Tech for Craft: Beer Marketers on Communication Technology They're Using Right Now

Photo courtesy of Traverse Image

Our Industry Relief chats have shed light on so many needs in craft communication, pandemic or not. One of those needs is technology. The social media revolution changed the ability of small business to reach vastly wider audiences. The pressure is on for marketers to reach the masses, and they need tools to make that happen. Here are the technology resources suggested by the savvy group of craft communicators we talk shop with each week.

STAY CONNECTED

• Untappd — Untappd is a platform that allows craft beer enthusiasts to log and track beers that they’ve tried, and also a service for breweries to share what’s currently on tap. Users are also able to explore nearby breweries and bars, and also seek out recommendations based on what they’ve logged and rated.

• TapHunter — TapHunter is your source to find craft beer, spirits, and more. You can discover the best local bars, restaurants, tasting rooms, and bottle shops around you and wherever you go and know what is on tap before you go. You can also follow your favorite locations, keep track and review of what you’ve tried, and look at what events are being hosted at your favorite spots. For businesses, TapHunter is currently offering two months free to promote your drink menus and keep your regulars connected. Details available here.

• Twitch — Twitch is a streaming platform that has been growing in popularity that allows streamers to reach a wide audience on a variety of topics.
  “Twitch has been a great way to stream to an audience with high quality video and audio.” — Cheyenne Richardson of Bonfire Brewing.

• Customized Craft Beer Programs — Customized Craft Beer Programs offers ideas to strengthen the connection you have with your guests by creating programs that fit your businesses and engages with individuals. As they say, “experience. entice. enlighten. engage. explore. enjoy.”

GET ORGANIZED

• Asana — Asana is a platform that allows users to get their teams coordinated and stay organized. It’s a great tool for remote teams— especially given the current environment— to organize projects, shift priorities as needed, and stay on task.

• Zapier — Zapier is a platform that helps users handle repetitive tasks in apps that individuals use in their day to day.

• Lilypad — Lilypad is beverage alcohol sales platform designed specifically for the industry. It tracks activity management and execution, customer relationships, offers digital asset management, has a placement tracker, encourages collaboration and motivation, and cross tier communication. Their goal is to help you develop a stronger team, craft more connections, and drive more placements
  “It has been game-changing in managing our sales pipeline, track communication with prospects & current accounts, and share action items w/ wholesalers. There’s a social & gamification element which has made it fun for my team (which greatly increases the adoption rate, IMO)” - Peter August of Karl Strauss Brewing Company

• Adobe Dimension — For those who work in design, Adobe Dimension allows you to mock up 3D content to help you better visualize what you’re designing, such as product mockups, packaging designs, spacial designs, and other creative work.

UP YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA GAME

• IG Story School — This instructional video helps you unlock all the tips and tricks of posting Instagram Stories. It walks you through each level of posting, from changing the color of text to using the rewind effect, and many other tools to step up your Instagram story game.

• Facebook for Business — Facebook for Business offers many self-paced, step-by-step tutorials that can help you build upon your digital marketing skills and improve upon your business’ social media.

• Instagram for Business — Similar to Facebook for Business, Instagram for Business offers up-to-date news about what’s new with the platform as well as tips and best practices to get the most out of the platform.

What technology do you use to make it all happen? Tell us your craft marketing story— email us at karen@radcraftbeer.com.

Brewers Association Publishes Checklist for Reopening Your Brewery

Photo by Findlay Brewing Company

The Brewers Association has compiled a checklist for breweries that are prepping to re-open after shutdown. Their guide includes best practices for maintaining sanitary practices and social distancing. Find the full checklist here. This checklist is focused on—

• Social Distancing between customers, staff, and during work operations and customer sales

• Standard Operating Procedures that can be created to encourage compliance among staff and patrons

• Best Practices for sanitizing and managing frequent touch points

As your brewery prepares to open, develops new SOPs, and continues to successfully navigate these challenges, keep the BA in the know on specific procedures and best practices that are working for you at membership@brewersassociation.org.

Beyond procedures, we’d love to hear your story. How has your business pivoted? What are some positive outcomes of the shutdown did you experience? What is your new normal? Shoot us an email at karen@radcraftbeer.com to tell your story in out industry relief hub.

Find more resources for responding to pandemic in this industry guide that we compiled with fellow craft marketers across the country.

COVID-19 Relief Resources For Barley Crafters: Surveys, Guilds, Labels, and More

Resources can be anything from the emotional support of a socially-distanced virtual hug to funding from government programs. Information is another important resource, and we have a lot of it for you this week.

One challenge during this time is finding correct information in a timely manner — not to mention finding state-specific information, correct paperwork, and beyond. Earlier this month we discussed resources on our #radcraftindustryrelief zoom chat, and the craft communicators who participated had a lot to say. Here are the resources they suggested for small businesses in the barley community, infused with a few of our suggestions as well.

• Brewers Association - Resource Center is the home to brewery-specific COVID-19 information, including general pandemic information, SBA loans, legislative information, surveys, and so much more.

• Surveys — Surveys produce data that allow us to forecast trends. We highly encourage participating in Brewers Association and brewer’s guilds surveys, and beyond.

  • Craftbeer.com COVID-19 Craft Brewery Sales Support Form

  • Brewery - COVID-19 Impact Poll Part 2

• Your (local) Guilds — the folks on our call referenced these specific, and awesome, brewers guilds as great resources. Wherever you are though, seek out your local guild as a resource now and in future.

  • Craft Maltsters Guild

  • North Carolina Brewers Guild

  • Asheville Brewers Alliance

  • Iowa Brewers Guild

  • Colorado Brewers Guild

• Social Media

  • Facebook Groups — specifically have been a great place to host forums, discussions, ask questions and post links to various resources. There are plenty of local and national groups that do act as a more professional resource, in a sense, and they’re easy to find.

  • More screen time means more opportunities to promote products and entertain your audience.

• The Brooklyn Brewery COVID-19 Community Resource Hub shares not only New York specific information, but also nation-wide resources for breweries. They’ve included assistance programs like these:

  • USBG Foundation Bartender Emergency Assistance Program: Bartenders affected by closures can apply for a grant from the United States Bartenders Guild Bartender Emergency Assistance Program, and anyone can donate.

  • Service Workers Coalition: This new coalition aims to support sick or quarantined service workers through direct aid and monetary donations. Email serviceworkerscoalition@gmail.com to volunteer or learn how to donate.

  • Restaurant Workers Community Foundation COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund: The RWCF is allocating their donations accordingly: 50% to individual restaurant workers, 25% non-profit groups, and 25% towards providing no-interest loans to restaurants to get back up and running.

  • GoFundMe: Many businesses are setting up GoFundMe pages, and the like, to raise money for their former or current employees. Contact your regular spots and see if they have a fund set up, or need help doing so. 

  • LEE Initiative Restaurant Workers Relief Program: The LEE Initiative will channel donations by city to help restaurant workers in crisis pay for food and keep up with other costs of living.

• Craft Label Co. — as many breweries shift to canning and distribution, there’s high demand for labels right now, at the ready. Craft Label Co., created by our friend Ryan Wheaton, offers a solution of pre-designed offerings that can be customized to become branded to your company.

• Reddit — This forum-based website is a treasure chest of information. You may have to do some digging, but you’ll be able to find information such as which businesses are still open, how can you support them, and much more. There are many sub-Reddits that discuss what’s happening in various regions.

  • Here’s one for supporting local breweries in the PNW

  • Here’s one that’s anything and everything Colorado beer

• Restaurant Accounting Services - Restaurant Resources — This website hosts various restaurant and brewpub specific resources, including webinars, blogs, and FAQ pages that may come up in the hospitality industry.

• All Together — All Together is an initiative launched by New York’s Other Half Brewing, similar to that of Sierra Nevada’s Resilience campaign. All Together is a worldwide collaboration created to raise awareness and funds for the craft industry. “#AllTogetherBeer invites any brewer, from any corner of the planet, to participate by providing the tools needed to make the beer at the lowest possible cost, including an open-source recipe, artwork, and name. In exchange, the collective asks that a portion of the proceeds go to supporting hospitality professionals in each brewery’s own community. The rest should be donated to keeping the brewery in business to weather this storm.” Read more on Brewbound.

• Restaurant Strong Fund — Samuel Adams and Greg Hill Foundation joined forces to create the Restaurant Strong Fund, supporting those in 20 different states from America’s restaurant industry who have been impacted by the COVID-19 closures.

There are so many more resources out there than those that we’ve named — take advantage of them and let us know if you have any other suggestions at karen@radcraftbeer.com.

BRU Handbuilt Ales Dinner Kits, Porch Pick Up, and Delivery

Delicious eats at BRU Handbuilt Ales and Eats

While this transition has been one that’s tough to navigate and we miss being able to cook up some delicious eats and serve our handbuilt ales to you in person, we are grateful for our community’s continued support for us during these times.

We wanted to start off with a quick thank-you to our BRU family! We appreciate everyone who ordered last week. In that time, we were able to learn a lot, are making some adjustments, and adding growler fills and more easy dinner kits. We also loved all the social media posts, please keep it coming! Tag us @bruboulder and feel free to send any our way to ian@bruboulder.com.

Here are the updates we’ve got for you:

• Check our website for all the new options we’re offering, they do need to be ordered by the end of the day on Thursday.

• Fridays we’ll be doing alcohol and merchandise porch pick up between 3:30 to 5:30 pm.

• Saturdays we’ll be offering food, alcohol, and merchandise porch pickup between noon to 2:00 pm, or delivery by 3:00 pm*.

  • *Delivery requires a $100 minimum, must be in Boulder city, and have direct door access.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter for updates and new weekly offerings!

— The BRU crew