Every brewer knows that creating a new beer doesn’t start on brew day. Yes, that’s the exciting day where you start actually mixing ingredients that will become your latest creation, but a lot goes into the process before that.
You have to come up with an idea of a new twist on an underrated style, or do research on the nuances of a traditional brew. You have to create a recipe, check your inventory, and order ingredients. Heck, you even have to look at your brew schedule to make sure you pick a good day to make the beer and that the release will happen in the right season or even on the right day.
Then, you can start to brew.
Just like there are steps you have to walk through before you can actually start to brew a beer, there are things you should do when preparing for its release. With a little bit of planning, you can leverage your content strategy to create excitement around your new or seasonal brew, and you can use this excitement to get more people into your tasting room after it’s released.
SOCIAL TEASE
I’m going to compare releasing a new beer to releasing a blockbuster movie. There are teaser trailers to get the buzz going, little information “leaks,” speculation and fan theories, the official trailer, and then finally opening night.
Keep this in mind when you’re planning the release of your latest brew. You can use social media to tease your followers, give them little bits of information about the beer or pictures of specialty ingredients. Ask questions to get them to interact. Create a poll around name ideas.
Build the hype and on “opening day” you’ll find an influx of people in your tasting room.
For an added bonus, hold a release party to get more people in your tasting room on a certain day. Create an event on Facebook and post some of your teases there! Write posts that invite interaction and make sure you respond to people who post. This will encourage them to interact more.
BLOG BOOST
So you’ve got people talking with your #socialmediaskills. Now it’s time to go in-depth. Use your blog to tell the story about this particular beer. It could be talking about why you choose this specific style, the backstory of the name or the significance of a specific ingredient. You can even bring people along on the journey from recipe writing to final product. There are so many storylines that all link back to your brew.
Timing is key, and you can adjust when you post depending on how your social media hype is doing. If you think the excitement needs little boost, post it just before the release to get more people buzzing about it. If your social media has been doing the heavy lifting, post your blog a week or so after the beer release to keep the momentum going.
NEWSLETTER UPDATE
Your content marketing strategy comes together in your email newsletter. If you have a “Coming Soon” section, put your new brew there to grab the attention of people who aren’t as active on social media. Share the release date and any party details if you’re planning one.
You can also choose your favorite tease from social media and repurpose it at the end of one of your newsletters. Leave your readers with something to think or wonder about!
Feature your blog in your newsletter so you get the maximum amount of marketing power from your storytelling efforts! You can even pull a few interesting tidbits or fun facts out and use them as teases in the newsletter.
JUST PLAN IT
If you read all of this and are feeling just a little bit overwhelmed, we get it. A seemingly effortless content strategy actually takes a lot of work. The key really is planning. Taking the time to make sure you have all of the pieces that you need in advance will reduce your stress levels when the time comes to execute your plans.
And if you’re looking at this and trying to figure out where the heck you’re going to fit that into your schedule, don’t worry. You do the brewing, we can do the strategizing.