2020 was an unprecedented challenge for beverage alcohol brand owners and many had to adapt their business model on the fly to compensate for the widespread closures on-premise, supply chain disruptions, and consumers who were largely homebound.
One brand that found success by drastically adapting its plans for 2020 was Milam & Greene.
Texas-based Milam & Greene was set to focus solely on the Texas market, but the pandemic forced them to look beyond their home state.
Expanding from 1 to 10 States
Milam & Greene leadership felt expanding beyond Texas was a necessity as it was no longer able to focus its sales efforts on-premise as it had originally planned. So Milam & Greene expanded its off-premise sales capabilities to a total of 10 states and built an online store-locator for its website.
“As you know, if you are a craft distiller and expanding your market, it’s not enough to be on the shelves. You have to constantly be thinking: “How do I get those bottles moving off the shelf,” says Heather Greene, CEO of Milam & Greene parent company Provision Spirits. “By doing these store-locators and geo-targeting campaign, we were basically showing our retail partners and distribution partners that we were going to back up that distribution channel with marketing efforts.”
Milam & Green additionally waded into the e-commerce space and was able to expand its DTC capabilities to 41 total states.
Optimizing Digital Communications
Not only did its new digital platform provide Milam & Greene the ability to reach more customers directly, but also gave it data about retention, conversion, and more information about the target audience. One of the key digital strategies Milam & Green employed was to geo-target customers and retailers, and then align its e-commerce and digital campaigns to more effectively communicate.
The last piece of the puzzle was to spread the word beyond Texas. The company launched a “massive effort to share our product, share our story, and make sure people knew we were here,” said Greene. “We know people want to buy nice premium spirits from a small craft brand. We just knew that we had to get that out there.”
To hear more on Milam & Greene’s 2020 playbook, click here.