Creating a brand strategy is not just another marketing exercise or a document that sits on the shelf. It’s about defining and documenting the very reason your company exists, and how you will win at the intersection of 1) your consumers’ unmet needs, 2) the untapped market opportunity and 3) what makes your brand defensibly unique.
In short, your brand strategy serves as your company’s north star to guide you and your team’s decisions, large and small, to make sure you are staying true to your vision and delivering on your consumers’ needs in your unique way so you stand apart in a crowded market.
Once your strategy is set, a strong operational plan and an integrated marketing plan go hand in hand to ensure your backend and frontend efforts work together to deliver on your promises.
This is exactly what Real Food Brands Marketing Podcast host, Katie Mleziva, and her guest Joe Henry (one of the two sons referenced in the & Sons from J. Henry & Sons Bourbon!) talk about in this episode of the podcast.
Joe’s parents, Liz & Joe Henry, the founders of the company, leveraged their professional expertise as well as their history on the family farm to create a company and brand strategy that could not be easily replicated.
Everything they do continues to be intentional and designed to deliver on their brand strategy…from their patience in waiting five years before releasing their first product while it aged in the barrels until it met their high standards, down to the consistent use of their #rewardyourself hashtag to remind their loyal followers that they have all worked hard and deserve a great bourbon at the end of the day.
Their plan has been paying off, with their bourbon standing out amongst their peers as well as winning awards against some of the world’s top brands.
As the J. Henry story highlights, a solid brand strategy is critical to scaling your food or beverage business. However, a good story and great packaging can only get you so far. Your product must deliver in order to get your customers coming back for more — and bringing their friends!
Take a listen to Joe and Katie talk about the unique story behind the J. Henry Bourbon brand and how they are bringing their brand strategy to life through operational and marketing excellence in order to consistently deliver on their brand promises.
Don’t forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player so you don’t miss an episode! And, if you are a food or beverage business owner or team member join us as we continue the conversation over in the free Real Food Brands Marketing Round Table private group on Facebook!
In This Episode:
- The story behind the J. Henry & Sons Wisconsin Straight Bourbon brand strategy
- How J. Henry revived of a dormant heirloom corn to help create a unique mash bill
- Why J. Henry put quality over profit to age their bourbon for five years before their initial release
- How the wildly inconsistent weather in Wisconsin actually benefits the bourbon aging process
- Why sampling is so important for smaller food and beverage companies
- Why saturating your core market(s) is important before expanding too quickly
- How to turn onsite events and demos into memorable experiences that create brand advocates
Quotes:
“A lot of larger producers were actually taking their age statements off (the packaging) to release younger products in order to keep up with demand and we thought that (5years) was where it had the best quality. The culmination of quality and timing while setting ourselves apart in the rest of the market is how we ended up where we are.” — @JHenryBourbon
“The bottles have our names on it, so we wanted everything to come from our farm and put that stamp of quality on it. @JHenryBourbon
“We decided early on that we wanted to be a unique local product that could grow off of our original customer base. The only way you can do that is by producing something of very high quality consistently. We picked a very unique mash bill.” — @JHenryBourbon
“Especially when you’re a small business, you’ve got to get liquid to lips. Nobody’s going to spend up to $100 on a completely unknown bottle of whiskey even if it has really cool packaging. It’s a lot easier to say “try this,”–it justifies the cost and reinforces the story that we’ve done a really good job of maintaining that integrity and quality with every bottle we’re producing”– @JHenryBourbon
“Every buying decision is inherently an emotional one.” — @JHenryBourbon
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