Without a doubt, the alcohol industry is one of the most successful markets in the world. But when the Covid-19 virus resulted in lockdowns around the globe, alcohol bans were also introduced. This had negatively impacted the industry and alcohol producers lost a great sum of their budget and profits during these bans.
Alcohol Producers and Marketing prior to the pandemic
Let us talk about one such company that lost millions of Rand’s due to such alcohol bans…South Africa’s leading alcohol producer and supplier. This particular company is known for many brands that are popular among the South African target market.
Prior to the pandemic, this alcohol producer and supplier did a lot of their marketing at sporting events and social gatherings. But this all changed once lockdowns were introduced and alcohol bans were put into effect.
This now meant that this company would have had to change or adapt their marketing strategies in order to promote new and existing products and meet the new regulations announced by the South African Government. It is good to make note that South Africa had a number of alcohol bans which had a major impact on the industry.
Now that social gatherings were prohibited and sporting events canceled, this alcohol producer needed to find new ways in which they could promote their products. This is when they took to social media or in better words, they used the help of digital marketing to promote their alcohol.
How did this alcohol producer and supplier use Digital Marketing?
Alcohol bans could be lifted at any time and this company had to be prepared for production, supply and marketing. So how did they tackle marketing? Well let’s start off first with getting to know what their customers expected from them.
The company took to social media to get to know their customers even better and what kept them occupied during the lockdown period. They had learnt that many people kept themselves occupied by playing games. People had invested their time in family games and activities.
They had then marketed their brands according to customers’ age groups and activities they did during the lockdown. It is also good to remember that this alcohol producer already had a strong marketing strategy in place before the lockdown.
However, during lockdown people had more free time than usual and were prepared to taste different brands and get involved in new activities which is why they had to communicate with their customers at a closer level to understand their tastes and preferences.
This is when digital marketing came to the rescue as this company wasn’t able to market their products at public events and gatherings so they took full advantage of using digital marketing to help them reach out to their target audience.
They did not only make it their priority to market their products, they also ensured that they created awareness around Covid-19 and how to prevent the spread of the virus as well as ensured people took sober driving and safe drinking seriously.
It is important to remember that digital marketing reaches a number of people within minutes so it is significant that businesses promote not only their products but also create awareness and caution people about doing what is correct.
Other alcohol producers and suppliers can use the experience of this company as an example to guide them through their digital marketing process.
In the age of technology, it is important for businesses to be aware of their options in the marketing field. Although traditional marketing is still a good way to market products and services, digital marketing has shown even more success in terms of reaching more target audiences in a short period of time as well as interacting with them on a daily basis.
Even within the alcohol industry marketing is still extremely important especially when it comes to new products and creating awareness. However, this does not now mean that well-known alcohol brands should not be marketed. Using a mix of traditional and digital marketing can still do the trick when it comes to gaining the attention of consumers.
written by:
Aditi Sukram.