Marketing Beer, or How not to market beer

• Your mission. Why do you want to start a brewery? How do you want to do things differently? What’s your story and what things will you never compromise on?
• Your market. Who are the big craft beer players in the geographic area you plan on targeting? Are there any gaps in terms of beer styles or brand strategy that you can exploit? Atlanta was lacking a cosmopolitan-feeling microbrewery, which is where we thought our strengths were.
• Your consumer. Newsflash: you aren’t the first craft brewery to open its doors. And craft beer drinkers are notoriously fickle, though not necessarily in a bad way. Most craft beer drinkers are different from mainstream beer drinkers in that they don’t stick to a particular brand. However, they may gravitate towards certain brands. To make sure that one of these brands is yours, you have to stand for something. Think about your target consumer as a literal target. You need to choose a bullseye. Something narrow and focused. It doesn’t have to say everything about your brand, but it does have to say something. Once you stand for something, people will automatically start attributing other things to you, thus widening your target and your appeal.

As the “craft beer” scene emerges from the shadows, become belle du jour, combined with the demise of marketing budgets in the big industrial brewing companies, there is going to be transition. There will be sharks circling looking for new flesh.  I see big accidents on the horizon.

We’ve been marketing beer since the dark ages, the nature of the product makes it game for “beer by numbers”.

It may seem attractive to growing brewing businesses to bring people in with experience of big brand beer. But, heed this: they could be dealing with soap bars, carpet or shoes – treating our beloved beverage in the same fashion.

Rare are those that do genuinely understand the needs of craft brewing and how the market place functions.

Here in this is the death of the marketeer.

In fact, here’s a wake up call to those considering or currently in the process of moving churches: you will never know as much as the consumer.

This consumer is smarter than you, travels more than you, isn’t stuck “passionate” about a single “brand”, they are more beer literate than you will ever be, they drink what they want, not because you told them too. Shock, they might actually homebrew, aka, know how beer is made. Triple filtered, only x’number of ingredients, doesn’t wash. They know more about beer than you ever will. They live within a group of people who share information faster than any metrics apart from being involved can deal with. They have different heroes to you. They give a fuck, because they love it, absolutely. They live, breath and love good beer from good and great brewers. Oh, yeah, um, they have taste. They smell a rat, from 100yrds. They will debunk your ideas faster than you can drop the word, brand.

I am very proud of the actions and passions of every beer blogger, CAMRA member, SIBA and the brewers who push and pull to do their best for beer – long may these the bastions of beer!

So, dear marketeer, please leave, go back to soap bars, faux orange juice or what ever construct commodity you want to foist on to unsuspecting public through big box grocers. You won’t look like a chimp in a cheap suit.

My biggest fear for beer in the next 10 years, is some 120+IQ type trying to “commoditize” craft beer and getting away with it. Yes, we really need to give great value and maintain the principles of what we set out to do, make great beer.

Thus, I am weary of defining what “craft beer” is.

The opportunity for the brewer to effect the destiny of their brand is never been better – the access to social media, you know, you’re here reading this, is amazing. use it. Or lose it.

Communicate.