Word of Mouth Marketing

Attend three microbrew festivals in 2010. We have identified SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience in Washington, D. C. , The Food and Wine Festival, National Harbor at the National Harbor in Maryland and the Northern Virginia Summer BrewFest in Leesburg, Va.

These festivals attract attendees from the greater Washington, D. C. area, which is DC Brewing Company's target audience. The desired customers are beer, food and wine enthusiasts, not just the casual consumer. They attend these events looking for something special and something new to enjoy.

This is the exact audience for DC Brewing Company. At these events guests will be offered samples, given handouts on which beers pair best with which foods and encouraged to sign up for the DC Brewing Company Founders Club, which is described in more detail below. Tactic 2: Invite beer experts from Beer Advocate, Mid-Atlantic Brewing News, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Craft Brewers and other blogs, websites and publications to review DC Brewing Company's selections. The people who read and write for these blogs and publications are the "talkers" described in Andy Sernovitz's "Word of Mouth Marketing." He adds that it is important to take care of your talkers once you've found them. DC Brewing Company will invite and offer these individuals free admission or passes to all events DC Brewing Company attends and encourage them to stop by our stand or table and be a part of our experience.

Tactic 3: Hold Bartender Tastings at Washington, D. C. beer bars like Brickskeller, Regional Food and Drink, Churchkey and Pizzaria Paradiso. Invite local bartenders from bars likely to carry DC Brewing Company products to an evening of samples and food.While sampling DC Brewing Company's beers, the bartenders will get information on DC Brewing Company's products so they are best equipped to accurately describe the different beers to their customers.

The bartenders will be given free t-shirts, bottle openers and towels that they can use behind their bars. This creates a group of highly credible evangelicals who are regarded as experts by their clientele. Who better to spread the word about DC Brewing Company? Tactic 4: Sponsor Washington, D. C. -area beer clubs, like BURP (Brewers United for Real Potables).

DC Brewing Company will offer to have the head brewer speak at one of their functions, allowing these hobbyists to grill an expert while allowing the expert to get valuable consumer feedback from passionate consumers. This is another example of reaching out to your talkers and connecting with them. These beer enthusiasts are the target audience for DC Brewing Company and when they find a beer they like, they blog about it and tell all their brewing friends. To quote the AccidentalHedonist. com again, "For the micro-brew fan, the best beer out there is the one they haven't tried yet." Strategy 2: Target "foodies" in the mid-Atlantic region Tactic 1: Hold invitation-only dinners where local chefs pair food with each style of beer DC Brewing Company produces.

A Sept. 2009 Epicurious. com article suggests that beer may actually be more compatible with food than wine. Such a thought was once considered blasphemous, but is now gaining acceptance with the wide variety of innovative and creative craft beer available. According to blogaboutbeer.

com, chefs are creating menus to match beer in ways once reserved only for wines.We feel quality beers like those from DC Brewing Company should be matched with more than pretzels or chips. DC Brewing Company will provide attendees with a list of their beers, where to get them and the recipes the dishes that are paired with beer. Tactic 2: Pair DC Brewing Company beers and food at Taste of D. C.

, D. C. Chili Cookoff, D. C. Beer Week 2010 events and SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience. We will work with local chefs who are also trying to make their way in the industry to match food with DC Brewing Company beers.

The DC Brewing Company and the selected chefs will cross promote each other's products, further expanding our exposure at the events. Maps will be available to the partnering locations to make it easy for people to find DC Brewing Company products at each event. Attendance at these events also raises DC Brewing Company's profile in the community. Tactic 3: Write articles for local online and print food and beverage publications.

Describe food pairings with DC Brewing Company's beer and food, including information on where to purchase DC Brewing Company beer and recipes for the dishes served with it."Foodie" groups like DCFoodies. com would likely be willing to offer links to articles and this approach would appeal to food and beer lovers in D. C.

DC Brewing Company will target publications, like Washingtonian magazine, which have robust blogs on local foods and beverages and are geared toward upscale readers (the average household income of Washingtonian readers is $224, 300 according to their Website). National publications will be targeted as well, but the initial focus is on local media. Tactic 4: Set up tasting tables at Whole Foods and high-end grocery stores.Pairing DC Brewing Company's beers with food is a natural fit for the clientele of Whole Foods.

The person working the table should be aware of the foods Whole Foods is serving in the prepared section and make recommendations for matches with DC Brewing Company beer to those customers who might be looking for dinner ideas. And since Whole Foods provides free samples of cheeses and other foods, find out which cheeses and foods are being sampled and make recommendations for pairings with DC Brewing Company beer so they can try it on the spot.