The city of Denver recently hosted Startup Week, an annual series of seminars that not only showcases up-and-coming local businesses, but educates attendees on what it takes to be successful. I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to attend a seminar that combines two of my passions: craft beer and marketing.
This particular seminar consisted of a panel representing three Denver-based brewing companies: Spangalang, Bierstadt Lagerhaus and Black Sky Brewery. These breweries embody the Denver craft beer movement, as they are small microbreweries that typically yield about 500 barrels a year. Breweries in this category are responsible for making Colorado the craft beer capital of the United States, and represent an industry that greatly impacts the culture of our society.
Passion Is Essential Ingredient
Although the topics of discussion remained heavily focused on the craft brewing industry, the panel’s insights and perspectives proved to be applicable to many industries. For me, the key takeaway is the importance of passion in your work. Despite entirely different backgrounds, each brewer has a love for their craft. Again and again, they reiterated that when nurturing the growth of a new business, without passion, one will fail. Believing in yourself is the key ingredient in the recipe for small-business success.
Crafty Marketing
I learned what type of marketing tactics each brewery found to be best suited for engaging new consumers. Interestingly enough – all three of the brewers agreed that they don’t invest many dollars, let alone interest, into traditional marketing. It was apparent that there was a stark contrast between the approach of smaller, artisan breweries as opposed to juggernauts such as Anheuser Busch or MillerCoors. While the latter has the capacity to inject a surplus of dollars into flashy, top-of-the-line advertising, the smaller breweries make better use of social media and word-of-mouth recommendations. They touched upon the importance of building communal relationships and representing themselves as local companies with a simple message: We make good beer.
Quality on Tap
To wrap up their thoughts, the panel made a point to establish the importance of quality when providing goods or service to the general public. It is imperative that if one isn’t making use of the highest quality, especially when it comes to effort (a personal export that drives success), one needs to reconsider whether or not to continue on that path. If a person can’t stand behind the quality of his or her work efforts, let alone the product delivered, then why do it at all? The concept came full circle, as passion and quality can repeatedly impact one another extensively.
Though our industries and day-to-day jobs may be entirely different, the path to success is very similar. Love what you do, and you will be successful. Maintain the quality of your efforts, and you will be proud of the result. Stand by your brand, and you will perfect your craft. Cheers!