4 Ways to Elevate Your Craft Beer Branding

The craft brewing marketplace has exploded in popularity and options in recent years, becoming a highly competitive industry. Year over year, we're seeing steady growth in market size within the Canadian craft beer industry as more microbreweries enter the market. Craft brewers need to create a unique brand identity that captures the attention of beer lovers to stand out from the crowd.

With robust and recognizable craft beer branding, you can set yourself apart from other brewers and help build customer loyalty. In this post, we'll look at some branding tips on how to differentiate your craft beer branding so you maintain and grow your beer sales.

So, what do we mean by craft beer branding?

Branding, in marketing terms, refers to creating a recognizable brand identity. Branding includes creating a name, logo, visual design, and brand voice for your business. When done well, branding ensures that customers immediately think of you when they see your product or company. For example, when you think of a popular brand logo like McDonald's golden arches, you immediately associate it with the fast food giant.

While creating a brand identity is vital to your business success, we're going beyond that to look at ways to use your established branding to take actionable steps to:

• Stand out from competitors in this crowded market,

• Maintain or grow your revenue,

• Leave a lasting impression with customers. 

Let's dive into it!

1. Leverage the power of storytelling

One of the most effective ways to differentiate your craft brewery is by leveraging the power of storytelling. People love stories, and telling yours can be a great way to build an emotional connection with your audience.

Craft beer fans are passionate about their favourite drinks and want to know more about the brewers behind them. Use this opportunity to share stories about your brewery, like why you brew the flavours you do or an intro into your various styles of beer, the people who work there, and some history. These stories will help grab your audience's attention and make them more likely to choose your beer over others because you've piqued their interest. 

To get started, consider creating a fun video telling the story of how and when you founded your brewery, or write a series of blog posts about the people making the beer. These are just two ideas, but the possibilities are endless! What's important here is to think outside the box and have some fun with the process! The more creative you get with your storytelling, the better because your mission, message, and values are more likely to stand out.

2. Take advantage of digital marketing

These days, having a solid digital presence is more important than ever. Digital marketing is one of the best ways to differentiate your craft beer brand and reach a wide audience of potential customers.

One effective strategy is to create content that speaks directly to your target market. Focus on topics that craft beer fans are interested in, like tips for beer tastings, pairing beer with food and the best places to buy craft beer. Share this content on your active social media channels or write blog posts and use email campaigns to share them.

Social media is also a great place to showcase your brand identity, connect with beer lovers, and build relationships with them. Engage with your audience on a personal level by responding to their posts and liking their comments. Remember to keep your brand voice, how your brand 'sounds' when communicating across digital and traditional channels, in mind when engaging with your online community. You want your voice to sound consistent across all social media channels.

Other social strategies include:

• Running contests and giveaways.

• Hosting a Q&A session on Instagram Live.

• Creating interactive content to increase your brand visibility in the craft beer market.

You can also explore advertising on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube to reach more potential customers.

By taking advantage of digital marketing strategies, you can reach an even larger number of craft beer fans and differentiate your brand from others in the industry. Check our post on social media best practices to help you get started.

3. Don’t forget offline channels

In addition to digital marketing, remember to leverage traditional offline channels for your craft beer branding efforts. This approach includes events like attending beer festivals, hosting taproom events and tastings, and giving away swag with your logo.

These activities are great for connecting with customers directly and showing them you care about their experience. In-person events also provide an opportunity to get real-time feedback, which is valuable for improving your craft beer brand.

It's also important to remember that even though digital marketing is more popular, offline channels are still an effective way to differentiate your craft beer brand and reach potential customers.

This opportunity, also known as experiential marketing, uses interactive and engaging in-person events to help introduce your product's benefits to customers. For example, instead of you saying your beer offers unique flavours that pair well with certain foods, let customers taste a few selections and sample some appetizers that pair well. The result is increased customer loyalty (which is extremely important as overall beer sales decline), higher referral rates, and endless content opportunities.

4. Measure, analyze, and improve your brand

The final branding tip to help you stay ahead of the competition and ensure that your craft beer brand stands out, is to measure and analyze the success of your branding efforts. This approach means tracking metrics like website traffic whether you've redesigned it or not, engagement rates if you're testing a new brand voice, conversion rates of social, ad, and in-person campaigns, customer loyalty, and more.

Once you've compiled enough data to make informed decisions, you can look for ways to improve how you use your craft beer branding. These improvements can include making changes to the design of your logo, tweaking the content you post on social media, or experimenting with new digital marketing strategies.

The key is to never stop tweaking and testing until you find what works best for your brand. As long as you measure, analyze, and make improvements as needed, you'll stay one step ahead of the competition and ensure that more people see your craft beer brand.

Take control of your craft beer branding

By leveraging targeted branding tips and strategies, you can create an engaging brand experience that sets you apart from the competition. From digital campaigns like email and social media marketing to in-person events, there are countless ways to get your craft beer brand out in front of people. Figure out what works for you and resonates with your audience, and start taking control of your craft beer branding today!

If you need help with any of the strategies you choose, don't hesitate to contact us for help.