Four Tips for New Alcohol Brands Starting Sampling Programs

In recent months, we’ve worked with numerous brands that are expanding their in-store sampling programs. It’s time to share four tips for new alcohol brands starting sampling programs.

Research is starting to show that brands are not always built on-premise. That adage is starting to fade. The traditional education provided by bar staff has taken a back seat to social media accounts that emphasize mixology and brand education.

Store sampling is more important than ever. Liquid to lips is the mantra everyone in the industry knows. So what are the systems needed to succeed?

Let’s first share some of the details of poor implementations.

A lack of commitment to consistency.

In the world of radio and tv advertising, reach and frequency is the rule. In the world of digital, programmatic advertising where you’re following your buyer across the entire digital landscape has become the norm.

In retail store sampling, brands that don’t commit to a solid budget are doomed. If you’re spending all your money on distributor incentives and not supporting the retailers who buy your product, you’ll face hurdles when that coveted second order is requested by your distributor.

Poor implementation plan for sharing marketing assets, sell sheets, and videos instructions to the promo teams.

When attempting to scale sampling across the country, complexity is the enemy. Brands often don’t provide portals or easy access to brand education.

A lack of detailed communication on sku priorities.

For brands that sell more than one sku into a store, it should be obvious that not every store takes on every sku. When a store buys product but doesn’t take every sku, the distributor, promo team, and everyone involved need to know how to prioritize samplings. As a company, we know to ask, “what is your philosophy regarding sampling your entire line when the store hasn’t purchased all your products?”

Bonus problem:

A lack of communication when it comes to scheduling stores.

When more than two entities are scheduling samplings for your brand, coordinate with both the internal teams and the third party, who is responsible for scheduling certain stores.

Now: Four Tips for New Alcohol Brands Starting Sampling Programs

Make it third grade easy.

Retail samplings are not the place to share mixology. If pre-batching is legal in your state, make it easy. More than one or two ingredients is too much trouble to scale. Be in the mindset of, “if this process were taking place in 25 markets with 75 samplings going on at the same time, how difficult would it be to replicate it consistently?”

Insist on your promo team using technology.

There are sampling apps now that provide significant detail without being cumbersome to the promo staff or your team. If you don’t have data similar to below, you will lose valuable insight on the impact of promoted sales vs base sales.

Knit together your in-store sampling initiatives to your email lists, on-premise events, merch stores, etc.

We are continually surprised that brands spend massive resources on merch, events, and samplings and silo all of it to the point, the individuals experiencing the brand at retail don’t have any exposure to the on-premise or events taking place. Some brands have super initiatives in place for non-profit support and there isn’t even a QR code displayed to share the message with customers.

Take care of the store staff.

Find ways to hold the retail staff, NOT JUST THE BUYER, in high esteem. You know who sells more of your booze than bartenders? The store employee you f’n ignore. Put programming in place that makes the store staff, not just the owner, feel important and a part of your team. They’ll sell for you all week and in-between activations.

Tips for showing love to staff?

Want to chat about your in-store sampling or liquid to lips strategy? Contact us and we’ll discuss!