Over the past few weeks I have been observing and researching what is the strategy for craft beer and wines. As someone who is trying to get into the industry to be a marketer, I am finding this more and more interesting.
To begin… If the product is amazing, then the product should do the marketing itself. Perhaps, but how do you make the first step? What are their strategies?
In the buyers journey awareness is numero uno. Of course it has to be. Brewers and vintners have one key mission and that is to produce the best beer, or wine into the market. Each year they are trying to out compete one another to receive the highest status on the highest pedestal they can possibly reach. If the customers you are aiming to grab their attentions are interested in the industry, they’d keep up to date with the tweets and status’, so of course they will be aware of new products and up dates of the company. But how would you approach new targets?
One of the ways I’ve observed is when wineries and brewers market hold events for their delicious nectar. Just this weekend gone Wine Auckland and also Beervana. At these events people in the industry can met one another, dive into deep conversations and celebrate with a taste. These events are a main source of marketing to build awareness for the companies that are micro breweries or wineries. These events also grab attention of younger generations who are discovering what is out and to become passionate, like myself.
Of course the other way to get noticed, is to start a conversation. I do hate it when a brewer has been recently produced and to all of a sudden have a huge history behind it. If this brewer has so much history, why have we not heard about it in the past? It seems this was the main way of marketing beer as many breweries that mass produce, like Monteiths was doing (2013)- it was a trend. My personal opinion is that the more successful breweries don’t go on about the history in the 1800’s but they keep it up to date and relevant within their market. Yes some breweries in the mass produce area have been around for a long time, but for craft breweries this can’t be always done. The stories they produce are true to who they are- some keep it light and humorous. As for wine, you don’t see so much of these actions, however some wineries have great stories like Mudbrick and Foxes Island, where you’d only hear if you are at the cellar door.
The craft beer and wine industry definitely use inbound strategies to get customers and the attention of the target market because outbound marketing strategies are can expensive and would only work if it was advertised to masses to get a profitable return. Another inbound strategies is advertising the awards. For example, when a wine receives an Air NZ award, that wine is listed in a booklet which is then distributed- fantastically effective.
To sum this up, inbound marketing is the base strategy for beer and wine as it is the best way to bring in the customers. By using events, awards to help showcase the amazing qualities the product posses. It is important to have a great product as you won’t get sales if you have a stink product. The marketing behind craft beer and wine is different to other products, like capital goods, because vintners and brewers are passionate people, who entice other people who are passionate about their products.
Wine and Food event will be happening in September in the lovely Auckland. Check out this link below if interested. I am! Your Vinotype with Tim Hanni looks really good.
Online Marketing for Wine and Craft beer 
Do you feel that there is a relationship between the retailer, suppler/producers and the consumer? more directly do you see that there could be an influence of price upon the consumer behaviour and the product choice? i.e. if two wines have awards the one on sale will often be picked as the market may often be price sensitive. Good points made, awards are are definite selling point:)
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There is a relationship more between the producer and consumer because the producer is wanting to connect with the consumer. I recently visited Foxes Island cellar door and the cellar door manager who was telling me about the wine and owner, said the vintner wouldn’t allow a certain vintage to be released until it was perfect. Brewers and vinters are seen as perfectionists in my mind as they want to produce the best product they possibly can.
The price is reflected in the quality of the wine and also what sort of wine they want to produce. For example you would have a primary wine which is cheaper in price and these would be released more frequently. Secondary is just a better quality of wine that they would price a little higher. Tertiary wines are the exceptional barrels that the vintner and yield has produced, that they would bottle to sell to a higher market (examples of this is the Penfolds range (Australian) and Te Mata (Havelock North, NZ). Most wineries have this plan because their cheaper wines (which doesn’t mean bad) are the money makers- cash cows. They keep the profits coming! The secondary and tertiary wines are also the wines you would store away to they could develop them further. These wines also tend to win the awards and are amazing to drink at the right time.
I rambled a bit, but I hope that made sense!
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organic visibility can help start a conversation about a product or good ol fashioned target marketing.
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I find our market has alot of people who are just price focused it is changing slowly but people are cheap and think over 15 is often to much for wine lol. penfolds is a good example, kim crawford is also a good one with there cheaper wine going out the door like crazy and the reserve one still being a good mover too. What are your views on low alc wines and beers? a growing market ive had lots of customers asking for them and with the new alc levels for driving do you see this having more of a push towards this trend?
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Low alcohol wine and beer are fantastic! You can market low alcohol wine to females who want a glass at lunch, that sort of thing. When I worked in retail that was a selling point! Low alcohol beer or zero alcohol beer, you are able to target pregnant females as I had a few ladies say “I really want a beer”. Even when they are breast feeding I had females asking for low alcohol beer. It is definitely a trend!
Price is still important but it is also your job to try and up sell something that could be better or something that management want you to sell more of than another product. People that want something under $15 and are stuck to that, you got to make them happy and give them what they want. But you can still briefly say “this wine is a little more expensive than what you want to spend, but it is a fantastic drop that has a soft tropical nose with blah blah blah” and try to make them think twice about what they are buying and perhaps buy it another day.
I always say quality over quantity.
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