As you browse Instagram, if you’ve ever come across pictures of relaxed but sophisticated cocktail parties filled with the effortless cool people drinking colorful cocktails and syringes, it’s probably because of Helena Hambrecht.
Hambrecht is the executive director, co-founder and creator of the aperitif Haus brand. Prior to House, Hambrecht cut her teeth in advising brands on big names such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Uber and Airbnb. In other words, Hambrecht has “this really weird but useful set of skills to learn how to make sausage online.”
House is not like other brands of alcohol, it is a cool brand
“Historically, there simply weren’t many innovations in alcohol,” says Hambrecht. From ingredients to distribution, Big Liquor is largely a door-guard industry that Hambrecht and its co-founder saw as an opportunity to shake. (Sorry for the pun.)
Other brands add sugar, preservatives, are not transparent about their ingredients or where they come from and have a high alcohol content, which is a pretty nasty combination for a hangover. Instead, according to the website, House uses responsible “natural fruits, herbs and plant products”, has a lower alcohol content (more than wine, less than whiskey) and makes it sustainable.
How to use TikTok to build your business
But it’s not just a better-tasting drink with fewer hangovers. Under alcohol distribution laws, aperitifs that are mostly grape-based, such as House’s product, can be sold online. And so House became a brand from business to consumer for the Instagram era.
“Because we have the freedom to sell online, we just rethought what the brand might look like.
Instagram effect
Since its launch in 2019, Instagram has been an integral part of the brand’s strategy. Today House has 65,000 followers. “I wanted to do something that you could recognize from a distance of 200 feet,” says Hambrecht. “That made Instagram really successful for us, because when you see a House bottle, there is nothing else that looks like it, even if it is 10 pixels high, you can recognize it.
Instagram has been part of House’s strategy since day one.
Credit: House
Building an online presence has had the great advantage of working with distributors who would not otherwise give to independent alcohol brands such as House, Hambrecht said. “We could go to them and say, ‘Look, we made a brand for you. We already have this national audience that knows who we are and they are all waiting for us to enter wholesale. So everything you need to do is clear to us and take some of our money. “
Currently, House is in the midst of launching wholesale in 24 states.
Yes, TikTok is currently the most popular app, but Instagram is a key advantage for consumer brands looking to gain followers. We asked Hambrecht burning questions about the importance of promoting your business on Instagram and here’s what we found out.
1. Define aesthetics.
Instagram deals with aesthetics, which is why it works best for consumer brands such as House.
“The big reason why people will buy food or drink or really anything online is that they can see how it lives in the world,” says Hambrecht. “For us, we managed to use a photo on Instagram to show: ‘This is how you drink, this is where you drink, this is when you invite, where you put the bottle.’ All of these things can be answered visually, and Instagram is much better at educating and marketing the brand than most social channels. “
Hambrecht says they wanted to create a visual style that was aspirational but achievable. “What we found is that it has a lot of echoes in people, it makes them feel approachable, it makes them feel like something they could mark as inspiration.
2. ‘The less you sell, the more you will sell.’
Sounds counterintuitive? Let Hambrecht explain. “Obviously they want them to buy [the product]you don’t have to say that. “Customers should want to buy a product based on what they see and feel,” explains Hambrecht. what do they want
3. Give people what they want.
A key part of promoting your business on Instagram is to understand what your followers may want. “You may not have a community yet, but you say you are making a food product. You can guess that the community might want to have some food recipes, or maybe they want to have your recommendations for other products that could accompany the food, ”says Hambrecht.
“What can you give to your community that is not necessarily related to your product, but makes them really like your brand and think of you as creative and generous and thinking about what the community cares about,” she continues. “That’s how you build loyalty to that brand and that will make people want to follow you.”
If you think of Instagram as more of a channel for content and community engagement instead of a sales channel, your posts will be original and aligned with the followers you are looking for.
4. Build community around your brand.
According to Hambrecht, House learned from his customers that they like to see other members of the community, so the company started presenting them in several Instagram posts. “It’s really great for our audience who want to see who else is part of this community, who still drinks this product and can follow them or address them.
House did not spend money on marketing in the first six months, which Hambrecht attributes to investing in branding and user experience in the beginning, which caused a lot of noise by word of mouth. Having a strong engaged community proved critical when the worst happened …
5. Always be prepared to adapt.
House was only six months old when the pandemic struck. For the business that built his brand around the gathering, House suddenly faced huge challenges. Hambrecht says they had to reconsider how House would live in the lives of its customers at the time. “We shifted the focus to things that were still relevant, such as educating our community about the product, the way it’s made, the ingredients and where they come from, and the recipes they can make at home.
There was also the practical question of how to photograph and create new content during social isolation. Hambrecht says that they gathered their clients and the team about how they remained connected to each other during the pandemic, which became the beginning of a series of interviews called “My House”.
“We were like, ‘Well, we can’t go and like to meet these people in person, it’s dangerous to send a photographer. So why don’t we start sending disposable cameras?’
“It’s a series of interviews in which we send members of our community disposable cameras, and they photograph the day of their lives in their home. We interview them about their home rituals and how they stay connected to the people in their lives in this strange time, whether it’s zooming , or personally with the person they live with at home. “
Of course, these were extreme circumstances that forced companies to adapt for survival, but Hausa learned some important lessons.
“Don’t feel so stuck in one strategy. “Whatever works today may have to change in six months or a year,” Hambrecht said. “It’s just a matter of paying attention to what’s going on in the world and paying attention to what your community cares about or needs help with.
6. Play cold - and be patient.
In other words, everything is in a long game. “We didn’t use shortcuts, we didn’t pray for companions. You just have to be cool. Play cool and be patient.”
Hambrecht built House’s followers “by building the right connections”, which translated the brand through a global pandemic. “Whether it’s your customers, journalists, sellers, partners or investors, you just have to play a long game and you know that the relationships you are establishing today could be realized in two to three years.