One of the best ways to connect with beer lovers and expose your beer brand to potential customers is at a beer fest or beer event.
We’ve put together a list of considerations to help your brewery choose the right beer fest to participate in.
From working with the right vendors to to making sure you choose the right crowd, we have you covered to help make your beer events worth it.
Be Picky – Only Do A Limited Amount of Beer Events Each Year
Depending on the size of the brewery and your brewery’s marketing budget, you should only circle a handful of events each year to participate in.
Going to too many events can stretch you too thin & can water down your message at events. Picking just a few and giving them your all will make them that much more impactful.
Worst comes to worst, you hear about how well the event went and you sign up for next year.
Know Who You Are Working With
Having a connection and knowing who is hosting the event is a big deal. When you put your name as a sponsor or participant you want to know you are working with the right people.
As a brewery you want to know that the host of the beer event or beer festival knows what they are doing. You want to make sure they sweat the small details to make the event run smooth.
Make sure the person or group you are working with has the right mind set for the event. If a host is more focused on making money, it will probably reflect on the event and the guests will know.
Find Events With Common Vision, Message, or Purpose
Working with events that align with your objectives and create a great environment for the attendees and vendors sets up your brewery experience for success.
Working with professionals that have a common vision or purpose, from delivering the best & most educational beer fest in the city or donating beer at a charity event, it pays to work with events that you support and support you back.
Pick the Right Audience
Let’s face it, we’ve all been to those beer fest that are made for those people that love the BIG ABV beers. You may want to rethink only being nothing more than a vessel for alcohol.
Picking right right audience for a brewery event is a huge deal.
Know the Venue
Doing the homework and making sure the brewery event venue won’t be overcrowded or making sure it has bathrooms for the crowd.
Knowing if the venue is going to be conducive for a beer event is an easy step to weeding out
Bring Your A-Team
Hopefully you are picking events that have an audience that are focused on learning about your brand and trying your beer. That’s why it is crucial to have knowledgeable and outgoing team members helping represent the brewery.
Invite team members that are going to create a good vibe at your brewery station and will leave a lasting impression on potential patrons.
Don’t forget to make it fun for your team as well!
Don’t Focus On Economic Insensitive
Focus on sharing who you are, where you are and what the brewery is about.
We are not saying events should be a money pit, simply, use this as a marketing opportunity to build community and give people a reason to come visit you.
Repeat Successful Events
If you felt that a particular event went really well, drove a lot of foot traffic, made an impact on sales or just was run really well and was a lot of fun, don’t wait to sign up an participate again!
If you got a lot of a particular event try sponsoring the next on or volunteer your brewery to play a bigger role. This is a great way to start leveling up your connections and clout.
Organize Your Own Brewery Event
If none of the events you’ve been looking into don’t feel just right, try hosting your own!
It might be a lot of extra work, but the benefits of hosting your own brewery event can make all the difference. When hosting you can control the audience you target, event size, pice and partnerships or sponsors.
Post Event – Event Evaluation
Sometimes you won’t know how an event will go until you just participate in a brewery feast. It’s okay not to hit a home-run with each event as long as you evaluate and decide if this event is right for you next time.
After the even make sure to have feedback of the event, concentrate on what works and what didn’t, how can you improve on the event, and was the event worth it.
Conclusion
Beer events are a low stakes way to get your brewery brand to your potential audience. Planning to participate in events you’ll be most successful with will help maximize low-stakes opportunity.
