Marketing Craft Beer to Women

Women in America determine between 75 – 85% of all purchases, and that includes beer – ignore us at your peril.

As a woman who enjoys loves craft beer, I took some time to think back to my beginnings as a beer drinker and how I’d gotten to the point where I refuse to drink anything but craft beer. I realize that I am now an extreme outlier when it comes to beer drinker demographics, but I do know a thing or two about marketing and how to help attract and engage more of that key craft beer audience: The female craft beer drinker.

Firstly, Please don’t dumb beer down for women

Don’t bother with cutesy names that are “girly” or trying to reach women by adding pastel colors to your ads. The truth is, women prefer gender neutral advertising. And while there is some possible evidence that women may gravitate to certain styles of beer over others, don’t let that fool you into thinking you should make beer just for chicks – honestly, it feels a bit hokey.

(more examples )

Stay true to your brand and create great beer. You won’t be able to please everyone, so don’t bother trying. Besides, targeting only women eliminates a huge segment of the market — MEN! Instead, educate people (not just women) about the ingredients, the taste, the quality of your beer and your brand’s story. Keep your message consistent and we women will seek to learn more.

Keep T&A to a minimum

This is the typical old school beer marketing methodology. Throw a few scantily clad women in a beer ad and watch the money roll in. While this isn’t as big of a problem in the craft beer space, it still totally happens. T&A might get you a bit of fun conversation, but to most women and even some men, that just makes the brewery look trashy. Some may tell you so, but most will remain quiet and decide not to patronize your business.

pro-tip: Men aren’t the only ones distracted by boobs. If you want people to focus on your product, make it the focus.

Train your staff to not talk down to women (or men)

Your staff should be knowledgeable, approachable, and when asked questions, they should seek to educate and engage customers vs. having a beer-knowledge pissing contest. Taking a few minutes to educate your customer has the huge upside of possibly developing a loyal customer and is a worthwhile investment.

Offer women opportunities to learn

While I would like to posture as if women don’t get intimidated by male-driven industries, but most of us would rather spare our pride at the risk of sounding dumb. Think about why women-only gyms are so successful – ladies like doing many of the same things men do, but when we feel intimidated in doing so, it’s no longer fun or appealing. So, try out some new ideas that include women or that may be women-only. Help them learn about your craft and watch as they become loyal to your brand.

Understand why women follow your brand and provide value to them

The biggest reason that women follow your brand is to learn about offers and discounts (and the same applies for men). As much as we wish that people followed us because they just adore us, that’s not the case. Help them adore you by rewarding your followers of both sexes with incentives and offers that add value to your social media presence.

Really that’s all – in a nutshell, just treat us ladies like we are capable of learning and enjoying craft beer just as much as (if not more than) you. There are a multitude of ways to market craft beer to women, and they really are mostly the same as they are for men. There are some generalities that can be applied when it comes to special events that you could try out, but on the whole, we really just want to be able to enjoy craft beer for its freshness and multitude of flavors and varieties.