Creative Business Thinking Key Activities: There Are

Creative Business Thinking Key Activities: There are two key activities in the microbrewery business. These are making beer and selling beer. The two are distinct processes, and are only loosely related. The beermaking process is fairly simple, and there are only so many ways to reinvent that wheel. So the key success factor with that activity is to brew beer that has no technical flaws, but also that has a character that appeals to the modern beer drinker.

This means building a portfolio with a mix more lighter, more approachable beers and more full-flavored beers that appeal to beer geeks, like the sour program highlighted in on the Kickstarter site. The second key activity is marketing. Beer distribution is a challenging business. Laws differ from state to state but there is often a third party involved, the distributor. Even with a distributor, microbreweries need to find ways to generate publicity and goodwill for their brands, and they must often do so on a limited budget.

This is where making great beer is actually quite important, because it helps to create a buzz in the beer geek community (early adopters) and is even better if the brewery can make a splash and get a good score on a site like Ratebeer.com. If you look at another project that has crowd-sourced early financing, J.

Wakefield Brewing, test batches made at a nearby microbrewery were sold at a beer festival and the scores were overwhelmingly positive, and the brewery received funding for startup based on reputation that was built even before the brewery existed. Value Proposition: People drink beer for taste, and for inebriation. Inebriation is pretty easy to achieve -- convicts make alcohol by fermenting orange juice and ketchup into something called pruno. So that's the easy part. People drink your beer instead of the 1000 other brands out there because they like the taste.

So that is the key value proposition, that the beer looks, smells and tastes great to the people in your target market. Making your beer easy to find is another value proposition to offer. This is important in a country where the latest estimates show more than 2500 different breweries. Ratebeer lists over 200,000 unique beers and the number grows every day. So there's a lot of competition.

Most consumers are not going to go that far out of the way to buy your beer when there are so many other perfectly good options. Thus, you must make it easy to find your beer. That is an important value proposition and it is why when a microbrewery gains some momentum, it starts to become available everywhere, and that only builds more momentum. For the customer, cost is another value proposition. Even among microbrews, most products are subject to price competition, and consumers are increasingly price sensitive.

A supremely high end beer might not have much price-sensitivity, but if you are a normal microbrewery making normal beer you will be competing against other similar products. Not only is branding important and the taste, but you have to come in at a decent price because there is high propensity to substitute among craft beer consumers. So these are the three most important value propositions -- taste, availability and price. Make it tasty, easy to find and at a competitive price and you have a business. Customer Segments.

The market for craft beer is growing. In some places it is upwards of 40% but in other places is still more around 2-3%, so the amount of segmentation is probably different in different markets. In San Diego, craft beer goes around 10%, so there is a lot of room to grow and maybe less segmentation. Nevertheless, you need to know your customer. This is important for developing brand image, and it is also important for product decisions.

A brewery like Sam Adams sells to people who want something a little different than Bud or Miller. So their market is quite different from the tinier breweries who sell to beer-savvy consumers in a local area. There are, roughly, the early adopters who will follow your blog before you open and drop by while you're doing test batches. There are everyday beer lovers who drink a lot of microbrews and will give your beer a try.

The third major segment to look at is the person who only drinks craft beer once in a while. This is actually the largest market, but it is also the least-loyal, whereas the early adopters might also lack loyalty and are a small market. But they are important. The middle group is.