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Adding Public Relations to Your Marketing Plan
WRITTEN BY D KARA POUN
F
or craft distillers — small, budget-conscious businesses, in many cases still in startup mode — understanding the value of investing in public relations can be a crucial lesson. Compared to spending money on advertising, you can get a lot more bang for your buck with a successful PR campaign. My foray into the distillery world began with a director of communications position at a startup distillery in St. Augustine, Florida appropriately named St. Augustine Distillery. This was in 2015, about two years after the distillery opened and we were just getting our feet wet. Startups mean lean teams and the absence of protocols and processes. As a young distillery that produced vodka, gin, rum, and had hundreds of barrels of aging bourbon, we relied almost as much on public relations as we did marketing. If you spend five hours creating a connection with a spirits writer for Forbes and secure an earned media placement in a top-tier media outlet, that’s often time better spent than ponying up thousands of dollars for an advertisement. When it comes to promoting spirits, there are dozens of newsworthy topics that the media would be interested in covering. Essentially, give them the hook that they’re looking for. You need to present more to them than simply existing. Here are some story ideas to keep in mind:
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Do you have a new product coming out?
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What philanthropic work are you doing?
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Can you think of any commonalities?
If so, start putting public relations initiatives together as soon as possible. You’ll need high-resolution photos of the bottles (preferably filled with product) in both a journalistic setting (the tasting room, on top of barrels, next to distillation equipment, being held prominently by the owner(s) or head distiller) as well as cutouts on a white background. You’ll also need tasting notes and any other pertinent information including, “What makes this spirit different from others in the market?,” “Why did you choose to age it in port barrels from the local winery?,” etc. When we launched our first bourbon at St. Augustine Distillery, I created a Q&A with the owners to send along with the press release I had prepared.
What community outreach are you involved in? Owning a distillery is more than just selling bottles of booze. You need to own your backyard and become a pillar of your community. Pay your staff to help clean up a neighborhood park, compost your spent grains at a nearby farm, or donate funds to help a struggling cultural center. It’s kind of how life works; do good and good will come back to you. Make sure you educate the media about the great things you’re doing for the community and capitalize on positive PR. Send out a blurb and photo or full-blown press release about what your distillery has been up to.
When I worked at St. Augustine Distillery, I loved how some of our distillers would go out fishing together. They talked about it all the time and it really brought them together like brothers. I pitched a story to a local magazine about the guys’ bonding while fishing and it became this great piece called, “The Tide: Casts and Casks.” Not only was it five pages of organic “advertising” for the distillery, it made me pretty popular with the distillers.
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