Recommended Course of Action
Armed with the aforementioned background information, as well as additional market analysis, we recommend the following SMART actions (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) to increase revenue and market share as well as raise brand awareness through grassroots and word-of-mouth marketing.
Strategy 1: Target beer writers, connoisseurs and experts in the mid-Atlantic region.
Tactic 1: Attend three microbrew festivals in 2010. We have identified SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience in Washington, D.C., The Food and Wine Festival, National Harbor at the National Harbor in Maryland and the Northern Virginia Summer BrewFest in Leesburg, Va. These festivals attract attendees from the greater Washington, D.C. area, which is DC Brewing Company’s target audience. The desired customers are beer, food and wine enthusiasts, not just the casual consumer. They attend these events looking for something special and something new to enjoy. This is the exact audience for DC Brewing Company. At these events guests will be offered samples, given handouts on which beers pair best with which foods and encouraged to sign up for the DC Brewing Company Founders Club, which is described in more detail below.
Tactic 2: Invite beer experts from Beer Advocate, Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Craft Brewers and other blogs, websites and publications to review DC Brewing Company’s selections. The people who read and write for these blogs and publications are the “talkers” described in Andy Sernovitz’s “Word of Mouth Marketing.” He adds that it is important to take care of your talkers once you’ve found them. DC Brewing Company will invite and offer these individuals free admission or passes to all events DC Brewing Company attends and encourage them to stop by our stand or table and be a part of our experience.
Tactic 3: Hold Bartender Tastings at Washington, D.C. beer bars like Brickskeller, Regional Food and Drink, Churchkey and Pizzaria Paradiso. Invite local bartenders from bars likely to carry DC Brewing Company products to an evening of samples and food. While sampling DC Brewing Company’s beers, the bartenders will get information on DC Brewing Company’s products so they are best equipped to accurately describe the different beers to their customers. The bartenders will be given free t-shirts, bottle openers and towels that they can use behind their bars. This creates a group of highly credible evangelicals who are regarded as experts by their clientele. Who better to spread the word about DC Brewing Company?
Tactic 4: Sponsor Washington, D.C.-area beer clubs, like BURP (Brewers United for Real Potables). DC Brewing Company will offer to have the head brewer speak at one of their functions, allowing these hobbyists to grill an expert while allowing the expert to get valuable consumer feedback from passionate consumers. This is another example of reaching out to your talkers and connecting with them. These beer enthusiasts are the target audience for DC Brewing Company and when they find a beer they like, they blog about it and tell all their brewing friends. To quote the AccidentalHedonist.com again, “For the micro-brew fan, the best beer out there is the one they haven't tried yet.”
Strategy 2: Target “foodies” in the mid-Atlantic region
Tactic 1: Hold invitation-only dinners where local chefs pair food with each style of beer DC Brewing Company produces. A Sept. 2009 Epicurious.com article suggests that beer may actually be more compatible with food than wine. Such a thought was once considered blasphemous, but is now gaining acceptance with the wide variety of innovative and creative craft beer available. According to blogaboutbeer.com, chefs are creating menus to match beer in ways once reserved only for wines. We feel quality beers like those from DC Brewing Company should be matched with more than pretzels or chips. DC Brewing Company will provide attendees with a list of their beers, where to get them and the recipes the dishes that are paired with beer.
Tactic 2: Pair DC Brewing Company beers and food at Taste of D.C., D.C. Chili Cookoff, D.C. Beer Week 2010 events and SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience. We will work with local chefs who are also trying to make their way in the industry to match food with DC Brewing Company beers. The DC Brewing Company and the selected chefs will cross promote each other’s products, further expanding our exposure at the events. Maps will be available to the partnering locations to make it easy for people to find DC Brewing Company products at each event. Attendance at these events also raises DC Brewing Company’s profile in the community.
Tactic 3: Write articles for local online and print food and beverage publications. Describe food pairings with DC Brewing Company’s beer and food, including information on where to purchase DC Brewing Company beer and recipes for the dishes served with it. “Foodie” groups like DCFoodies.com would likely be willing to offer links to articles and this approach would appeal to food and beer lovers in D.C. DC Brewing Company will target publications, like Washingtonian magazine, which have robust blogs on local foods and beverages and are geared toward upscale readers (the average household income of Washingtonian readers is $224, 300 according to their Website). National publications will be targeted as well, but the initial focus is on local media.
Tactic 4: Set up tasting tables at Whole Foods and high-end grocery stores. Pairing DC Brewing Company’s beers with food is a natural fit for the clientele of Whole Foods. The person working the table should be aware of the foods Whole Foods is serving in the prepared section and make recommendations for matches with DC Brewing Company beer to those customers who might be looking for dinner ideas. And since Whole Foods provides free samples of cheeses and other foods, find out which cheeses and foods are being sampled and make recommendations for pairings with DC Brewing Company beer so they can try it on the spot.
Strategy 3: Establish a DC Brewing Company Founders Club.
Tactic 1: Get customers to sign up for the free DC Brewing Company’s Founders Club at local events and beer tastings, through social media sites and through DC Brewing Company’s website. Members receive exclusive member-only news and offers, invitations to brewery events and other branded items to raise brand awareness locally. When members join, they receive a t-shirt, keychain bottle opener and car magnet. All of these items will have the company name and website and will help promote the brand. The club is named the Founders Club because these are the people who are getting in on the ground floor and helping establish the brand, they truly are helping found the company and are part of the DC Brewing Company experience.
Tactic 2: Provide Brew-Party Kits for club members to host beer tastings at their homes. People who have joined DC Brewing Company’s Founders Club have already made a commitment to the brand. The Party Kit will have samples of DC Brewing Company’s beers as well as fact sheets to help inform them about the beers they are drinking. This strategy capitalizes on the premise that the only thing microbrew drinkers love more than drinking beer is talking about beer. The Kit will start the conversation.
Tactic 3: Establish referral plan where members receive gifts for every X number of people they get to join the DC Brewing Company Founders Club. DC Brewing Company will have additional merchandise available for people who refer new members to the Founders Club. If a member recruits five new members, he or she will receive a long sleeve t-shirt. For ten, the referrer will get a baseball hat. For 25, a DC Brewing Company tap handle that would fit most home keg systems.
Strategy 4: Like Samuel Adams is associated with Boston and Anchor Brewing with San Francisco, establish DC Brewing Company as uniquely associated with Washington D.C.
Tactic 1: Partner with local hotels to offer tastings in their lobby or bar. Offer complimentary beer from five to seven p.m. in the hotel lobby. Travelers would be able to unwind at the end of the day with a beer without having to leave the hotel. The partnership would include the hotel bar carrying DC Brewing Company’s beers so after sampling the beer, the customer can go to the bar and have another if he or she chooses.
Tactic 2: Set up stands at local sporting events to sell DC Brewing Company beers at local games. Beer connoisseurs will associate the beer with the event and look forward to it becoming part of their sports experience. It offers a local and better tasting, local alternative to the mass produced beers available throughout the stadium.
Tactic 3: Donate small part of the proceeds from certain beers to local causes. As an active member of the community, DC Brewing Company believes it is important to give back to local organizations. They will donate part of the proceeds of L’Enfant Lager to education organizations, Statehood Stout to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Rock Creek Red Ale to the National Park Foundation, U Street Porter to music programs for children, Adams Morgan Amber to the American Red Cross and Capitol Hill Pale Ale to the Capitol Area Food Bank. This fosters good will in the community and gives people the opportunity to support their favorite cause through their favorite beer.
Tactic 4: Provide brewery tours of DC Brewing Company’s brewery in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, DC. Brewery tours allow people a behind-the-scenes look at the brewing process. Guests get samples of the beers at the end of the tour. Microbrewery tours appeal to fans of craft and home brewing and fosters the sense that they too can do the same thing when they make beer. Beer connoisseurs are interested in the entire process and this tour gives them another reason to talk about DC Brewing Company to their beer colleagues after they have a memorable experience.
Measurement
The effectiveness of these campaigns will be measured both quantitatively and qualitatively. The most effective quantitative measure will be sales, and since we have a financial goal, this will be the one true indicator of whether these techniques succeed. We will also measure the campaign through the growth of the customer database, number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers and number of people who sign up for the DC Brewing Company’s Founders Club.
Qualitatively, we will talk to people formally and informally. Formally, we propose focus groups to see if DC Brewing Company’s local microbrewery message resonates with local beer drinkers. Informally, we propose surveys and feedback opportunities on the website and social media sites, which will be constantly monitored and responded to proactively. The company’s representatives at all events or appearances will foster two-way communication between the potential customer and the company. What people say matters and will be factored into decisions made going forward.
Conclusion
Despite a drop in sales industry wide, we believe there is enough interest and demand for a well-made craft beer. With the proper grassroots and word-of-mouth tactics DC Brewing Company can capture enough market share in the mid-Atlantic region to achieve its 2010 goal of increasing sales by an average of $25,000 in each month of 2010, which is an annual increase in sales of $300,000. The “SMART” strategies outlined above call for specific actions to achieve measurable increases of sales using realistic efforts within the upcoming calendar year. Microbrew aficionados are constantly looking for the next great beer. We believe in the product created by DC Brewing Company and believe that it is a product that will be able to gain ground in the mid-Atlantic region. We look forward to speaking with you.
