Here's the reality: the cost of paid traffic is increasing and not all companies can sustain it longterm.
On top of that, restrictions on alcohol advertising keep changing and there is no guarantee that we'll be able to use ads in the future.
What are the main issues with paid ads?
The cost is increasing. Even if demand is increasing, so does the competition. With it comes also an increase in the cost of ads.
Ads may be shut down any day. As marketing channels need to adapt to legislation and user demands, channels that work today may block our ads within a few days.
Clients need a better experience. Glass bottles can damage easily, so there needs to be a guarantee of safe delivery.
Well, here are 5 tips you should consider if you are an alcohol retailer.
TIP #1: Advertise only profitable products, categories & brands
The first thing that can help you achieve healthy and profitable business growth is to advertise only profitable items.
You can focus solely on profitable items and assign marketing budgets to them. It is possible to automate this and also to include all necessary costs (marketing investment, agency fee, warehouse costs, etc.).
Using this strategy you can reassign the marketing budget from unprofitable items to profitable ones and scale the business.
Here is a simple how-to that can be applied to your Google Ads account. This strategy is applicable to other channels as well.
TIP #2: Focus on non-auction channels
As mentioned before, not only the cost of ads keeps increasing, there is also no guarantee that you will be able to run them longterm.
A great solution is to focus on non-auction channels. What does it mean?
Auction-based channels are running ads and you have to bid against other advertisers. This puts you into a bad spot for these reasons:
Seasonality is really costly. As you can see below, demand spikes during December, so do competitors' budgets.
Most channels don't allow remarketing of alcohol. This means you can't fully build loyalty or increase customer lifetime value.
Everchanging ads policy. What is allowed today may not be possible next month.
If you focus on the following channels, your pricing is affected mostly by the number of customers, not by bids in the auction.
E-mail marketing
Oldie but goodie. E-mail marketing allows you to boost loyalty and lifetime value of your customers.
We would highly recommend automation and personalization. Today many tools have this capability. Whether you use Mailchimp or Drip, you can achieve automated e-mail marketing with relatively low investment.
Messenger
For years now, there are more monthly active users using messaging apps than social media apps. Yet there are still businesses that ignore this potential.
On top of that, the open rate and the click-through rate for Messenger are significantly higher than e-mail can achieve right now.
Push notifications
Sending blasts or personalized notifications to users even when they are not active on mobile is great.
Consider the context. You pick up a phone and get a notification. There are no other distractions, just the notification.
You can even limit it to order status updates and occasionally send special offers.
Postcards
This may seem silly for some, but how many postcards do you get today from companies? I bet it is close to none.
Imagine that you would get a postcard wishing you a happy birthday with a personalized note (and maybe a small discount code).
This can be achieved and doesn't have to be that costly. You can use for example Mailchimp.
SMS
Once again, oldie but goodie! Simple automation of SMS, for example, abandoned cart, can have a great impact on the conversion rate of your visitors.
You can even use Mobile Monkey to automate Messenger & SMS within a single tool.
TIP #3: Be accessible
Every business today should have at least these options of contacts:
Form
Live chat
E-mail
Phone
Social Media
Are you missing any of these? If so, you are possibly missing on several conversions or some valuable feedback.
Regardless of how much information you include on your page, in some cases, people need personal contact or just simply can't find the answer they are looking for. Be there for them!
TIP #4: Use eCommerce Customer Relationship Management software (eCRM)
Knowing who are your best customers is key in the business. When it comes to alcohol, this can be tricky.
You can use eCRM like Drip to identify the most valuable users. These may be users that buy collector's editions or gift packages.
Important notice: in this case, it is important to check the frequency and quantity of purchased products. This will help you to identify possible addiction and address it according to your internal processes in this case.
TIP #5: Be the best gift advisor
A nice gift package of a bottle can make a lot of people happy. Why wouldn't you make the buying experience the best one possible?
Having a simple questionnaire can help your visitors to find the best gift, help you to better understand their needs, and even allow you to segment users.
On top of that, you can upsell valuable services like:
Bottle engraving
Gift basket
Gift packaging
Personal notes
Cocktail sets, etc.
Need some help?
If you have some questions or need help with any of the mentioned tips, I am here to help!
Feel free to book a short call with me or contact me.
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