Alcohol brands have often led the way in digital consumer marketing, adopting new technologies and strategies ahead of the rest of the field. Driven in part by historic restrictions in broadcast media, and the inherently experience-driven social nature of their products, this is a group to watch in battling one of the largest obstacles facing the modern marketer- ad blindness. Studies show that 86% of consumers are ad blind, and only 8% of users will recall a company, product, or service after viewing an ad. Paid ads on social media are seeing a decline in effectiveness in today’s climate, and strategies that solely rely on these advertisements aren’t paying off for beloved brands.
With 92% of consumers stating they prefer recommendations from people in their lives over any advertising source, it’s a no-brainer to include word-of-mouth as a component of your strategy. This especially holds true for alcohol brands. According to one study, two-thirds of consumers tend to purchase their favorite alcohol brand, rather than experimenting with new brands. With such loyal consumers, it’s key to generate initial awareness that is impactful in earning real consideration. People trust word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations from their friends more than any other form of media. While paid media can be helpful for initial awareness, these consumers want to hear from each other before you’ll earn their real consideration and purchase.
An inherently social experience, alcohol brands really spread through word-of-mouth. People love recommending their favorite wines, beers, liquors and mixers to their friends and family, and love posting to show their friends what they enjoy to drink. Craft cocktails are IN. Wine is more popular with the younger consumers than ever before. Good old-fashioned beer will always be in, and microbrews have tons of buzz right now. Everyone is making hard seltzers. With so much on the market, consumers love talking about what’s new in the beverage industry. This makes the reputation of alcohol brands that much more important. This post dives into the underutilized opportunities alcohol brands have to leverage word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing to overcome the shortcomings of a paid-only strategy.
The oversaturation of paid advertisements, especially on social media, and why they don’t always resonate –
- Consumers consciously and subconsciously filter out digital advertisements. From various ad-blockers to the “Promotions” tab in gmail, brands hit many roadblocks to getting in front of consumers with digital touchpoints.
- Paid advertisements on social media aren’t too effective either. A study by Havas Media found that ad blindness has infiltrated Facebook, reducing clickthrough rates on digital ad campaigns.
- Influencers are oversaturated, too. The world of #sponsored “word-of-mouth” is pay-to-play, and it’s difficult for consumers to know when an influencer’s promotion is real and genuine.
So how can we flip the switch? What can you do to get in front of your consumers in a way that resonates?
- Join the conversation where it’s happening. Most of the talk about your brand doesn’t happen on your site or your channels, but in the feeds of your best customers. By joining these conversations, you can learn from your customers while helping inform and shape the discussion and impact how your brand spreads. With alcohol brands, there are so many innovative ways brands can get involved. Try hosting wine clubs and bartending classes, and sponsor fun virtual events instead of live ones for now.
- Share and interact with UGC that your customers post to show your gratitude and increase excitement. People love sharing their favorite drinks and drink recipes with friends and family. Whether staying home or out at restaurants, alcohol lends itself to great content on social media, as people savor and share moments with loved ones and their favorite drink. Be a bigger part of those moments and posts.
- Find a more structured approach to advocacy and word-of-mouth. Build an Insiders community and engage your best fans to share your brand with their own true network of friends and family. Encourage fans to talk about your products and create content on your behalf. This Insiders community is yours to curate. Create an insiders club, ask for product feedback, inspire UGC, and promote sharing with sampling promotions. Inspire new cocktail creations, or invite people to share their wine dinners or beer moments. As the seasons change, the opportunities are endless to get your fans to share their favorite seasonal moments with your drinks.
- If building an Insiders community feels like a big jump from where you are now, start by inviting your customers to create more user-generated content around your brand. Not only do these generate immediate organic reach, but you can repurpose that content in your paid advertisements so your ads look and feel more authentic. One study showed that Facebook and Instagram ads that utilize user-generated photos saw a 5x higher return on spend and 50% increase in click rates.
- With alcohol brands, your consumers are already talking about you amongst themselves. With a more solid WOM strategy, you can guide those organic conversations on social media to help grow your business.
The reason that paid advertising doesn’t always work on its own is why WOM does – trust in the source. It goes back to recommendations, stories, and content from people we trust in our real lives. How are you inspiring advocacy and WOM from your customers? There are incredible opportunities for advocacy with alcohol brands where peer-to-peer recommendations are an essential form of marketing. If you’re considering tech partners to help you power a customer insiders program, reach out to erin@crowdly.com to learn more about Crowdly’s all-in-one platform and how we’ve driven advocacy at scale for alcohol brands like Apothic Wine, Woodchuck Cider, and Mount Gay Rum.
Sources:
1 https://miappi.com/paid-ads-benefit-user-generated-content/
2 https://www.annexcloud.com/blog/the-ultimate-list-of-user-generated-content-statistics/
3https://www.omnivirt.com/blog/prevent-banner-blindness/#:~:text=Banner%20Blindness%20Statistics&text=Roughly%20only%208%25%20of%20users,consumers%20suffer%20from%20banner%20blindness4https://www.marketingweek.com/drinkers-need-new-reasons-to-try-new-alcohol-brands/