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Hoptown Handles American Made Tap Handles
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MARKETING

A Practical Guide to Staying on Brand

Over time and as businesses grow it can be difficult to maintain the brand you are known for. When your brewery started it was likely you and a handful of friends who ended up being your first employees. Early on the group is small, passion runs strong, and your brand is easy - it’s you.

 

Some of you may have invested in a brand consultant to work through and document your brand, your mission, vision, and values. I’ve spent more than my fair share of time in brand workshops and I think they are a valuable exercise to gain consensus for the handful who participate. The mission, vision, and values are framed or, better yet painted, on the wall and too often the brand work ends there.

 

As time goes, responsibilities and distractions grow. It can be difficult to know if you are keeping to your brand. It’s easy to be overrun by donation opportunities: wouldn’t it be helpful to short list them by which ones add to your brand? You’re looking to add some new gear to your store: what items could you sell which add to your brand? You’re building out a new patio: what fixtures could add to your brand experience?

 

A tool I suggest is to boil your brand down to 2 or 3 words, and “quality” can’t be one on them - good beer is assumed. For example: Music, Funky, Colorado. It’s easy to remember a few words and when you’re stuck in indecision, just think, does this work with “_______, _______, or _______?”


Even more useful is for people outside the core team to keep your 3 words in their mind. This allows you to delegate and trust things will get done on brand. And if they’re not on brand, it makes the conversation easier because you can have a discussion about how someone thought having a 8ft pink statue of liberty in the tap room related to any of your 3 words.

Graphic design with BEER in mind. MistyGordonCreative.com
Brand Elixir Partnership Beverage Brand Agency
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Contributing Author

Erik Cox                                                                 Owner, Wise Ape

 

I work to help companies own their brands and hit their objectives with smart creative that’s just as functional as it is aesthetic.  As a partner in a San Francisco design and business strategy firm, I’ve worked with startups, consulting firms, and multinational corporations. That inspired me to launch WISE APE so I could work with small businesses I love.  

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Creating Your Brand Identity: Design Considerations

Misty Gordon

What is Brand Identity?


Brand Identity: the visible elements of a brand, such as color, design, and logo, that identify and distinguish the brand in consumers' minds.


Branding: the marketing practice of actively shaping a distinctive brand.

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SOP:Creating a Content Manager

Emily Hutto

Some days you have a ton of news to share with your fans. Everything feels equally important and you don’t know what to prioritize. Other days it seems like nothing is going on. You’re not feeling creative, but you know you need to post something… anything…

 

Sound familiar? Phew. You need a beer. (Actually, you may or may not need a beer, but you definitely 

Digital Marketing Media Bullhorn

Media: It's Worth Your Time

Jonathan Shikes

It's been a long day. You've ordered ingredients and supplies, talked to your lawyer, paid your graphic designer, fixed a plumbing problem, filled out another mound of paperwork, glanced at the latest CDC guidelines, talked to your lawyer again, and checked and rechecked your financials. The last thing you want to do now is put on a smile and actually market your brewery to the media, to the public and on social media. But it's an important step and one that can very easily help separate you from the 

Tap Handle Marketing

Style Branding for Your Custom Tap Handles

Ben Weston

Today's craft beverage consumer is becoming increasingly savvy and well-versed in the different styles/flavors or beer, cider, kombucha, etc. They are therefore becoming less and less likely to pick a beer based on the brewery name alone. Make sure you have a plan in place to differentiate between your different styles or flavors on your custom tap handle. Here's a quick breakdown of the most common ways of doing this along with the pros and cons of each.

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Using Consumer Insights to Maximize Brand Growth: Part I

Jeff Musial

One of the most important things to understand as a new business owner is how consumers perceive your brand. There are many factors that will affest the success of both existing brands and new products. Between my time with A-B Inbev and Brown-Forman pus working with clients in my own business, some basics have come tot he fore as most important to share.

PLAN

BRANDING & graphic design

  • Brand Discovery Research

  • Competitor Research

  • Identify Target Audience

  • Understand Creative Presence

  • Consider Deliverable Dates

  • Review Graphic Artists

PR & advertising

  • Tell Your Story

  • Curate a Media List

  • Write a Boilerplate

  • Create an Electronic Press Kit

  • Identify Niche Ad Platforms

WEB & Content marketing

  • Understand Web Presence

  • Evaluate Cost vs. Complexity

  • Consider Deliverable Dates

  • Review Web Designers

  • Refer to Branding

  • Write a Content Calendar

ACT

BRANDING & graphic design

  • Create Brand Voice

  • Write Brand Message

  • Create Brand Materials

  • Signage

  • Marketing/Ad Collateral

  • Packaging Design

  • Merchandise Design

 

PR & advertising

  • Reach out to Press Contacts

  • Introduce Yourself to your Local Visitors Association

  • Draft a Press Release

  • Schedule Advertising
     

WEB & Content marketing

  • Initial Web Platform Build

  • Set up Purchasing/Online Ordering

  • Schedule Website Maintenance

  • Start Posting per Content Calendar

  • Document Everything!

oPEN

PR & advertising

  • Announce your Opening

  • Sample the Media on your Beer! 

  • Advertise your Opening

WEB & Content marketing

  • Announce your Opening on your Website

  • Ask for User Generated Content 

  • Use Actual Product for Campaign

Grow Graph

GrOW

 

BRANDING & graphic design

  • Reevaluate Brand Strategy

  • Update Brand Identity

  • Increase Brand Messaging

  • Marketing/Advertising Collateral

  • Signage Upgrades

  • Additional Packaging Design

  • New Merchandise Design

 

PR & advertising

  • Maintain Relationships

  • Build Momentum

  • Get Creative

  • Increase Advertising Reach

 

WEB & Content marketing

  • Website Upgrades/Changes

  • Content Management

  • Schedule Website Maintenance 

  • Execute Long Term Projects

  • Watch Ongoing Analytics

  • Further Develop Email List

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