Brewery swag and merchandise will promote your brand and your business. In 2020 there were more than 8,700 breweries operating in the US. With new breweries continuing to open, the ability to get your brand noticed is becoming more competitive. Your brand may be an untapped marketing gold mine.
The good news is most beer lovers are brand loyal. Whether you’re giving away swag or selling brand merch, people want quality. Traditional promo tees have many affordable options that will get used over and over, promoting your brand. Unique swag also allows you to interact with your customers. Your brand has a story and when you interact with a customer, you tell your story and build a relationship. Interaction can take place at a pouring event like a beer festival or at your tap room.
In its infancy, some craft breweries didn’t give much thought to merch because they didn’t believe it was a valid revenue source. Now they have found that quality branded swag and merch has become a healthy revenue source and an integral part of their marketing plan. Just as there is much thought and creativity that goes into making good beer, strategic thought and effort to promote your brand with swag and merch will create brand awareness to a new audience.
In the promotional product industry there’s a term — “cost per impression” — the cost of an item divided by the number of times someone sees the item. The lower the cost, the greater the impressions generated. Drinkware, such as a pint glass or coffee mug, gets 250+ impressions per dollar invested. That’s pennies per impression.
Apparel items yield countless impressions over the lifetime of the product. It is those impressions that create brand identity and loyalty. A single tee shirt may be seen thousands of times by different people over its life. With the onset of new printing technology and methods like sublimation and direct to garment, there’s no cap on creativity. Small full color runs for your latest beer release are now much more affordable. This technology isn’t just for clothing as it’s being used to print everything from pint glasses to surf boards. With beer labels getter louder and more colorful, you now have the ability to showcase the brand on countless merch items. The cooler the art the greater the demand for the items!
Beer enthusiasts love to take pictures of beer, themselves, and themselves in beer merch. Social media and apps like Instagram and Tik-Tok will further magnify your brand’s visibility and generate awareness to hundreds, even thousands of potential new consumers. Giving one piece of merch away in a contest can generate 100s of new followers and produce new customers.
Not only is your loyal customer happy with your creative offering they’ve purchased or won, but they will also proudly wear your offering as an advertisement, helping to grow your brand.
Marty Stanchfield is President of Realm Promotions a national branded merchandise/marketing company. To start crafting your next custom merch program with some additional FREE product, click here.
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