A Brilliant Marketing Strategy For Beer Lovers

In 2012 a small group of craft beer enthusiasts in Florida got together and decided to start their own microbrewery. The opportunity to make a serious amount of money was significant – the overall beer market in the US is a whopping $94 billion dollars with the craft brewing industry (those independent beer brewers), making up $22 Billion.

In starting a new business, the first step, as you know, is always to find out – is there a real market? Are there large numbers of people to potentially buy our product? Clearly, there was - the market was huge.  And growing.

Most business owners start salivating at this knowledge and then assume that by bringing a "better product" to the market, in this case, a better tasting beer, that the world will beat a path to their door. 

That is rarely, if ever the case. You only have to look at the failure rate for businesses to know how flawed this thinking is. 

Fortunately, that wasn't the case here. 

The founders knew that if their business was to break into such a large and hyper-competitive market, making the same claims that everyone else did would never cut it.

They had to find a way to make their marketing message bold and unique.

Yes, they would be a locally owned and operated microbrewery in Delray Beach.

Yes they would only use the purest natural ingredients to craft their beers using.

Yes their beers would taste incredible becuase they were made in small batches. But that's exactly what all their competitors said too. 

Yawn.

Such boring, me-too messaging would never be enough to get large numbers of new customers beating a path to their door. 

What they needed was, what we call in marketing speak, "The BIG IDEA" a message of such power that it would attract customers in droves.

I'll let you in on a little Client Stampede secret. 

 

Sometimes to create Irresistible Messaging for your business – (Step 2 of the Client Stampede Formula®), it can come from uncovering something amazing hiding from your business in plain sight. 

Or sometimes, as in this case, it is created through strategic innovation. 

You'll note that I didn't just say "innovation." 

Innovation for the sake of innovation - without marketing strategy, is a colossal waste of money.

After all, if no one knows about your brilliant innovation, then what good is it? Behind every product or service innovation, you always need to ask how we can leverage this in our marketing?

This kind of strategic thinking can be the difference between your marketing feeling like an uphill battle versus going viral and taking on a life of its own.

Still, it's the step that most companies fall flat on, which is why they find marketing so tricky. 

But I digress, back to our case study. 

The founders knew they had to invest in a bold strategy that would form the cornerstone of all their marketing going forward.

I'll spare you all the details and get straight to the cliff notes of how they solved their Irresistible Messaging issue:

- their Irresistible Messaging became a strategic innovation in their packaging design.

Eight million tons of plastic get dumped into the ocean every year, including plastic six-pack rings that marine life gets caught in. 

The founders created a 100% fish edible six-ring holder, made from barley and wheat ribbons, a byproduct of the brewing process.

So, instead of their beer packaging contributing to the ocean's waste and killing fish, it actually fed the fish. 

Here's how it works – the packaging starts breaking down within 2 hours of being in the ocean and completely biodegrades within 2-3 months. It breaks down almost as quickly on the beach.

That's a brilliant strategic innovation.

Yes, it cost more to produce, making the purchase of their six-packs more expensive than their competitors, but with such an Irresistible Message enabled by powerful product innovation, would people happily pay more?

Here is the answer:

Within five days of launching the first advertising campaigns, here were the results

110 million social media views

1.9 million Facebook shares

1.3 million Facebook likes

3.5 billion global impressions about the company's innovation and solution to plastic six rings.

Today, eight years later, if you google the business Saltwater Brewery in Delray Beach, you'll see how many customers still talk about their fish edible six-pack rings.

Likewise, their Irresistible Messaging is still irresistible eight years later and attracting customers in droves.

The brewery has kept its promise to stay local but has expanded to a taproom, online sales, food trucks, and a distribution network covering most of Florida. They've also expanded their brand to include a large selection of lifestyle wear – made, of course using recycled plastics. 

This is an excellent example of the power of using the right strategy in your business to create Irresistible Messaging and breakthrough results.

My question to help you with your business is this …

How you can elevate your current marketing message to becoming Irresistible Messaging? Is there something special and unique you are already doing - hiding in plain sight? Can you take an existing innovation and strategically leverage it in your marketing?

Remember, you know how fantastic your business is - the tricky and most overlooked part of marketing is creating Irresistible Messaging that makes your customers realize it too.

PS Unless you live in Florida and are able to buy the Saltwater Brewery’s six pack with fish edible packaging, please help our marine life by cutting through all your plastic six rings! Thank you from a fellow ocean lover :)