You down with PLC?
Normally I don’t resort to poor grammar or vulgar song references when I write to you, but my post title is a corny nod to an old hip hop song that shows my age and a mild attempt to be clever, so just give me a pass this time. If you were born after 1985 don’t worry about it, just keep reading.
Now that we’ve broken the ice, let’s get into this week’s topic. People don’t like marketing. It’s complicated and full of grey areas. I get it, I have a degree in marketing and I’m still learning new concepts everyday, but this is why I’m here and this is why you’re on my email list - to assist you with marketing comprehension that will help you optimize and streamline your brewery marketing efforts, so you’re not winging it out there with zero purpose or direction.
If you already know that you need help with brewery marketing and you’re ready to commit to some serious training, you can register for my upcoming coaching program Crafting a Marketing Strategy here (launching on Feb 24th).
Enter the concept of the PLC.
The PLC (the product life cycle) describes the life of a product from development to its death. It exists to help businesses make decisions about promotions, budgets, pricing, innovation, packaging, distribution, and growth in their specific industry. Depending on where you fall in the product life cycle of your brand, your marketing goals, strategies and activities will look quite different.
3 to 5 years ago you probably weren’t concerned with sales and marketing strategies, but your time on easy street has come to an end. Our market is saturated with competitors, so you need to have clear strategies in place that will help you navigate sales and dictate your marketing focus. It’s time to get serious about planning, and your plans should be influenced by where your brand is in your PLC.
Sound complicated? It can be, but don’t worry, I’m here to cut through all the business jargon and translate it into beer language. I’m going to run you through 4 main stages of the PLC. If you were to Google the PLC, you might see 5-6 stages, but for simplicity, I’ve eliminated the Development phase since most of you have breweries that are already up and running, and I feel like the Maturity and Saturation phase tend to melt together anyways.
Introduction Phase: you’ve opened the doors to your brewery and now you’ve got to sell your beer, welcome to the introduction phase. Your focus here should be building brand awareness and encouraging customer trial. Translation - you need to tell as many people as you can about your brewery and get as many people as possible to try your beers. Your marketing materials in this phase should be centered around brand education and should cast a wide net.
Growth Phase: things are going great, sales are up, you have more customers everyday, people are talking about your beer and you’ve gained a pretty decent amount of brand recognition, but don’t get cocky, competition is creeping up on you. Your focus in this phase should be to establish your brand presence in the market so that your customers choose your brand over others. Translation - your promotions need to be clear and consistent. Your marketing materials for this phase should remind customers why you’re a consistent brand they can trust.
Maturity Phase: sales have stagnated and the market is pretty saturated with competing brands, sometimes this is when companies resort to competing on price (please don’t do this, craft beer is not a commodity). Your focus during this phase should be placed on differentiating your brand from your competitors and discovering new market opportunities. Translation - remind all your customers about the unique selling propositions of your brand and start digging into new market opportunities, like product innovation, cross promotions, and new market segments. Your marketing materials in this phase should place an emphasis on increased distribution, new products or new uses for your beer (I’m looking at you beer slushie and seltzer peeps), what makes your brand unique, and reinforcing customer loyalty.
Decline Phase: (cue sad violin playing) this phase is marked by a steep decline in sales and loss of brand interest. Think the laser disc, the iPod, and more relevant to our space and time, unfortunately breweries like Boulder Beer (sort of closed) and most recently Stoudt’s. This phase sucks, there’s no way around it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the death of your brewery if you can approach it strategically, which usually means you need to take it on the chin and totally rework your brewery plans. Translation - rebrand or totally rework your products if you can. Marketing focus in this phase should be all about reinvention.
So there you go folks, figure out where your brewery is according to your current PLC and you can find some direction with your marketing strategies. The PLC is just a small portion of my upcoming Crafting a Marketing Strategy coaching program that launches February 24th - click here to register or get more details. If you’re serious about growing your brand in today’s crowded beer market, you better have a plan, and by the end of my program you’ll have a solid one that will guide you in your marketing efforts and keep you on a path of steady brand growth.
Cheers,
Julie