey.
For Short’s Brewing, the thought of delivering beer to consumer’s homes seemed it would be a logistical nightmare.
“And we weren’t sure if the demand was there,” added Christa Brenner, the Bellaire, Michigan brewery’s Creative & Marketing Manager.
Yet, on the weekend Short’s debuted in Metro Detroit it sold over $20,000 of product.
For Rob Day, he told Brewer that he and the team at Jack’s Abby/Springdale had a hard time believing in brand-owned immersive experiences for a long time.
Outside of giving a consumer a well-crafted experience in their own brewery was doable, but after honing in on a few key factors Day, the Framingham, Massachusetts brewery’s Senior Director of Marketing found them to be extremely effective tools in marketing the brand.
Just like real estate, where you set your mark on having an immersive experience is location, location, location.
“To throw an impactful branded experience in New York City, you better have deep pockets,” Day said. “We do not.
”However, if you put that same effort and smaller dollars into Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, you’ll see real results in connections, brand building, and ultimately sales.”
Another new venture that is starting to pay off for Short’s is digital advertising.
“We’ve relied on word-of-mouth for a long time,” Brenner said, but the brewery is now testing out some digital opportunities and she said that they are able to prove a very strong ROI in markets with less awareness of our brand.
