10 Ideas for Distilleries to Attract New Local Customers This Memorial Day

22/05/2020 Celebrate Memorial day by hosting an interactive tasting experience for your customers. You can host it as a happy hour party or a guided tasting for your spirits.

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer in the US. It is one of the most important days for generating sales for distilleries.

According to a report by Statista, the sales growth value of Spirit Based Cocktails on Memorial Day Weekend increased by 40.7% in 2019. This year too, despite lockdowns and social distancing, it is projected that the number is only going to increase.

However, things are going to be different this year. No Memorial Day gatherings and barbeque parties. What distilleries can focus on right now is to gather more hyper-local customers and build a community starting in their neighborhood.

For consumers, right now nearer is better. It is a chance for you to connect to them in a more personalized way and increase your sales. Here are 10 Ideas for Distilleries to Attract New Local Customers this memorial day.

Host an online event at your distillery (with Zoom)

Celebrate Memorial Day by hosting an interactive tasting experience for your customers. You can host it as a happy hour party or a guided tasting for your spirits.

You can also host a guided virtual cocktail class just like Rhine Hall Distillery (Fulton St., Chicago) is organizing this week.

“This week's virtual cocktail class will get you ready for a very fun and unique Memorial Day Weekend! Whether you have plans to BBQ outside or are thinking of future deck parties, these cocktails will help you feel transported to a TRULY epic backyard hang!” said the team on their website. 

 

Product Bundling 

Everyone enjoys a Moscato Margarita or the classic Rum & Coke on a memorial day with smoked barbeque meals. This is the perfect opportunity for distilleries to bundle their products in small packages and sell them as cocktail kits during Covid-19. 

Offer Ready to Drinks (RTD) Cocktails that are a bestseller for you every year around Memorial Day.

Collaborate with a local restaurant

While you’re bundling your drinks in cocktail kits, you can also attract more local customers by collaborating with one of your local restaurants. Here’s how it will work. To stand apart from your competition, you should always provide an experience to your consumers. In this case, that experience is “Convenience”.

Partner up with a restaurant so that when consumers order drinks from you they can also get food delivered from that restaurant and vise versa.

This will benefit in two ways — first, more customers referred by restaurants and, second, you’ll be able to increase DTC Sales.

Geo-Targeted Social Campaigns

Right now treat Facebook ads and google ads as the billboards of your neighborhood. No one is getting out and people are spending more time on their favorite social media platforms. 

Leverage this by running paid social media ads on a memorial day about your offers and delivery options. 

Special Curbside Cocktails

Although your doors might be closed during Covid-19, you can still attract new customers by adding special curbside cocktails to your menu on a memorial day. 

Offer make-at-home cocktail kits or just tell your customers to bring a glass with them to your distillery’s curbside and fill it up with a memorial day cocktail for a special price.

You can offer them summer cocktails like Durham Disitllery are selling out cocktail kits that reminds you about those picturique beaches and summer sands. (Image source: Durhan Distillery)

 

Use Referral Codes

Ask your customers to refer your winery, brewery, or distillery to their friends and they can enjoy a free cocktail delivered to their door on a memorial day. This can create a snowball word-of-mouth effect and increase your memorial day weekend sales in just simple ways.

Apart from this, don’t forget to send an email newsletter giving special code discounts that people can use on a memorial day at your distillery. 

Utilize Online Listings and Web Directories: 

Online Directories are a great way to spread the word online and make your product/service visible in a particular targeted geographical area. List your distillery at getdrinksdelivered.com, an online portal for distilleries to grow their delivery and curbside pick up sales. 

Distilleries have the opportunity to register now for free using this link. After May 30 there will be a $99 annual administration charge to run the platform.

Text Marketing 

Text marketing is a great tool for reminder marketing that can boost your sales during this Memorial Day. Gather all the data that you have collected throughout the years of your local customers in cellar door visits or online delivery.

Send them a text message on Memorial Day Morning and remind them why they should buy from you again. And to convert them, give them a special discount link/code too.

Build your community (online)

Make a Facebook group. A week leading to Memorial Day, ask your customers to join your group on Facebook to get access to special discounts and stories, and this is how when Memorial Day comes your distillery will have a loyal community.

An extended point about this strategy is, this activity really creates your community and brings them in touch with you online. You can further ask recommendations from them, host special dinners to make them feel like a community. 

Start Thinking Ahead

Memorial Day is the unofficial mark that summer is here. Take memorial day as the learning point of what consumers are liking and what trends you can spot for this summer.

For example, many distilleries, restaurants, and bars are reporting an increase of orders when it comes to RTD (Ready to Drink) Cocktails and gins. 

It’s time to wrap up and implement all or some of these strategies for your distillery. Please note before delivering or offering curbside pickup, check with your local authorities whether it’s permitted or not.

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