CS Designworks launches The Branded Brewery

CS Designworks is proud to launch The Branded Brewery.

The Branded Brewery is an e-commerce website that helps the craft brewery, distillery, bar and restaurant business grow their brand through branded merchandise. The Branded Brewery is a one-stop online store representing many of the top branded products for this high-growth marketplace. What makes The Branded Brewery unique and poised to become the go-to place for craft breweries is the fact that we pooled our knowledge of the promotional products industry – over 15 years - to curate the best products available across four key product lines –Apparel, Glassware, Hats, and Accessories. Key to our product selection is quality and cost efficiency and when you combined this with a concierge experience, will provide our customers a winning proposition.

Why the Branded Brewery?

There are several determining factors that helped us launch The Branded Brewery.

• The craft brewery industry is on an unprecedented tear across our nation. With the craft beer market expected to reach USD $502.9 billion by 2025², craft beers are carving out a major market share and giving “Big Beer” a run for it’s money.
• Lack of a one-stop resource for branded merchandise in this vertical market; most of the market is fragmented.
• Our extensive background and knowledge of the promotional products industry and our affiliation with ASI – Advertising Specialty Institute.
• Our expertise in branding, web development, social media and digital marketing.

All of the stars seemed to align and The Branded Brewery was born.

Going to the market – a comprehensive plan and strategy? 

 

 

1) Selecting a Name

Coming up with a recognizable name was our first directive and a key determinant of success. We wanted a name that was recognizable, memorable and descriptive. We conducted a thorough keyword research exercise for The Branded Brewery using analytics to help justify the selected name. Once the name was determined, we developed a strong logo that resonated with our target audience.

2) Website development, product selection and brand creation

We used the ASI platform for the website development. This was a bit limiting as is with most templated sites, and we tried to push the design as much as possible. In addition to a strong logo we created a mascot, the “brew dude” which is a character that personifies the brew culture. Also key is having a strong call to action through free samples and a sign up for our newsletter called the “brewsletter. In addition, we developed a plan to get our site recognized as quickly as possible through google submission and a comprehensive six-month plan of getting listed on major directories.

3) A Comprehensive Marketing Strategy

After many months of planning and setting up the website, our next step was to get the word out that we exist. No easy task and the first directive was brand awareness. Our plan consists of the following action steps.

List Development
Email marketing
Social media marketing
Paid search engine marketing (SEM)
Postcard direct mailer

List Development

Knowing that healthy email list is key in getting our brand out there we painstaking hit the pavement and scoured the web for craft breweries. Directories were especially helpful in formulating our list as we initially targeted the metro New York area then the Northeast.

 

Email Marketing

With several hundred emails at our ready, The Branded Brewery was able to start getting the word out using a drip campaign. This maximized our brand visibility to new and current email subscribers alike. Our email platform incorporates an integrated CRM, Customer Relationship Manager, that tracks visitors, scores leads and at the same time helps grow the database. New subscribers are automatically put into the campaign and will get all of our emails on a weekly basis.

The Branded Brewery has several types of email blasts. We started out with an introductory email that explains who we are and our value proposition. Other email blasts include product spotlights and the latest news articles from our “Brewsletter” which is marketing-centric.

 

Social Media Marketing 

As predicted most craft brewery businesses are on social media utilizing platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The favorite of the platforms, to no surprise, was Instagram. There is a great community of craft beer enthusiasts and craft breweries on Instagram therefore our social media focus is on Instagram.

 Our Social Media Marketing effort is to develop followers, engage, join groups, and being a part of the conversation. The craft brewery scene is all about community and we contribute relevant content that is helpful to our followers. We also curate content from other sources or our own articles from The Brewsletter, establishing The Branded Brewery as a trusted resource.

Paid SEM

Our platform of choice is Facebook advertising. Facebook paid advertisements have been very instrumental in building brand awareness to The Branded Brewery. It is highly targeted and cost-effective allowing us to advertise our message to an exact audience.

Our most successful ad was advertising our latest product offering, the full print graphic t-shirt. The product uses a completely alternative decorating technique to take your provided elements - logo, images etc. - and provide a unique full coverage design. It’s surprisingly pretty cost efficient too. This campaign has given us some solid leads.

Postcards

While there is a heavy emphasis on digital marketing in the marketing world, we never discount the power of direct mail. With the proliferation of email arriving in users in-boxes creating clutter, there is no better way to stand out as a mailed postcard.

Tools of the Trade = efficiency and productivity

Tools are very important. It helps us to, from a marketing point of view, be efficient, streamlined, and automated. We never want to lose the personal touch, however, which is why a lot of our strategy is about phone-work and starting a dialogue with our customers.

Hatchbuck is a sales and marketing CRM tool designed for small to midsize businesses that offers combined sales automation, marketing automation and email marketing features.Through Hatchbuck we are able to keep tabs on contacts, keeping track on what emails they open and links they click. It’s an easy tool to build email templates that can be scheduled and automated to fit the company’s needs.

Hootsuite is a social media marketing automation tool. We are able to connect all the social media channels your business is on so that they can all be managed in one place. Hootsuite allows for bulk content posting and allows you to schedule posts for the future. You are also able to keep track of your social media activity.

 

The Takeaway for New Businesses

For anyone starting a new company, it’s about having a good idea that you believe in but more importantly how to get the word out to someone who’s never heard of you? It’s not an overnight process but the key is having a strategy, doing something every day to stay in people’s minds, and trial and error. It’s not an overnight process but with dedication a start-up can easily be successful.

We are excited to be a part of this market and to helping the craft brewery business succeed.

Visit The Branded Brewery

 

Sources:

1. https://socialtriggers.com/list-building/

2. http://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-craft-beer-market

3.https://www.asicentral.com/asp/open/Research/impressionsstudy/Ad_Spec_Impressions_Study_2010.pdf

4. ASI’s Global Advertising Specialties Impressions Study, 2014 Edition (PDF)
http://www.asicentral.com/research/impressions-study/2014/