Why A “Year in Review” Recap is Worth Your Time

The effervescent Kate Bernot joined our recent #CraftSocialMedia workshop to share her insight on the Year In Review with a journalist’s lens. She also penned this article about why you should plan a year in review this (and every) year.

Thank you Kate!

No one is looking for another item to add to their to-do list, but a “year in review” recap for your brewery is a worthwhile investment.

As a journalist, I’ve been on the receiving end of these recaps and can testify to their utility in your media relations plan—more on that shortly. But these reports aren’t just press release fodder; done right, they can be a powerful internal and external strategic tool. 

A year in review recap is a chance to reflect, organize, and communicate. It’s an archival snapshot of your business, one that is useful now and years into the future. When life moves at breakneck speed and it’s a challenge to even remember what month we’re in, there’s immense value in accurately cataloging your business’ milestones at the end of the year. You’re likely to understand your own brewery more deeply, and to help share important achievements with stakeholders like staff, media, distributors, retailers, community partners, and the public.

First, let’s discuss the year in review as an external communications tool. I cover the business of beer, which since the pandemic has not been smooth sailing for many companies, large and small. Amid the varied challenges breweries face, I’m still always looking to tell success stories. They certainly exist, but are perhaps not as obvious as they once were. Particularly when I’m writing for a trade publication, I need data points—everything from sales volumes to competition medals—to justify why I’m spotlighting a particular brewery.

Breweries can help me uncover these bright spots by sharing their wins, and their challenges, with me at the end of the year. How else will I know that your company launched two new seasonal beers into distribution, or grew own-premise sales, or paid for 100% of taproom staff to become Cicerone certified, or committed to local malt across its core beers? All of those are potential angles for media coverage, either now or in the future. Having them bundled in one easily digested report is a reporter’s dream. Attach the report to an email and send it once it’s ready— timing is less important to me than clear, organized information.

But members of the media aren’t the only external shareholders. Share your year in review with wholesalers, key retailers, and your nonprofit or community partners. Think of the year in review as your family’s holiday card: It’s a reason to reconnect with people you haven’t talked to in a while, update them on your milestones, and keep yourself top-of-mind as those partners are planning for the year ahead. (… Maybe send that email in advance of spring resets?) You may also want to disseminate some aspects of the year in review on social media and your newsletter. Turning core accomplishments into content is a way to highlight your wins and remind your fans of great times they’ve had with the brewery over the past 12 months.

Finally, and perhaps even more importantly, embrace the year in review as an internal exercise. At the management level, examine your brewery’s mission statement alongside your year in review. Do your most important moments of the past year reflect what your brewery stands for? Are there areas of the mission statement that weren’t operationalized? Are there emerging areas of importance over the past year that should be integrated into your mission statement? Finally, make sure your staff sees all or part of your year in review. Keeping employees connected to your mission and celebrated for their role in it is core to maintaining morale. Shout out the people who took the lead on major projects, and use achievements as a reason to celebrate the whole team. 

There are few tools within a brewery’s kit that offer this kind of multifaceted return— and cost almost nothing to implement. 

Written by Kate Bernot

Advice From The Trail: Alex Sage on Video Content Marketing

Photos of and courtesy Alex Sage

Each volume of Craft Marketing showcases a Featured RadCrafter – a craft marketing professional who is crafting content, telling stories, and curating resources about the beer industry. RadCrafters are helping to shape and share the culture that is craft beer. 

This go-around, meet Alex Sage who manages marketing and graphic design for City Star Brewing. We’re unabashed about declaring that City Star runs some of our favorite social media feeds, in particular because of their trendy and hilarious videos.

Tell us about your background before City Star, and your evolution into your current role. 

My job title at City Star is Marketing/Graphic Design. I have been in the craft beer industry for 13 years and have done everything from beer tending to brand ambassador to taproom manager. I started out at City Star beer-tending and moved into social media and marketing. 

Seems like several years back at this point y'all got into the groove of creating engaging, trending, and on-brand video content on TikTok/IG and haven't stopped since.

We started experimenting with videos in 2021. City Star owner Whitney Way and I try to stay on top of researching what is pushed out most through social media algorithms, and at that time everything was telling us videos, videos, videos. Instagram was beginning to ramp up using reels, and I had done a deep dive into TikTok watching people learn fun dances, laughing at funny skits and saw how audios would trend. I wanted to bring that same spirit to City Star so we threw our hat in the game! 

It seems like your audience loves it, and is growing!

Videos have been huge in growing our audience. With the algorithm prioritizing pushing videos, we were able to gain access and engage with new people who our pages did not previously reach. Berthoud is a small town which surprisingly some people have never even heard of and some don't know there is a brewery. Doing videos has put our brewery AND Berthoud on the map for a [destination] place to come stop in for a beer. We constantly have people coming into the taproom telling us they love our videos and asking when the next one will be. It's helped us be able to further engage with our audience both though the internet and in person. 

Do you notice any engagement trends for your audience?

Figuring out the algorithm is half the battle and the other half is knowing your audience and what your goals are for using videos. When we first started out on TikTok we were getting tons of new followers but when we looked at the data, these followers were from other states and even other countries. We had to hone in our goals for what we wanted to be using videos for. Yeah it's cool that someone in England watched our little brewery video...but did anyone in Loveland see it and come visit us? This is where our "let's just show em' a good time" spirit for videos began. Our fun, comedic, silly videos create brand awareness near and far while also encouraging our local neighbors to pop in. We try to make content that if you're a craft beer drinker you can relate and if you're close by you'll want to come see us. 

How do you choose which trends to participate in while still staying true to the City Star brand?

When it comes to videos I try to take the Red Bull marketing approach which is to show the experience rather than the product. Sell the experience not the beer. Yes, we could list what beers are on tap, we could talk about the hops and geek out over craft beer, we could feature our new beers that come out every Friday...but I want someone to watch our videos and think "They're having so much fun at City Star, let's go to THAT brewery!"

City Star strives to produce delicious craft beer that brings our community together so the goal is for people to see our videos and then call up a friend to come visit us for a beer. Our brewery's audience is aged 21-60 with the majority resting in the 25-45 age range. We want to use audios that are going to be most relatable to this age range as well as pop culture references. (It's no fun if someone misses the joke!) If it makes us laugh at ourselves, then we post it! 

Is using both TikTok and Instagram more time consuming?

Doing videos in general is a bit time consuming. We try to be mindful of which platform we use for which audience. Our TikTok audience is mostly people from out of state so we make TikTok videos about relatable craft beer things for all. For Instagram, our audience is more local and more probable to come in and visit us— so we do those videos that are more geared towards that. Unfortunately synching them up can be a pain for matching audio and platform guidelines, I have yet to find a great app for that. 

If anyone reading has a suggested app, please jump into the comments or slide into our DMs!

What video equipment and apps do you use and recommend, especially for tight budgets?

Keep it cheap and easy! I just use my iPhone to record through TikTok, Instagram or Capcut. Luckily these free apps are pretty user friendly for filming and editing your videos. We step our game up with a ring light every once in a while but mostly we just try to show off our space in its authentic state - no cinematics here! 

Any last pieces of advice on using video as a brewery marketing tactic?

It can be intimidating making videos but there are lots of ways to have fun and show off your business without using your face if you're camera shy. Don't get discouraged. We have spent an hour creating a video that got 200 views and 15 seconds on a video that got 660,000 views - you just never know! It's a great tool to bring together your staff and guests. JUST HAVE FUN!

Advice From The Trail: Cara Nosek on Packaging Design and (Re)Branding

Photo of and courtesy Cara Nosek

Each volume of Craft Marketing showcases a Featured RadCrafter – a craft marketing professional who is crafting content, telling stories, and curating resources about the beer industry. RadCrafters are helping to shape and share the culture that is craft beer. 

Ska Brewing – an iconic brand based on a comic book and inspired by all waves of Ska music – recently underwent a brand refresh. We called Cara Nosek, Queen of Graphics at Ska since 2013, to weigh in on how brands can evolve so gracefully too. 

Advice From The Trail: Ben Moore On Beer Photography

Photo of and courtesy Ben Moore

We met Ben Moore at the 2023 Craft Malt Conference in Portland, Maine, which he calls home. His energy and enthusiasm were palpable, and he was both professional and fun to collaborate with on conference storytelling.

So we asked him to be the next RadCrafter in this series. Moved by his passion for his work, we asked him about the life of a beer photographer and what advice he has for others interested in the same craft. Prompted by his social media presence as @activebeergeek, we asked him about his work-life balance. Read the interview and get inspired here.

The Tortilla Challenge, A Lawn Flamingo Beer Bong, and Stickers In Support Of The MJF Foundation

Are you going to slap each other across the face with these? 

The bartender was onto us. After finishing tacos and margaritas at State of Confusion, we ordered three more fresh tortillas to-go. It was the thick of summer 2022 and the #tortillachallenge was heating up TikTok feeds across the globe. 

We aren’t really trend or hashtag chasers at RadCraft. Sure, it’s important to keep your thumb on the pulse when you’re managing a brand’s online presence— but if there’s not a compelling why? to learning the latest dance sequence or a donation to follow dumping a bucket full of ice on your head, I say it’s all just noise.

Contribute breath not noise. It’s one of my one-liners. And I really mean it. 

That’s why I surprised myself when I suggested we find a hilarious location to do the tortilla challenge along what we called Tour De RadCraft 2022. This 3+ week long road trip included more than 30 brewery, distillery, malthouse, and farm visits to our partners and friends. The remote nature of our work means that we don’t always meet our collaborators in person right away, and I was on a mission to meet some people face-to-face before another summer became fall. 

It went without saying that we would stop in Chattanooga to see the one-and-only LT Butts. 

We’ll get back to the tortillas, but first it’s important to introduce this hardworking, humble brewer who we’re lucky to know. We met LaTroya Butts when she came to work at Bonfire Brewing in Eagle, Colorado. She eventually moved home to Chattanooga, Tennessee to work at Five Wit’s Brewing Company, and she would go on to receive scholarships from The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling and the Cicerone program via the Black Beer Chick #roadto100 initiative to further her brewing career. To-date, LaTroya is working at Resident Culture Brewing in Charlotte, North Carolina. She’s grateful for all of the people and organizations who have been a part of her journey thus far.

Time To Meet Frieda. 

The research and development for Five Wit’s Brewing took place in the owner’s pool house, “on a tiny system we called Pool City,” Butts says. “They had giant flamingo floaties and shirts, and flamingos just became the vibe. Then I came along. Everyone who knows me knows I love flamingos… and my flamingo beer bong named Frieda. Elliot [who co-owns Five Wit’s] once asked me what flavor Frieda was because he thought she should have a beer, just to see what happens…” 

The result was Frieda Sour Ale— an effervescent kettle sour with just the right balance of strawberry and pineapple flavors. Frieda wasn’t just a yard flamingo beer bong or the name of a beer in a can; she became a company mascot. To-date, Five Wit’s has an outside patio adorned with yard flamingos who watch over the brewery. Inside, the OG Frieda and a new twin sister flamingo live in the brewhouse. Frieda isn’t just a beer bong anymore; She is a summertime ethos; a symbol of well-crafted refreshment; an embodiment of the freedom that comes with long, warm days and the pride of independently brewed craft beer. 

Back To The Tortillas.  

Flash forward four years. We arrive at this Frieda shrine on our roadtrip, taste this remarkable sour ale, and take LaTroya to dinner at the Mexican restaurant across the street. One thing led to another and soon enough we were plotting our video. At Five Wit’s, it all comes back to Frieda.

So we took Frieda and her twin sister off gently from their resting places on the fermentation tanks full of their namesake sour beer, fired up the GoPro, took some swigs of said sour beer, and got grooving on multiple rounds of rock-paper-scissors. 

Cheyenne brought her A-game, and nearly lost her glasses. Em needed a pep talk to strengthen her tortilla slaps. LaTroya could barely contain her laughter. 

Here’s the final product. I want you all to know that no yard flamingos were harmed in the making of this video. 

So Why Does All This Matter? 

Because at RadCraft we love a good story. This one ties in some of our favorite people, with roots at one of our favorite establishments, Bonfire Brewing. And now, because we can’t help ourselves, the narrative continues with its own hashtags– and stickers, too. 

After receiving her scholarship, LaTroya sent us an email that read “I'm happy to be a part of the change we strive to make and couldn't thank everyone behind the Michael James Jackson Foundation enough for making this invaluable experience happen for me. I hope to someday pay it forward!”

So that, my friends, is what we’re here to do. Pay it forward. We turned this silly Instagram trend and inside joke into a campaign to raise money for The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling. Many of you purchased Frieda stickers last year, for which proceeds went directly to the foundation that funds technical education and career advancement for black, indigenous, and people of color in the brewing and distilling industries. We hope you’ll visit their website, learn more, and get involved yourselves. 

Thanks to LaTroya (@asaptroya) for being an endless source of inspiration, laughter, and flamingo puns. 

Cheers! 

- Em Hutto

Advice From The Trail: Trillium Brewing on Content Marketing

Phil Cassella, photo courtesy Trillium Brewing

It goes without saying that Trillium Brewing are masters of content, among so many other things, who make us salivate on the reg with their scrumptious photography and streamlined messaging. Trillium’s Content Designer Phil Cassella and Marketing Director Mike Dyer are inspired, savvy, and generous with their insight— to say the least— and they gave us the lowdown on creating and executing a successful brewery content strategy. It all comes down to hospitality and patience. 

Advice From The Trail: Odell Brewing on Media Relations

We got a chance to talk media relations shop with Kristin Wood, the Community Manager at Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado. Here she emphasizes the significance of relationships, specifically bringing online connections to life by hosting at the brewery. We know that’s not always possible, and we encourage breweries to get creative with swag packs, beer shipments, and other digital ways to create connections in other virtual ways that lead to longterm brand recognition.

Odell seems to get an array of media mentions every day. How much of the earned media that you get is organic? How much comes from your PR efforts? 

If you include social media, I would say 70 percent organic mentions and 30 percent are from press releases and beer samples around new product launches.

How do you choose who to ship beer samples to?

We start with a list of people who are in the industry. Then we add to it over time with people who we find organically when they write stories or mentioned us or people or publications who we'd want to pitch to.

Any tips for engaging influencers on social?

Get to know them on a personal level. Communicating via social media as a brewery is great because you can be fun and casual and really build rapport with your influencers. Comment on their posts when they mention you and always re-share their content.

How often do you invite media out to visit your tasting rooms? How often do you host? 

Whenever I see a social media influencer is going to be in Colorado, I always send a personal note inviting them to one of our taprooms. I often make a point to be the hone who hosts them, even if it's after hours because it's so cool to be able to meet this person in real life. 

Who form your team handles PR? Is that their full-time or part time role? How does that work integrate with the rest of your sales and marketing team?

As the Community Manager, I handle PR. It's one of my many hats but it blends well with managing the social channels since the line between traditional media and new media (blogs, vlogs, social media influencers, etc) has become so blurred.

What have you had to learn the hard way about PR? 

I studied PR in college and I feel like nothing I learned is relevant anymore. Social media has completely changed the landscape and rules of the game. Often I feel like I'm just figuring it out as I go.

RadCraft Opens Co-Op Membership Application Early; Offers Free Membership to Barley Crafters Impacted by Coronavirus

Photo by Emily Sierra

Coronavirus really turned our world upside down, and we’ve heard from so many of you that’s the case for you too. We’re here to help, and we can think of no stronger way to show that than to open our doors up to the craft barley community— for business, for support, and for our community across the globe.

Accordingly, we opened up the application period for our communications co-op a month early, we're waiving all annual fees for all breweries, distilleries, and maltsters who apply for the 2020-2021 co-op membership before May 1.

The RadCraft co-op membership is an annual program designed for craft barley crafters with in-house marketing or communications professionals. Membership includes media relations resources like press release publishing and media lists; design services professional photo and video assets; subscriptions to our annual catalogue, vendor directory, and Craft Marketing emails; free tickets & discount pricing to all of RadCraft’s educational offerings, including registration to the annual Craft Social Media workshop; and more. 

Apply for your RadCraft co-op at radcraftbeer.com/jointhecoop. All fees will be waived for applications submitted by Friday, May 1. Applications will be accepted until the end of June. 2020-2021 memberships run July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. 

Companies who apply after May 1 can use the promo code COVIDSUCKS for 25% off the cost of annual membership.

For more information about the RadCraft communications co-op, contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.

Advice from the Trail: Creature Comforts on Building a Brewery Brand

We’re excited to continue our RadCrafter series! Each volume of Craft Marketing showcases a Featured Crafter— a craft marketing professional who is crafting content, telling stories, and curating resources about the beer industry. RadCrafters are helping to shape and share the culture that is craft beer. 

For this edition we reached out to Chris Herron, co-founder and CEO at Creature Comforts and picked his brain about beer, brewing, and what it takes to build a strong brand that resonates with consumers in today’s craft beer market

Before Creature Comforts Brewing Company became Georgia’s craft beer darling, the brand was a source of the Decatur neighborhood’s lure. Launched underground by offering samples of homebrew to bars. Each beer had its own psychedelic creatures drawn by friend Julian Bozeman which he called “Creature Comforts”. Beer drinkers were curious, and they sought out the latest creations— the artwork too. The Creature Comforts brand was born.

Bring Your Brewery Sticker To CBC 2018; Enter To Win Promote The Brew Marketing Resource Lounge Sweepstakes

photo by Colin Bridge

Don’t miss The Promote The Brew Marketing Resource Lounge at this year’s Craft Brewers Conference! Located on the first floor lobby (Lounge 1A) across from the breakout session rooms, this lounge is your one-stop hub for all of your craft brewery marketing needs.

The Promote The Brew Marketing Resource Lounge brings together industry leading resources such as Isaac Arthur and Cody Fague from CODO Design with Hands-on Branding, Emily Huto from RadCraft on Marketing Communications, Amy Oeding from Oeding Consulting to discuss retail merchandising profitably and Scott & Steve Schmidt from Promote The Brew with Promotional Marketing and The Market The Brew Podcast all in one location.

THE BUSINESSES

It's an honor to work with this world bunch of craft marketing colleagues. Click on each logo to learn more. 

THE SWEEPSTAKES

The Promote The Brew Marketing Resource Lounge is excited to raffle off a full suite of our partners’ products and services during this year’s conference. Bring your brewery sticker to stick to our life-sized cooler door for your chance to win this exceptional suite, valued at $3,635.00.

Find us at 2018 Craft Brewers Conference at the Music City Center on the first floor (street level) lobby (Lounge 1A) across from the breakout session rooms. The closest intersection is Korean Veteran's Boulevard and 5th Avenue S.

Stop in with your sticker for a chance to win, and to find out how we can help improve your business.

SEE Y'ALL IN MUSIC CITY!

RadCraft Reflects on 5 Rad Years in Business

Photo by The Brewtography Project

Good things come in fives— like human senses, and arms on a starfish. And the number of years that we've been in business helping fermented malted barley crafters tell stories about their brands. Rarely, though, do we tell stories about our own brand. In observance of the cooperative's fifth anniversary, RadCraft's founder Emily Hutto reflects on the company's evolution. 

Advice from the Trail: David Wright on Brewery Event Planning

RadCraft is excited to announce our RadCrafter series! Each volume of Craft Marketing showcases a Featured Crafter— a craft marketing professional who is crafting content, telling stories, and curating resources about the beer industry. RadCrafters are helping to shape and share the culture that is craft beer. 

First up is our dear friend and first-ever RadCraft employee David Wright. He’s passionate about beer, specifically beer that’s inspired by the outdoors. He’s also an event planner extraordinaire and a master herder of brewer cats. David has worked at RadCraft, Epic Brewing, Great Divide Brewing Co., and now Scratch Brewing Company.

David has also worked as the Colorado Director and Development Manager of the Beers Made By Walking program that invites brewers to go on nature hikes and urban walks, and make new beers inspired by edible plants.

It should be noted that when we caught up with David at Scratch Brewing Co., he was sipping Denver's incredible Corvus Coffee and rocking a t-shirt from our friends Fonta Flora Brewery in Morganton, North Carolina. Thanks for supporting other great crafters, David!