Yes, we all know that a little liquid courage goes a long way in helping us personally stand out in the crowd (at one point we’ve all been amazing dancers and singers after one too many). But how does liquid courage market itself and find a place on the overcrowded shelves and taproom bars of the country.
The Minn Post recently shared an article about how the Twin Cities has reached the peak of craft beer. (Say it isn’t so). As a Wisconsin resident – I surely would have thought we had more craft brews in the beer brewing state, but apparently the hipsters of the neighboring Midwest state of Minnesota continue to craft more than their share of hoppy goodness.
As the article proclaims, there are the old standby’s like Summit Brewing that will stand the test of time, (we had the pleasure of working with them for a Food Truck Friday event), and newcomers like 56 Brewing that are forced to carve out unique niche spaces to find success.
What the newcomers show us is that a good marketing plan rooted in the fundamentals of branding, audience, location and values are a necessity. These things do not guarantee success, but they establish a framework that moves past the idea of “I like beer so I decided to brew it” or “if you build it they will come.” It’s an expensive proposition to count on that as your business plan.
What 56 Brewery does uniquely: They are about community. They have built their business around the idea of a “Community Supported Brewery” and they are proud to tout that they are the 1st CSB in Minnesota. This idea builds around trends for younger demographics that have grown up under the social, crowd sourced model. Together they are growing something. This model allows for membership based selling that provides upfront revenue and guarantees continued customer engagement and opportunities to build brand. 56 also promotes green living through reclaiming the area around their brewery and beer delivery via bike. Yep, it’s the whole hipster package.
What 56 Brewery does uniquely: they are about community. They have built their business around the idea of a “Community Supported Brewery” and they are proud to tout that they are the 1st CSB in Minnesota.This idea builds around trends for younger demographics that have grown up under the social, crowd sourced model.Together they are growing something. This model allows for membership based selling that provides upfront revenue and guarantees continued customer engagement and opportunities to build brand.56 also promotes green living through reclaiming the area around their brewery and beer delivery via bike.Yep, it’s the whole hipster package.
In marketing, companies often want to believe that their customer is everyone. There is a fear that if you don’t market to everyone, you miss out on someone. The problem is, there is not enough money in the world to market to everyone and such an approach almost always guarantees failure because your have really marketed to no one.
Breweries aren’t the only beverage companies carving out a niche in the beverage space. The wine industry is another industry being reshaped by changing demographics. Expensive, location based and aged wines have little appeal to the new millineal. Today’s shelves are crowded with row after row of bottles that are nearly indiscernible and offer little information about what makes it different, other than a great label, snarky name or right price point.
But don’t despair. Wine makers are getting into the fray and mixing things up making it clear who their targets are and Millenials are happy to accept. That’s obvious by the growth of Barefoot Wines or the box wine trend of Black Box and Bota Box. Recently – I’ve also noticed some well-placed wine advertising in my Facebook feed.I can’t tell you I remember the brand, but it was distinctly marketed under the idea of a lower calorie wine for the fitness enthusiast. And of course Grip is another wine meant to capture a very specific outdoor enthusiast ready to celebrate their latest outdoor accomplishment whether it was great waves, an epic ride or the view from the top after a long hike.
Audiences are more diverse and distinct than ever and they want products that fit their lifestyles. What are you doing to give them the products they want – in the ways they consume them? Are you making it clear that you’re the one for them?
Written by Melinda Goodman
Full Tilt Marketing Managing Partner
Melinda@FullTiltMarketing.net
