Breweries and taprooms are all the rage right now. With so many breweries and taprooms opening up, it’s not always easy to find a unique marketing strategy that will grab consumer attention.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the best micro-brewery and taproom marketing strategies for owners in 2024.
The following tips offer plenty of great ideas on how to get started with developing your own creative plans for success.
1. Collect Guest Data
The most important tool to have in your brewery marketing plan is first-party customer data. Unlike online businesses, it can be difficult for offline businesses to gather accurate, comprehensive customer data.
However, there is a way to gather rich, clean customer data at a very low cost. Plus, it is done passively, giving you the time to concentrate on running and growing your business.
Using your guest WiFi, you can ask your actual customers for information as they log into your WiFi through a captive portal. Typically, businesses ask for the guest’s name and email address. When the data is entered by the guest, a new customer profile is created for the patron.
Your WiFi access points can sense the guest’s device and update their customer profile with specific behavior data such as dwell times, visit days and times, which locations they visit, and more.
You can also collect data from website forms, online ordering and reservation systems, your POS, and other channels of rich guest data.
2. Use Progressive Profiling
Progressive profiling allows you to continue collecting more detailed customer data over time.
Once a guest has logged into your WiFi and a customer profile has been created, you can then begin asking the customer for other information each subsequent time they log in.
For instance, on their second login, you might ask for their birthdate and age. The next time you might ask for their postal code and phone number, and so on.
Over time you will have a customer database full of rich, valuable customer data. Then, you can use the data to automate targeted marketing campaigns.
3. Implement Marketing Automation and Segmentation
We know that time is a valuable commodity for anyone operating a microbrewery or taproom. That’s why we have created a best-in-class marketing automation suite of tools to save you time while improving micro-brewery and taproom marketing ROI and guest lifetime values.
Now that you know who your customers really are and how they behave at your place of business, it becomes much easier to brainstorm messaging to get those customers back through your doors. You can even send micro-brewery and taproom marketing messages to individual groups of guests based on their demographics and behavior.
For example, you could send a message only to guests who are male, below 30 years old, and have dwell times of more than one hour. Or, you could create a campaign for women over 21 years old in a specific postal code, who have visited more than twice in the last month.
Segmentation allows you to customize your message and target each list with messaging that they relate to and will engage with. This messaging is much more effective and valuable than sending out a single, vague message to your entire database.
The best part is that once it is set up, it will run on autopilot. All you have to do is monitor results and watch your ROI increase!
You can set up automated campaigns for various campaigns, such as a birthday campaign, a campaign to win back lost guests, a campaign to solicit ratings and reviews, and so much more. In a nutshell, if you can think of it, you can automate it!
To learn more about marketing automation with Bloom, click on our marketing automation page.
Other Micro-Brewery and Taproom Marketing Ideas
Now that you have set up guest data collection and marketing automation, here are other ideas you can consider with the time you will be saving.
4. Have a Specialty
When operating a microbrewery or taproom, it’s important to have a specialty that makes you stand out from the rest.
This can be anything from the type of beer you brew, to the atmosphere you create inside your business.
Finding a niche and focusing on it will help attract customers and keep them coming back for more.
5. Personalized Tap Handles
You would be surprised how many different businesses offer custom tap handles for breweries and other establishments.
These make great additions to any business, as they can show people what beer you serve, or even act as a decoration that matches your overall theme.
6. Growlers!
Growlers have been a huge hit for microbreweries and taprooms all around the world.
Guests love the fact that they can take home a taste of your beer, or even half a gallon without committing to an entire keg or pitcher.
These are great ways to attract new customers and get them coming back for more.
7. Food
Food is a huge part of the micro-brewery and taproom experience, and it’s important to have menu items that pair well with your beer.
This can be anything from snacks to full-blown meals. Offering food will not only attract new guests but also keep current ones coming back for more.
8. Merchandise
Merchandise is a great way to bring in extra money, as well as show what your micro-brewery or taproom is all about.
People love the fact that they can purchase merchandise related to their favorite beer brand and enjoy wearing it proudly at social gatherings.
Plus, there’s nothing better than free advertising!
9. Local News and Media Coverage
News coverage is a powerful tool for any small business, and breweries and taprooms are no exception.
Getting your business featured in local newspapers or websites can help attract attention from potential customers who might not have known you existed.
10. Social Media
Social media is a must-have for any business these days, and breweries and taprooms are no exception.
Make sure to set up accounts for your business on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay connected with your customers and make new ones.
It is important to monitor these pages and engage with your followers as much as possible. It shows that you care about your guests and can attract new patrons.
11. Host or Sponsor Events
Events can be a great way to attract new customers and get them coming back for more.
Whether you host music festivals or beer-tasting events, they’re always a blast and most people will love the opportunity to hang out in your taproom or micro-brewery.
If you are not keen on hosting an event, you can sponsor an event at another venue and offer your product in an effort to attract more new regular guests.
Discover Bloom Intelligence
These are just a few of the many micro-brewery and taproom marketing ideas that can help your brewery or taproom succeed in 2024. Use them as a starting point to develop your own plans and watch your business grow.
Using a WiFi marketing and customer intelligence platform like Bloom Intelligence can help you execute many of these restaurant marketing strategies at a very affordable price.
Based on the list of strategies above, perhaps the most powerful way to boost revenue, improve online ratings, bring back lost customers, and improve customer lifetime values – all while saving time and money – is to invest in WiFi marketing and customer intelligence platform like Bloom Intelligence.
If you would like to see Bloom in action, and how easy it is to use, call us today to schedule a demo, or schedule a demo online here.
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