Digital marketing for spirit brands isn’t just a good idea – it’s absolutely necessary when building a successful, compelling business that can scale and grow. Today, the spirits industry is incredibly competitive with over 2,000 new distilleries opening since 2020. Not only does it take heavy investment to break through, but small mistakes can derail a brand and ruin the hard work that’s been put in. That’s where a smart and solid digital strategy comes into play.
Digital Strategy = Data Points
Working with a digital strategy can eliminate guesswork and improve the effectiveness of digital marketing and brand building overall. Use product performance data to inform planning and campaign execution. Syncing data across channels also unlocks new insights to drive better ad performance.
There are a few factors to analyze to get the data points needed for effective digital marketing and brand strategy: the target audience, the creative execution, the budget and the channels utilized. These are arguably the most important ones.
Audience: As you build your perfect customer base, be sure to segment your audience to optimize communication and the spend towards it. You’ll be able to target in a meaningful and effective way.
Creative: Test messaging, design and layout to achieve the best possible outcome when your ads appear in front of customers. Track learnings to speed up and improve execution in future campaigns.
Spend: Take note of not only what your total spend has been on ads but also on exactly where your money is being spent. This can help you home in on the areas where ad spend is highest and return is lowest.
Channels: Between social, search/SEM, display and others, it’s important to track where the best ROI is coming from per campaign and adjust your budgets accordingly.
Tactical Targeting
With all the data collected over the last years, utilizing digital marketing allows for incredibly targeted promotion. Reach the right audience at the right time for the most effective ROI on your ad spend. Plus, intelligently engaging potential customers that are already interested in your products will help build an ongoing relationship as your brand slowly becomes a mainstay in their minds. While it’s rare for someone to purchase a product after a single impression, targeted ads allow for multiple impressions and re-engagement across channels, bringing them closer to becoming valuable lifelong customers.
Smaller Spend & Speedy Execution
Once a final digital strategy is in place, brands can expect faster execution of campaigns and much less wasted ad spend. Utilizing learnings and data points optimize ROI and help teams remove guesswork from the operation. This also opens up more time to hone your brand to perfection so you can stand out and skyrocket past the competition. It’s well worth the initial investment to test at every possible opportunity, as well as work with a trusted partner who has the experience to drive results faster and more accurately.
Reviewing Regulations
When playing in the digital space, spirit brands have to be careful to abide by certain regulations when it comes to advertising their products. These vary state by state, and even country by country. Adding insult to injury, alcohol regulations can change rapidly and are rarely clear cut. For example, distilleries in Nevada used to be able to ship directly to consumers. But that all ended July 1, 2021. Breweries and retailers also lost DTC shipping rights in the state, though somehow, wineries are able to continue shipping wine to Nevada consumers.
The state of California was incredibly close to authorizing DTC shipments of spirits in 2022, but an amendment in the bill added some restrictions: no contract employees can make deliveries, distillers can’t use fulfillment houses to ship and store products on their behalf, and DTC sales of spirits cannot exceed wholesale sales. When spirit brands aren’t compliant, they can expect a suspension of their license, fines and more. Such a disruption in business can be fatal for many companies.
When spirit brands partner with Drinkubator, not only can they rely on the years of experience crafting custom digital strategy solutions, but also that legal and regulatory i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.
Drinkubator is always interested in talking to businesses that want to expand their brand. Contact us today and get the results you need to reach your growth goals.