Why the Tequila Industry is Going Strong

and 5 Myths that Will Kill Your Brand

Why the Tequila Industry is Going Strong

and 5 Myths that Will Kill Your Brand

Tequila sales have doubled in the United States in the past decade. It’s an over $2.3 billion business just in the U.S. alone.

With news of the current agave shortage, you can guess there will always be a market for your tequila or agave spirit, and with millennials clamoring for craft spirits, you may just be able to take a bite out of the big boys’ sales too.

Even though the demand is there and you may have plenty of tequila in your warehouse, there is something that could make all your hard work come crashing down around you like so many broken bottles – you suck at social media.

Following are 5 myths that your brand may fall victim to:

1. You Don’t Have the Money to Spend on Social Media

You can’t afford not to.

Social media has the highest return on investment of any marketing method today.

In 2015 Facebook influenced 52 per cent of consumers’ online and offline purchases, up from 36 per cent in 2014 and it’s only going higher. (Source: The Drum) A majority of consumers are being influenced in their buying decisions by what they see on Facebook about your brand.

If they don’t see your brand on Facebook, you don’t exist.

Top brands on Instagram are seeing a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21% which is 58 times higher than on Facebook and 120 times higher than on Twitter (Source: Hootsuite).

58 times higher than Facebook.

Reread the previous paragraph and ferment on that for a minute.

You can’t afford not to take your share of that many consumers.

2. You Think Anyone with a Facebook Account Can Manage Your Social Media

It takes more than just a photo every once in a while and more than someone shouting “Shots! Shots! Shots!”.

Social networks require social people and you need to be sure your brand is represented the way it should be.

Whoever manages your social media speaks for your brand. Do they know enough about it – and you – to speak for you?

The person/team that manages your social media also needs to know where to find the people you want to buy your brand as well as know how to engage them. Do they speak the language? Can they teach your audience about your craft methods and why they’re important?

You can’t trust your craft agave spirit to some kid whose experience consists of red Solo cups and shots of Jose Cuervo on the weekend.

3. You Think You Can Just Buy Followers

Purchased followers don’t show up at liquor store tastings, pairing dinners, or tell their friends about how awesome your tequila is.

They also don’t buy product.

Followers you buy will look good when you flash around those vanity numbers but they’re really just stuffing in your bra or a sock in your pants.

Eventually the truth comes out and it’s embarrassing.

Save yourself the embarrassment and grow a true following of passionate consumers who become ambassadors of your product.

4. You Think Your Advertising Agency Can Handle Your Social Media

Your advertising agency doesn’t specialize in agave spirits.

They don’t have a following of tens of thousands of agave spirit aficionados.

They’ll tell you what your story is rather than tell your story.

Worse yet…they’ll tell their made up story to consumers who are going to call “Bullshit!” on your brand and every step from there on out will backfire on you. (Like the $700 blanco with iridescent flecks of agave in the bottle.)

And that flashy exec who promised you’d be the next Patron is going to look at your craft spirit budget and turn over your account to a 19-year-old intern who is going to tell the world about how he did shots of your extra anejo. That intern doesn’t know anything more about tequila than shots. He doesn’t understand terroir, microclimates, distillation, nosing or tasting either. All he knows is he gets to take the bottle home and get drunk with the other interns after the photographer has finished.

You spent eight years growing your agave. The people who work for you are considered family. Your Master Distiller is the Godfather of your little girl. You deserve better. They deserve better. You can’t entrust all your hard work to a faceless, shiny agency that doesn’t care about any of that.

5. I Need Real Ads, Not Social Media

You might drop $5k on a glossy ad in an industry magazine but the industry doesn’t care and the buying public will never see it.

Think a glossy ad in a small market will sell bottles? Think again. The one or two bottles sold will never pay for that magazine ad.

Nobody buys magazines anymore and nobody buys based on a static ad.

They buy because their friends and family tell them to buy and their friends and family are talking to them through social media. That’s where you get the real brand exposure.

The whole business of marketing your brand seems daunting when you see all these myths busted, but the fact is it doesn’t have to be difficult, expensive, or time consuming at all. You just need the right strategy – one that is built on knowing your brand right down to your water source and respects the process and the people that came together to create it.

If you’ve fallen victim to any of these myths, there’s still time to turn things around and keep your brand running strong.

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