In a saturated craft beer industry, it’s more important than ever for craft brewers to have an engaging beer brand. After all, 97 breweries closed their doors last year, nearly double the number that closed in 2014.
The best protection for your business is building a beer brand that consumers are loyal to. If your beer branding starts and ends at your bottle and tap design, you’re not doing enough. To build a brand people love, you need to understand and align with your fans’ values.
Here’s how to rethink your craft beer branding to build loyalty among fans:
1. Determine your beer brand’s message
Do you know much about your target market? Yes, they like beer. But what else differentiates them as an audience?
“Focus on creating the brand first, and know your target audience,” says Curt Foreman of Brew Fest Partners. Your target audience is likely made up of current buyers of your beer, and event-goers in your local area.
Once you’ve identified your audience, you need to establish a brand message — or the value your beer business provides — that will resonate with them. “Everything you do should be based on building the brand message,” Foreman says. If you don’t have a strong brand, it will be nearly impossible to win the loyalty of beer drinkers.
Your brand will be even more powerful if it’s connected to your fans’ passions beyond beer. “You need to create a branded event that exudes exactly what the attendee is excited to support,” Foreman says. “I call it the brand bait.” With a little insight, you can position your brewery and beer events around what fans hold dear, be it a cause they believe in or an experience they can’t get anywhere else.
2. Align your beer branding with local causes
To make the biggest impact, align your beer branding strategy with local causes. 75% of Millennials say it’s important to them that the brands they support give back to society instead of just making a profit.
“For us to be an established brand in the community, we feel very strongly about taking our product and using it to help further the missions of various local organizations,” says Colleen Fredericks, who manages partnerships and community engagement at Fort Point Beer Company.
There are many options for breweries that want to partner with local causes. Fort Point Beer Company, for instance, supports local charities in several ways: donating to charity, sponsoring cleanup days, participating in fundraisers, and bringing awareness to important organizations like national parks.
This branding strategy is especially effective if you participate in local events. Donating your beer to a local fundraiser can have a huge impact on your brand’s word-of-mouth promotion. In fact, recent Eventbrite research shows that 99% of beer event attendees will recommend participating beer brands to a friend later on.
“When we think about our brand having staying power, we want to establish ourselves as a pillar of the San Francisco community,” Fredericks says. “Nonprofit organizations often have never worked with a beer company, but they’re looking to attract younger members. There’s an opportunity for beer brands to help organizations raise money and awareness, all while getting people to try beer in fun, unexpected settings.”
3. Don’t underestimate the (selling) power of education
Beer drinkers love to learn about what’s in their brew. After all, there are 1.2 million homebrewers in the U.S. — they’re naturally interested in your process. In fact, Eventbrite found 53% of surveyed festival attendees attend a beer festival to learn something new from an expert — more than attendees at any other type of festival.
Make your beer brand stand out by taking advantage of this desire to learn. Have brewers in your taproom and at events to educate everyone about their drinks. Offer loyal brewery fans exclusive access to speak with brewers or see how the beer is made behind-the-scenes.
“Every event we take place in is an opportunity to have a member of our brewery staff onsite pouring beer. It’s a really nice way to hear from the brewers directly,” says Fredericks. “All of our events have an educational component to them, which makes for more engaged and informed consumers in our own community.”
For more tips on how to differentiate your brewery or beer festival in a saturated craft beer industry, check out Beer Industry Trends: How to Differentiate Your Brewery or Beer Fest.
