Craft Beer Needs Community Coopetition

Is it better to fight to enter an old but large market, or to build a new, eager market with friends? In the craft beer scene, the answer is obvious. Rather than following the mainstream mold, small breweries can successfully grow both the craft industry and customer interest with coopetition and community marketing—like entertaining beer-education content, events and collabs, and creative online content.

Creative coopetition: Making a new market

Basic marketing uses a simple truth: if you prove you have the best solution to a repeat problem, you’ll get brand loyalty. But success is not simple for small brewers—every beer brand can solve the basic customer problem “I want beer,” and international conglomerates can easily outspend new competitors to keep customer loyalty.

Creative marketing has a better solution to craft brewing’s promotional problem: cooperating with competitors to craft *ahem* a growing industry and community customer base.

Cooperation in craft beer community marketing

Cooperating with competition is an excellent approach for craft beer’s unique audience:

  • Cooperative marketing shares the promotional benefits with the costs.
  • Word-of-mouth is free advertising, and craft beer drinkers love to discuss craft beer.
  • When awareness of one brewery becomes interest in others we don’t switch brands, we find room in the fridge to add more favourites.

Craft brewing community marketing works best collaboratively. Instead of trying to force out competition for their local customer base, craft breweries do better to promote joint brews that combine their strengths and introduce their audiences to each other. Instead of sponsoring events where only their beer is available at the concession, craft breweries that throw shared tasting events lift everyone’s profile in the local and online craft beer community.

Beer drinker bonus!

Collabs and events don’t just make us aware of the brands on offer, they teach us what to look for to answer our own complicated market problem, “I want to discover interesting, flavourful beers—that I can still trust will taste as I expect them to.”

Consistency in brand marketing competition

Craft brewers should still compete to find “their people” within the growing industry. Luckily, while community marketing builds industry reputation, creative content and brand marketing also sets brewers apart. So breweries with active websites and social media content:

  • create community interaction and encourage new craft beer drinkers
  • develop recognizable brewery personality and build brand reputation
  • gain customers outside of their local community base

But even competing to stand out through brewery personality, content, and branding requires cooperation. Each brewery’s take—both marketing content and bottle contents—must be unique and tied to their brand identity, but also understand and reflect expected customer standards.

A beer by any name may taste as sweet, but one taproom’s pale ale shouldn’t be another’s IPA.

Craft breweries share responsibility for community satisfaction, and the industry gains customer trust by meeting expectations. Content and branding that follows standards while encouraging innovation (like nitro beers and fruit ales) means craft beer offers more variety within each brand while providing more reliable options within each brew style.

Beer drinker bonus!

This industry consistency while introducing new methods and flavours allows consumers to trust unique products they haven’t even tried before…and come back for more.

Marketing Locally for a Global Community

With coopetition, familiarity starts with a brand, but each customer is gained by the whole community of craft brewers. While the audience for craft beer starts locally, responsible branding and community marketing with other brewers reaches further:

  1. raising craft beer’s profile
  2. creating a larger customer base
  3. increasing demand for each brewery
  4. growing the industry

Marketing that cooperates to lift the global craft beer industry while brewers compete to provide the best local beers benefits everyone, especially craft beer drinkers. Which is why, as a craft beer–drinking copywriter, I spread the word of great craft beer brands to great people in the Lower Mainland and further afield.

Craft companies deserve professional content support.

Need fresh website copy, an upcoming event pushed, promotional articles, or blogging and social media posts that keep sites active and up-to-date while you concentrate on what you do best? I offer services and ongoing bundles to suit most small businesses.

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