Strategy and Brand for a Startup Brewery
In March of 2016, Tami was invited to speak in front of thousands of craft beer brewers at the Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia. Tami spoke on the importance of creating a strong brand and social media strategy for your beer, brewery, and taproom. Her speech was recorded and is still being accessed through the Brewers Association. One person in particular, heard the speech and reached out to the team at Brand Yourself.
Justin, one of the co-founders at Hop & Barrel Brewing Company, and his team opened their taproom in the fall of 2017 in downtown Hudson, Wisconsin. We have had the opportunity to work with this incredible home-brewing, (multiple) award-winning, team of people from the early stages of their planning developments.
In January of 2017, the team at Brand Yourself met up with the team from Hop & Barrel Brewing Company to discuss everything from what to name their company, as well as, all the good things that will set them apart from the other breweries in the area. After three hours, we had a name and a game plan. We would be moving forward to develop a strong brand with their newly chosen name, build a kick-butt website, and create a social media strategy for the year; a strategy that encompasses both pre and post-opening. We helped to answer the question of, “How do we talk about how good our beer is before we’ve brewed any?” We have loved working with Hop & Barrel’s team through every step of the process. They are kind-hearted, smart, witty and passionate individuals who also happen to be REALLY good at brewing really good beer! Justin had some really nice things to say about working with our team! We are still blushing.
“Brand Yourself has been an invaluable partner to our brewery. We started working with their team after reviewing their presentation at the CBC in 2016. They were one of the very first companies we consulted with during the formation and build out phases of our project.
The initial project meetings and website design phases were a blast. Within a few moments of meeting the BY team we knew they were genuinely interested in our project. Working with them for the last half a year has been a breeze. Whether it’s setting up in person meetings, video conferences, emails or even quick text check ins, they are a team that is easy to approach and quick to respond.
The marketing guide they customized for our brewery was overwhelming, in a good way; a very good way. I still remember my partner and I reading through, sitting in our meeting in a mental fog, and just trying to process the amount of local data, competitive analysis, and specified recommendations. After pulling our jaws off the floor it was quickly apparent that this was a team that knew the intricacies of marketing and built a plan customized for our needs and locality. The effect of following their plan has been immediately noticeable and the feedback we’re receiving has been overwhelmingly positive. We can’t wait for the next phases to hit in the coming months.” – Justin
Below is a short glimpse into the branding process. We hope you enjoy it!
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