Have you heard of the Brewdog brewing company? They are a micro Scottish brewery who had a tough time selling locally because people grew up with other lager. So, they connected with American and Swedish beer enthusiasts who appreciated foreign beer. They contacted the top beer bloggers in each country and sent them free samples. As a result, their beer orders took off and now exports account for 80% of their business.
Isn’t this an extraordinary success story? They reached out to bloggers and grew their business substantially. What company would shy away from these results?
Ignorant companies, that’s who, but you’re different. You are reading Prevential.com and our main goal is to show you how you can grow your business. In the remaining part of this article, I will show you what you can learn from Brewdog’s success.
Talk to Your Customers
Brewdog used video to talk to their customers. They filmed the staff arguing about the virtues of different beers and then let them vote on how it would taste. They called it “Beer Rocks” and it was a huge success since it was the world’s first democratically designed beer. Now, do you know the best part? All it cost was a few hours filming and the price of a video camera.
This promotion worked well because it added a personal touch to a distant company. As I mentioned in the Mom & Pop Advantage, customers today yearn for this personal touch and this leads me to my next big point.
Let Your Customers Decide
How many of you remember the origin of the Blue M&M? For those of you that don’t, Mars let their customers vote on either Blue, Pink, or Purple M&Ms by calling 1-800 FUN COLOR and Blue won. The people who voted for blue felt like they made a difference and probably continued eating M&Ms because they had a personal investment in the product.
Brewdog’s “Beer Rocks” campaign was similar. They let their customers vote and to no surprise, it created lots of buzz. So, if you’re looking to introduce or change your product, you should let your customers have some input. It will give your customers a personal investment in your product and it will help you avoid travesties like “New Coke.”
Make Your Customers Feel Special
If you take a look at Brewdog’s website, they say “our beers are in no way commercial or mainstream.” That means, if you’re drinking their beer, you are part of the select few who have the privilege of drinking it. While subtle, it makes their customers feel special — it makes them feel like they’re part of a small Seth Godin-like Tribe. If you want your customers to feel part of a small and elite crew, sometimes you just need to tell them they’re already in it.
What Do You Think?
Now what do you think? Did Brewdog join the conversation the right way? Why don’t more companies take a page from their book and do the same?
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Derek, very interesting article. In the world of commodities, being different makes a difference. Small companies do things differently because they have to. They don’t have a giant bureaucracy invested in the status quo and afraid to do something different. The big companies spend millions on 5th avenue advertising that studies show doesn’t necessarily work – except maybe during the Super Bowl.
@Stephen And you know what, as long as small companies continue to do things differently, small companies will become big companies and big companies will cease to exist. Gotta love innovation.
When you say they reached out to top bloggers, what do you mean? Other than sending them free samples… I mean, if someone sends me a free sample I suppose I am inclined to write about it, but was any other compensation provided?
@No Debt Plan There was no compensation mentioned in the news article. I’m going to reach out to them to see if I can get some further comments.
Reaching out to people who can talk to their followers is a brilliant way to get noticed. The beer must be good. They were confident that it would be well received, so they took a chance and won.
I’ve never had Brewdog beer before and now because of your blog I’m curious. I’ll check if it’s at my local supermarket. The good word of mouth keeps spreading.
@Karl I’m actually quite curious about their beer too. They’re not mainstream and they marketed it a great way. It must be good!
I like how Brewdog made themselves real to their customers. We have a local supermarket chain that started out small and now has 11 stores.
They used the same tactic to start out and they are still using it today.
You laid it out pretty simply.
Thank you Sheila
@Sheila Isn’t it great when companies act personal? It just feels great.
I have a small company and think I can modify that idea and run with it…Thanks
А мне нравится этот блог, только авторам надо помнить, что посетители разные бывают. Короче учитывайте возростной ценс посетителей.
I learn English and copy writing from blogging.
Материал заслуживает повышенного внимания. Дабы изучить более подробно, добавлю в избранное
Sending out samples is definately a good idea, especially if the blogger has done similar blog posts about other freebies. Some bloggers will accept cash to promote your product, however the average Joe Blogs blogger does it for fun so freebies like this will be sure to get a link from them.
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