Experiential and event marketing is absolutely booming —
The world of experiential marketing is on the rise. In fact, 67% of businesses boosted their budgets for experiential marketing this year. Through a variety of experiential product marketing tactics, they plan to grow their operations.
One sector that's set to benefit from experiential promotion ideas is the alcohol marketing industry. The alcohol industry can make huge money by building marketing campaigns based on in-person experience.
If you're interested in learning how to promote alcohol brands through experiential marketing, this guide is for you. Let's take a look at what you need to know!
Alcohol Marketing Trends in 2022
Before we jump into how to promote wine and spirits through experiential marketing, let's take a look at a few key alcohol marketing trends. Being aware of these trends will make your wine and spirits marketing tactics easier than ever.
Direct-to-Consumer Delivery
Direct-to-consumer alcohol delivery was once a distant dream of alcohol brands, but in 2022 it's a popular way of selling alcohol. Thanks to the pandemic, direct-to-consumer sales suddenly grew, making it a trend that's here to stay.
The Use of Social Media
Another trend to keep your eyes on in the alcohol industry this year is the use of social media. TikTok recently rose to the top of the social media scene thanks to its trendy dances and short, amusing videos.
What's interesting is that 36% of TikTok users visit restaurants thanks to videos they watched on the platform. That makes using TikTok a place where alcohol brands can market their wares and make some big cash.
Last September, the platform reached 1 billion users, and the number is only expected to rise. For any alcohol marketers, it's time to get onboard the TikTok train.
Ramped Up Delivery
Another big marketing trend in the alcohol industry is that delivery times are speeding up. Direct-to-consumer alcohol platforms once took hours or even days to get alcohol to customers' doors.
Not so anymore - today deliveries are arriving in 60 minutes or less. Any alcohol brand that really wants to make it onto their customers' shelves needs to keep an eye on the drop in delivery times.
More Sustainable Production
Sustainability has always been important to customers, but in 2022 that trend looks like it will be taking the beer and wine industries by storm. Both these brewing processes cause pollution and waste energy. That in turn can cause customers to boycott the beverages.
In order to keep customers interested in the brands, many beer and wine companies are beginning to focus on sustainability. By adopting these new practices, they can really grab their customers' attention.
Increasing Partnerships
Another big trend in experiential marketing that you'll want to keep an eye on is partnerships. Influencer and celebrity marketing are only set to increase in 2022.
And, with companies such as Patagonia getting into the alcohol production game, competition is going to be fierce. Alcohol brands would do well to create celebrity partnerships in order to sell their drinks.
Tips for an Experiential Alcohol Marketing Campaign
With these trends in the alcohol industry in mind, it's time to get to work building your own campaign. Let's take a look at what you need to know to launch a successful experiential marketing campaign for your alcohol brand.
Get to Know Your Audience
The first step to starting an alcohol marketing strategy is to do your research. Just like any other marketing campaign you launch, you'll need to get a good idea of who your target audience is.
When you have a strong understanding of your target audience's demographics, you'll get key information about their buying patterns. That will let you market more effectively and help entice them to make a purchase.
Remember, buying behaviors are influenced by tons of different factors. Gender, age, ethnicity, and more can all affect what types of products customers buy and what marketing tactics they'll respond to.
Select a Strategy
If you want to learn how experiential marketing works, you need to know that there are several strategies involved. Each method for marketing businesses online comes with its own advantages and applications.
To make sure you're building marketing campaigns that reach your desired audience, you'll need to choose the right strategy. Here are a few marketing strategies that work great for alcohol brands.
Event Marketing
One of the most well-known experiential marketing strategies out there is event marketing. This strategy creates and promotes an event well in advance to entice attendees to come to the event.
Once they're there, you'll find booths and showrooms at festivals, conventions, fairs, and trade shows. These temporary installations are great ways to introduce consumers to your product and entice them to buy.
Guerilla Marketing
Another type of experiential marketing tactic is something called guerilla marketing. This type of marketing strategy focuses on unconventional ways to raise awareness about your alcohol brand.
These types of events entice emotional and visceral reactions from customers. They create a truly unique and memorable experience for customers that make them more likely to purchase products. A great example of this tactic from The Experiential Network was for Anheuser-Busch's energy drink called Hi-Ball. Click here for the case study.
Guerilla marketing relies more upon word of mouth to raise awareness of a product. These efforts are much less formal than event marketing strategies.
Brand Activations
A more difficult marketing strategy to understand is something called brand activations. Brand activations are experiences that launch a new brand, service, product line, or item.
In most brand activations, you'll demonstrate your new offerings or hand out free samples. They're great ways to build interest in your brand when it's just starting out. Sampling
Before your brand activation launches, you'll need to put out promotions to hype the event up. These promotions usually aren't that formal, however. They don't require participants to purchase a ticket in order to attend the event.
The easiest way to market your brand activations is through social media advertisements. Posting stories or running ads can cause individuals to check out your alcohol brand and get excited about your upcoming event.
Create an Emotional Connection
Probably the most beneficial strategy for developing a successful campaign for marketing your alcohol business is to build an emotional connection with your customers. When customers feel personally connected to your brand, they're more likely to buy your products.
You can create this emotional connection in tons of different ways. However, regardless of the method you select, you should make sure that they complement your brand's values and mission statement.
When you build emotional connections with your customers, try to put yourself in their shoes. Think about how your product can positively impact their lives so that you can get a clearer picture of what your customers are looking for and how you can benefit them.
Use Technology
Technology is woven into the fabric of our society, and failing to use it would be a huge mistake for your wine and spirits marketing efforts. The good news is that you can easily incorporate technology into an experiential marketing campaign.
VR sets and immersive videos are two great ways to get customers excited about your company and its offerings. Set up immersive videos that take consumers through your vineyard or develop a VR tasting room experience.
Another way to use technology is to create custom event hashtags. This helps get your product found and makes it easier for potential buyers to discover your brand and make a purchase.
Mobilize Your Campaign
Another major tip for your experiential marketing campaign is to make it mobile. What that means is not limiting your marketing efforts to just one locality but taking it national to raise brand awareness.
You can do this by creating a mobile pop-up shop where customers can get introduced to your business and make purchases. Or, you can create an event trailer that's easy to move from one place to another.
Better yet, when you take your campaign on the road, you can tailor the stops along your tour to your target audience. Select areas where you know your target audience lives and is likely to make a purchase. Click here to see a list of vehicles that we have!
Plus, implement some social media marketing strategies to help get customers hyped up before you arrive.
Get Started With Experiential Alcohol Marketing
Now you know more about alcohol marketing and how it ties into experiential marketing. With this knowledge, you're ready to promote your alcohol brands. Using the tips and trends outlined in this guide, you'll be able to create a well-rounded campaign.
With these experiential marketing strategies, you can successfully market your alcohol brand and entice consumers to buy. And, you can use alcohol marketing trends in 2022 to make your efforts more successful.
So, are you ready to get started with experiential marketing for alcohol? Get in touch, and we'll help you launch your very own campaign!
